Is this place safe for my son?

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I have a son in his early teens with aspergers and was wondering if this is a good place for socializing? I've lurked for a few weeks and have seen insults towards others with autism and not sure if this is the right place or not. My son is vulnerable and has been bullied in school so my question is, if this place isn't good for him then are there any other places online?

I would prefer a place that does not put up with insults directed at people with autism and I don't mind if the place has alot of people or little community, just a place I know won't tolerate bullying.

Thanks!

Stacy

(Proud mom of a bright kid with aspergers)

I've never seen any insults towards autistics in here, I don't know where you've seen that. And yeah this site is safe for him, we don't bite!

My personal opinion (as an Aspie and also a Mum of an Aspie) I wouldn't let my son come here if it's early teens. 15 and above I would think about it. Certain forums have a fair bit of suicide talk, and sexual innuendos etc. Given that it's made up of mostly adults, I wouldn't feel comfortable for my son to be here until he was much older. But I can only speak of my kid, and his maturity level wouldn't be able to handle it.

My advice would be to hang around here for a few weeks yourself and poke around and get a feel for the place.

It's not tolerated. If you see something, send a pm to a moderator.
As of September, the moderators were: Quatermass, lau, SinsBoldly, makuranososhi.

That's true, though, about the mature themes. I don't go to those forums, so I don't see much of it. I would encourage my 16-year-old to hang out. Younger kids I'm not sure.

Aren't the little ones limited to certain forums?

Trust me through my high school years I've been through the same this place to me feels like a safe haven/ Meeting a long lost family

Ditto.
We get some bad trolls from time to time, but they are usually dealt with pretty quickly.

But if you don't like it here, you could maybe check out the autistics.org forums; or the asperger livejournal community (HERE); though the first isn't very active, and I dunno if you'd like the latter any better than here. I'm not too good at judging these things.

There are bullies everywhere so alert your son there are websites for people with AS but don't assume there won't be any bullying or insults because aspies are also capable of doing it too because they are also people.

You should check out www.aspergersworld.com, i feel that it has a better environment than WP.

It is perhaps a matter how you like to educate your son. The most parents do prefer to protect their children from "bad influences" - a minority not.

My parents belonged to the later kind and I must say in retrospective seen it was the best what could happen to me. By letting me exposed to all kinds of insults, adult issues, etc. I learned very early to handle this.

It is perhaps better for him to be a bit shocked or upset now, when he still can rely on parental back-up than later. Children, exposed to adult issues learn very early to act as adults and I would say this much more true for an Aspie, because he needs to handle those issues primary with his intellect.

You write that your child is bright: Fine - than he even faster understand such issues.

---

BTW: The idea that children need any protection against such influences is quite recent and hardly to find prior the second half of the 18th century and was not common prior the 19th century.

Last edited by Dussel on 29 May 2009, 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I believe that if your son inputs his age, he will not be able to access the more "adult" forums that have references to sex, etc. I think his experience should be pretty safe here. I've seen kids of all ages and adults of all ages getting great benefit here.

I agree! I have been loose on the internet since I was about 10 and there were never any negative effects. Of course, I am not very vulnerable, like you say your son is, Stacy. But I think most kids can handle stuff better than they may be given credit for.

And this place, while it's not really a super happy G-rated cuddle-fest, is mostly populated with people who act in a way that is understanding, genuine and good-natured towards one another, which is more than can be said for most places on the 'net. Some members may occasionally pick on each other, but I don't think anyone would pick on a kid. (Unless he's being a jerk or something, in which case he's in for it no matter where he goes.) Plus these people can spell better, collectively, than on any other forum I've EVER seen. Your kid will not pick up bad chatspeak habits here, that's for sure.

Well no place is 100% safe and free from nasty things, but I would say that WP is much less of a bear baiting pit than the majority of the internet.

If you are still unhappy about some nasty names being used, then I would suggest that you consider editing your home router settings to ban any site / page with those words. Some routers will allow you to do that with great ease.

But I warn you that you can ban a lot of harmless things that way, a ban on the word breast will stop a lot of porn but it will also stop you looking at anything to do with breast cancer.

i believe this is a great place for anybody on the spectrum, i enjoy it here, and feel safe, i didnt see any other type of bullying, or maybe im not noticing idk, either way i feel its a good place for ppl on the spectrum and off of the spectrum.

The chris-chan threads suggest otherwise, especially given some statements you have made regarding chris-chan. You made the mose recent post on him today; all you have to do is browse down this very forum to see it. Oh, and your comments regarding supporting ED and all the douchebaggery they do.....

Granted there were others who said similar things.

[quote="BelindatheNobody"
Ditto.
We get some bad trolls from time to time, but they are usually dealt with pretty quickly.[/quote]

and it should note many people are skilled with dealing with trolls due to being on the internet for a while/dealing with trolls. Or being former/current trols themselves who can sniff their own out due to their grammar/dialect they use.



Isn't livejournal full of drama? And IIRC the autism and asperger groups are somewhat that way? Note ive only been on the autism group sayy once. And the sources I use for this information are FAR from unbiased.

lol. you've been in the ghettos of the internet if 'most places on the net' are different. It's funny to see people on one site complain about 'miss manners' (e.g. i can't flame and ban you if you disagree) forums being everywhere. Interestingly enough they piss off several related forums and have gotten invaded by groups in various internet wars...

EDIT: then again, sayy what goes on on SomethingAwful or some of the larger forums.....then again-they're not the whole internet. Hmm.......

Stacymom: Yes, Wrong Planet is great for teenage Aspies too. But understood about your concerns; the Internet can be scary. Check out Wrong Planet's Adolescent Forum for your son and you may wish to accompany him online, of course. I'm certain your son can make WP friends that know about AS. General Autism Discussion is always a good start too. WP can connect him to his 'own kind' and hone his special talents.