There's very little about WP I like now

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This forum is very slowly dying. But compared to most of the forums that were started 15 or more years ago it's thriving in comparison. Most of the others are virtually dead or have disappeared. With the exception of some gaming forums.

I can't say that there is little about WP I like anymore, but I can relate to feeling less enthused than I used to. When I joined, WP had so many more active members and so many discussions. Something was always going on.

And when I tired of GAD because I felt out talked about those issues, there was a lot of fun to be had with the good old gang in Off the Wall, many of which now have left.

There are members I wish were still here.

And I am aware that I don't contribute all that much here, but I just don't have many topics to post. I also often have nothing to add to the existing conversations, so I don't.
That doesn't mean that I might not appreciate threads, just that I'm a passive observer/reader (which describes me well in most if not all situations, not just here).

I'm certainly not quitting or leaving, but I do take breaks and I spend less time here than I did.

There are still good people here making very valuable contributions, but it just doesn't feel the same to me anymore.

Aside from the loss of good people and the political sniping, one problem I have with enthusiasm for the site is repetitiveness. The #1 case is newbies wandering in and asking "do I have autism?" Totally legitimate for them to do, but I just can't respond in an original fashion. There are so many online quizzes and articles and even past forum posts that would answer that question, or at least give guidance, my feeling is why should I put any energy into responding?

I also feel burned out by the persistently negative people, the hopeless ones who show no progress or improvement after years of energy poured into them by forum regulars, those who are only here to complain but not to grow or even give back. I feel burned out by people who need a suicide intervention. I think it is legitimate for us to admit that burnout exists and lowers the enjoyment or interest in the site.

You could ignore posts according to the OP listed on your screen. You know who they are. Don't even read the threads anymore.

Just a few of the members I really miss include in no particular order Cornflake, TallyMan, Krabo and Moomingirl. There are many others who made it fun who no longer visit. Luckily we have newcomers who are always at home here.

I wonder why so many online forums on the Web have stagnated?

I've only been around for like a month or two now but I feel like I've showed up to a party but the party is over and everyone is wither dead or slowly dying in front of me. Reminds me of an old chatroom I used to frequent, and makes me kind of sad. But I am an optimist, so hopefully things lighten up going forward.

I feel like this is a great forum. The only problem with it is that it's a little 'behind the times" in a technological sense.

We have political arguments---but they are usually not as vociferous as that found in other forums.

And please remember: the Internet is NOT the "real world." The "real world" is not full of Nazis, Commies, SJW's, Incels, etc. You usually find these only on the Internet. I'm 58 years old, and have been around a lot of people. Very, very few have been, say, such extreme feminists as you find on Internet forums. Or Nazis. Or even Social Justice Warriors. I've only encountered the "Incel" ideology on the Internet.

I presume that's largely because those people are too afraid to be vocal about it to people's faces, because they know how controversial that stuff is. But I do wonder if those people are as passionate about it in their everyday lives despite keeping it hidden, or if they just post their beliefs online to provoke people. But yeah, I've never encountered any pf them offline either. Only incel I can actually recall encountering was here, but I'm pretty sure that guy was actively trolling.

^yep, incels, SJWs and all the rest are as real in real life as online, they're just less likely to be open

and I'd say people like Elliot Rogers and Mintassian (sp?) in Canada were pretty dang real!

I'v heard it blamed on social media, but a lot of people here (including me) aren't big fans of it and like forums more, so why would fellow aspies then abandon WP for social media?

I don't get why WP is slowing down. This is one of 3 hang out places I've had. Two of the others are closed down (and very much missed), and although one of them had a spin off site, it is practically dead these days, and the few who are left are on Discord instead. Chatting just isn't the same to me. I like threads with actual topics, it's really the only way I can have anything to say, or I'll just draw blanks. I've been on Discord once, after hi how are you and long time, there wasn't much more to say...

I always thought forums were made for people like us, so where are we? Why are so few of us left? I don't get it.

Yes, Elliot Rodger and that other person are "pretty dang real!" And you have to watch out for them. I don't deny their existence.

What I'm saying....is that, in everyday life, you don't often run into these sorts of people. You do run into angry people, sure. Racists on "both sides." Usually, though, they express such sentiments when they've had too much to drink, or if they are on crowded public transportation.

People just have better things to do and think about, in my opinion.

There are some people on WP who feel like they are surrounded by these sorts of people. And I sense that this is because they encounter these sorts on the Internet, rather than on the streets.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 10 Apr 2019, 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

Back when I first became a member, WP was sort of like the Old West -- a raw frontier environment where people of all walks of life came to find their place and make a name for themselves.

Now, WP is more like an old school with rules and customs that are fairly well solidified, resulting in just a few types of people that still hang around, like a high school that never lets out -- geeks, gays, jocks, alphas, betas, bums, outcasts, hall monitors, and the people who openly feel sorry for themselves.

Good? Bad? Whatever ... It's one of the few on-line websites where I actually feel somewhat welcome.

Well if nothing else I guess it is nice to feel welcome anywhere, rather than nowhere.

It's the first place where I have actually felt like I belong. Luckily for me, when I joined, there were many more posts about what it was like to have autism, the experience of it.

It has been somewhat comforting to know that other people have experienced the same crap I've gone through for the same reasons. Having ASD in an NT-dominated world means that I'm often experiencing difficulty in understanding and being understood by others, even though we speak the same language. I'm not the only one who grew up with "Social Awkwardess".

I've been on a number forums of this type over the last 18 years, and am finding that this platform for communicating online is becoming antiquated. I recently checked out one I used to frequent ten years ago to find activity had greatly diminished.

Sorry, but the "Most Antiquated Communications Platform" award goes to ...

... Verbal Communications!

Yes, the fine art of speaking face-to-face seems to have diminished in importance when compared to the multitude of digital forms -- blogging, texting, tweeting, vlogging, and so forth. Wherever two or more people occupying the same room are conversing silently through their keyboards, then that is where the natural ability to speak has been set aside in favor of the artificial technology of electronic communications.