Is forum like crowded airport?problematic pragmatics + poll

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I am new here. Looking forward to learning and solidarity.

But the forums are so huge I feel as if I've just walked into a giant assembly when I come to the site.

(I'm glad it's so well set up with separate areas and the capacity to find one's own posts and new posts
quickly.)

Ironically, I also feel like I'm having the same conversational problems as with interaction with NTs in a group.

There's so much going on I can't follow much. And I can't seem to come in at the right time
in order to have people answer me. Or maybe I'm participating in some way that counts as poor pragmatics.
So I feel like it's really hard to start a conversation. Or do I need to introduce myself, add a photo to my avatar and make myself more presentable in some way?

I don't follow everything. I just read the title of the threads and see which ones catch my eye. Then I read the first post. If I am still interested, I read responses. If I want to say something, I post. If not, I don't. If I get tired of following a thread, I quit.

It took me a long time to figure out who was who here. I still am bad at that. But I am bad at names & faces IRL, so it's even worse when all I have is a name and avatar to associate with someone. Oh, well.

There is no one "right way" to interact with this site or the people here. Don't put any pressure on yourself. Take it slow.

If you are starting a thread and want people to respond, I have found it is best to include a question of some kind.

thanks for replying.

So, a question is good. (And the spelling error was not)

If a question involves a controversial topic (e.g., whether some high-functioning autistic people are autistic at all), you will get responses.

I believe you also have to "get to know" certain members of the Forum before you'll get responses from them. It's part of having social anxiety, really.

Your screen name is an attention-getter.

Do you mean my name in particular, or one's name in general??

i'm not sure.. there isn't really much of a clique, or inside jokes, or anything you need to catch up on here. people post topics, they ask questions, they start discussions about stuff, and people join in. there's no right or wrong way to do it.

someone might post something like "do people with autism like cats" and you can join in and be all "yeah, cats are awesome" it's actually really just that easy

All the time I have been on WP and all the posts I have made, 95% I stay here in general autism discussion.

I think having an avatar is helpful in not blending in with the scenery. Lot of ppl here have a username like zxqwj with no avatar and they are like invisible to me. I can not keep track of them. Which is maybe what they want.

And I agree, I have never seen all that much difference between aspie people and nt people on forums as far as general discussion and interaction goes.

There are screen names which are more attention-getting than others. Yours is cool. Others, like Ihateautistics, probably will garner a negative response.

Thanks for replying kraftiekortie... First time in my life something about me is cool!

The deal killer for me is one huge block of text with no breaks. I don't have the patience to wade through it. That is not just here, but on any form.

I read many more posts than I ever reply to.

Before I post I run these three questions through my brain.

Does it need to be said?
Does it need to be said by me?
Does it need to be said by me, at this moment in time?

The three questions I'll run through my head during a really heated thread is..

If it's an opinion, is it worth debating? It's okay for people to disagree.
Is this the best use of my time?
Is this information useful in IRL?

I'm sure others have a different criteria they use for posting. I use the above questions for in real life discussions/arguments. It saves me from getting suck into other people's drama.

I like chickadees, and many other birds.

Chickadees offer a nice sound to WrongPlanet.

Dividing substantial text into paragraphs helps you get responses, too

One thing that sets WP apart from any other forum have been on are the huge posts some make. Even with paragraphs, they take me a long time to get through. There are some threads here that would take me over 2 hours to read.

Yeah, if those posters included a TL;DR it would really help.

One thing that annoys me is the excessive quoting, and quoting of huge messages rather than one section of it. Especially when they quote a wall of text that was literally the post before theirs, rather than using a circumflex: ^

the poll is clear even if it's a small sample: it's getting to know people that matters conversations in the forum.