My WrongPlanet.net vision (everyone please read/reply)

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True, perhaps time based is fairer?

That does sound fairer to me.

*takes a deep breath and fights the rising panic of having to deal with change!*

I couldn't disagree more strongly to this idea. I think one of WrongPlanet's best assets is its diversity and acceptance. Love the way our mottley crew rushes in to greet Newbies, and think it would be rather sad if there was a segregation. I also personally enjoy reading posts from all sorts of people, regardless of age, gender, location or anything else you can think of. I also wonder what direction WrongPlanet would take if groups of Newbies were left to their own devices. Aside from the usual anxiety regarding change, I am all for change (!), but I think the fundamentals of WrongPlanet should remain the same, and if Newbies aren't in a forum with the more long-term members, who is going to 'show them the ropes' and pass on WrongPlanet's culture? I for one don't want to wake up one day and find that a hundred members of 501 posts have broken free of segregation and taken WP by storm, turning it into a Curebie colony! (Dramatic, aren't I?)

As for the psychiatrist idea, here's my two cents: I think there are plenty enough 'professionals' in real life. I also think that it is far more effective if these people work with clients in person on a long-term basis where trust and understanding can be formed. What there isn't a lot of in real life is Aspies. I think that the effect of employing a psychiatrist would undermine some of WrongPlanet's self sufficiency. I am in no way suggesting that getting help is a bad idea, but perhaps we could think about advertising services that already offer help, such as 24 hour helplines, government funded mental health services and the like. That way WrongPlanet remains a safe haven for Aspies by Aspies, and we still promote additional help? Just me personally, I have found that for many things, WP has been FAR more helpful than any professional (sometimes when you are down you need friends who are there for you and understand you more than you need medication and a counsellor), and for other things, an inexpensive counsellor who has experience with AS has been helpful. I doubt that she would be much help online however. I think what I'm trying to say is that professionals are a dime a dozen: let's use our resources for something different.

Finally, what groups? I'm a little confused by the idea!

Please don't think me to be dampening suggestions: I think that there are some good ideas, and I am committed to doing what I can to support WrongPlanet, I just don't want to see the good things change. I think that no matter how important professional help is to enable us to adjust to the world, there is a lot to be said for having a place where we can just let our hair down and be ourselves. I am aware that recent events may have sparked a desire to find ways to help people who are suicidal, and whilst I believe that one suicide is one too many, I think we have to recognise that for the most part, what we have going seems to be working well. I also doubt very much that an online psychiatrist would have made a difference in the recent past.

Hope I'm not out of line, just responding cos you asked me to!

That's a very valid point. But in some ways that is exactly what I was suggesting: at present we have one large community that is getting increasingly cumbersome. New people may well be intimidated by the size of the group alone. So, having multiple embedded communities would allow new room for growth, whilst still preserving the old culture.

The other side of this question is, what direction will WP take if the community isn't broken up naturally? Will it become too large and unwieldy? Would there be any flow to the dialogue if 50 people are trying to hold 5 different conversations in a thread at once?

I can't see the fundamental culture changing that much, not unless a bunch of Curbies assaulted us all at once! Wouldn't we be just as vulnerable to that kind of invasion now? Indeed, there has been some concern that Aspie-wannabes have already started a similar invasion. So, perhaps something does need to change? Yes, that horrible c-word...

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Last edited by Ante on 09 Nov 2005, 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ante, that's the nicest thing I've heard in a while.

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.




Eeeek!! I'm not used to that. ::frowns and resumes cynical mask::

I'm not a doctor, but I've played one on TV (sorry, I had to say that)
Seriously....
A small welcoming group is a good idea...just to make sure no one is missed and to help with navigating WP.

Crisis Help would also be good. Perhaps you could get some psychologists and psychiatrists to offer or donate an hour or two a week to WP strictly for general advice and counsel.

I think it would be nice to have para-legals and lawyers that could be on a retainer or possibly might also donate a few hours a week to offer general counsel on legal matters that might help members.

I'm sure these professionals could write their time off as a donation to a charitable organization - WP is considered a non-profit organization isn't it?

How about a place to find the latest grants and scholarships offered yearly. This would be nice for those members that would like to enter college, wish to continue their education or go for vocational training? It would be nice to have a site that you could find this without searching everywhere.

Maybe you could have a small group that could call or write businesses, professionals and the legal/medical fields to see if they could offer their help or give donations...so that it doesn't have to all fall on your shoulders, alex.

I don't know. Perhaps we can even have our own ebay-like community to buy, sell and/or barter for things we need. I'm a pack-rat but I'm old enough to where I'd like to down-size but I'd rather give away many of the things/collections I've loved to someone that shares my enthusiasm for certain items or so others could benefit or profit from them.

I know that some of these ideas are possibly too far fetched, but you asked.

Maybe something good can come out of the Freund incident. Thats how I found this site.

My stepson has many of the symptoms of aspergers, a disorder I never even heard of before the tragedy in Aliso Viejo.

I met his started dating his mom when he was two years old. For the most part he is a good kid, but very introvertered, and socially phobic. He always seemed above average intelligence , yet has these quirky little habits, traces of OCD and sometimes just drifts of into a world of his own. Last year he moved back to Missouri with his dad , which was a mutual decision by all parties concerned, including our son. In the last year, he stays in his room (at his dads houise and our house) playing almost 24/7 on his computer. He refuses to go to school (according to his dad) He has turned very anti social, to the point of not wanting to talk to anybody.

We've taken him to different child psychologists (not psychiatritics). One of them put him on Paxil when he was only 12. The effect was mostly placebo and he was "cured" in two days and took himself of of paxil. Recently his real dad had him on prozac, and after no results after two months (among other factors) he was taken off Prozac.

I'm glad I found this site. I'll probably just lurk for a while, but will occasionally post If I have any questions, people ask me a question or If feel I can add something to a topic.

Thanks

My limited 2 cents (I'm at work) is that there should not be a chat room for people with severe problems. They should be referred off the site immediately, unless you want to purchase a huge liability policy (you should have a small one anyway).
What you could have is a set of moderators (get volunteers - you shouldn't have to pay for it) who review anything that looks iffy - these could be forwarded to them by the current moderators.
The psych mods would make suggestions about what to do, which in most cases should be refer the individual to their local crisis service, social service agency or emergency room.
This would have been my suggestion if the posts of the individual in question had been referred to me.

We should get rid of the Aspie Chess and Puzzles. If not get rid of them, then greatly improve them somehow. Add an option to comment on the Writing and Poetry section. And use something other than Java for the chatroom, it eats up resources. Make me a moderator. There's plenty that can be added to the FAQ, especially the section on lingo. I don't even recognize any of the member names in the Testimonials.

I used to do that, with the official Groars. I may start again.



Just what I happen to be training to be

I'm one too (finished, not training).

I agree with Soma's objection to segmenting members based on post totals. I see no advantage for giving members who post a lot a private forum as opposed to those who don't. Some of us aren't as vocal as others, generally because the majority of posts are social posts, and often a lot of threads where problems interfere in trying to respond in words. There's, like, shy autistics and outgoing autistics, and such segmentation would be similar to ostracising people based on whether they're AS or NT, or AS and HFA.