For the attention of Alex. Re: new forums.

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Over the past few months there have been requests from various members for extra forums, specifically;

1. an in-depth discussion forum
2. a 30+ forum
3. a parents of children with AS forum


There has been much support by WP members for these proposed forums and I do not intend to reiterate the reasoning behind them, which was well thought-out and well-presented in the original threads.

As far as I know, no reply has been given as to whether you have read these suggestions and whether or not you are even considering them?

I feel very strongly that the needs of many of the members of Wrong Planet are being ignored.

Would you please reply to this, and tell us your opinions of these proposed new forums, and whether or not you are considering creating any of them? Would there be any point at all in having a discussion about this?

Thank you.

1. These are found all over. And what if you have an in-depth discussion outside of that forum? Will it get moved? Or what if a topic in, say, the adult forum, becomes 'in-depth' as it progresses? Who decides what is 'in-depth' and not? Are we going to have people policing this and deleting posts that don't meet up to certain 'in-depth' standards in a topic? Silly.

2. We already have an Adult forum. Do you want an Adult jr. (18-29) and an Adult senior (30-100) forum or something?

3. We already have a little something like that: Parents' Discussion - This forum is for discussing the various issues related to parenting children with Asperger's Syndrome.

There is a HUGE difference between the current adult forum where sex is discussed, and a "mature" forum for those of us who have very different issues from the younger folks. VERY different. We have different interests, concerns and things we need to discuss relating to living long lives without knowing about AS.


HA HA HA.
I can tell you're not a parent.
The parent's discussion is SOLELY for NT parents of autistic kids. Almost none of us parents would be caught dead trying to have a reasonable discussion with parents who cannot believe what incredible problems they have to deal with.

Being a person on the spectrum with a kid is a night/day difference from an NT person with an autistic kid. And believe it or not, there are a lot of us here who would love to have a safe place to talk about how hard it is to be a parent and be autistic.

Absolutely.

Anyway, this thread was for the attention of Alex so I don't know why you've stepped in Mitch, we've already had the threads about these forums (ad nauseum) Did you bother reading these and the reasoning behind them before you posted here?
I was going to start a long monologue about your point 1. but I'm sorry, I can't force myself to go over that same old ground yet again. The members who originally put forward arguments for the need for new forums did so thoughtfully and intelligently. To dismiss it as 'silly' I find offensive, actually. If you're really interested in the arguments for the new forums, go read the threads. I can't be bothered arguing with you.

The reason I posted this thread was because I wanted Alex to say what he thinks about them.

Wow, thanks for the hostility guys, I was just being honest and giving my views. If you didn't want people to give opinions then why didn't you just PM Alex? That way, idiots like me can't interfere and intrude upon your special, sacred queries. I didn't read anywhere that this thread was reserved for him. Sorry.

P.S. - I'm also sorry you find the word 'silly' offensive. I'll self-moderate next time and agree with everything you say and think.

Alyssa: No, I'm not a parent - but what does that have to do with anything? I just quoted the forum's description. Do you see anywhere in that that it distinguinshes between NT and AS parents? Thought not. I was unaware that it was exclusively reserved for NT parents, but I'll remember this in future. Thanks for giving me the attitude though, that was cool.

I agree there is a need for a forum for more mature members. Maybe 40+.
In depth discussion forum? We already have a discussion forum where there are pretty intense discussions unless you refer to one that is not only for autism... in which case maybe there needs to be one for discussion of autism related, and another for non autism related in place of the news forum...news stuff could then go in the non autism related discussion forum.

I don't think there needs to be a forum for aspie parents. I think it is good for the NT and Aspie parents to share the same forum as mingling can give the NT parents more understanding and vice versa for any aspies who have NT kids...they can advise one another in there.

What about a Snake Plissken forum?

hahaha, then our dreams would come true.

If you didn't want to risk someone disagreeing with you, potentially strongly, why didn't you just refrain from responding? It goes both ways. Your initial response had plenty of attitude as well. What, are you the only person allowed to do that? Sorry, I didn't know that. I still don't give a damn now that I do know.


While I agree that ideally this is the best solution, I can appreciate where some of the AS parents are coming from on this one. While I'm against segregation, I'm also against members feeling uncomfortable or reluctant to speak their minds. As (it seems like) many of the parents commenting in the parenting forum are NT, while they want help with their AS kids, they may not be able to appreciate what it is like to be an AS parent. I can't remember where the thread was, and I can't remember who mentioned the reasoning behind it (may have been aylissa?) but it gave a much better view of the problems some AS parents were facing with that forum than I ever could. I might try rummaging around and find a link to it if I'm able.

I'm not saying I think another sub-forum for AS parents is necessarily the best solution, but I can understand why it might be desired.

It wan't my intention to be hostile at all, just honest. I didn't feel hostile towards you when I replied, just frustrated really at the lack of communication that goes on around here. It sometimes reminds me of a Kafka novel.

I thought the fact that I put "for the attention of Alex" would suggest that errmm, it was for Alex, but I suppose I should be grateful that someone's bothered to reply to this thread anyway, lol.

I have PMed Alex in the past but he hasn't replied. The threads about these new forums have never to my knowledge received any kind of response...The reason I started this thread was in the (yes, probably futile) hope that I could finally ellicit some sort communication from Alex.
The members who asked for these forums have been here for a long time, and I would say that they are well-liked and make a positive contribution to WP. I just think they deserve a straight answer to their requests, yes or no. It doesn't seem like too much to ask really.

I find it odd that no one has answered this question and explained why an in-depth discussion forum is needed. Also, I don't think it's reasonable to expect everyone on the website to read every single thread so please at least post a quote/link to these .

Alex: You took care of 1, though in a rather roundabout way. What about 2 and 3? At least commenting on them to give the impression that you care about input from members would be nice from time to time.

As for the links, I think people were expecting you to glance at threads in this sub-forum from time to time, since it is explicitly about the website itself.

"Senior's Corner" thread (#2)
Parents with AS (#3)

There might be more on these subjects, but these were the threads that a couple seconds of scanning turned up. There, saved everyone a couple seconds and four or five mouse clicks.

30+ sounds ok in theory but what would be discussed?

I have an issue with the third one since both NTs AND aspies are welcome to post anywhere throughout Wrong Planet. Creating a forum only for aspie parents would have a negative impact on one of the things that makes Wrong Planet such a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

That's part of the problem. The parenting forum does not feel all that warm and welcoming to some of the parents with AS. I still don't know of a "good" solution, but it is something that should be discussed. Segregation is not the way, but the current method isn't working as well as desired.

No. But the idea of the 30+ forum
might well attract members who
want to discuss their difficulties
in parenting, as opposed to just
the issues relating to the children
themselves - which seems a good
compromise.

I just bumped up my over 30's forum thread which has 70 replies. I cannot retype all
the reasons now because of my carpal tunnel syndrome