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Creating an online autistic community- not NAS based

Ausomely Autistic

Hi neurokin! I have just been thinking about how we could create another virtual autistic community that is not NAS based and therefore entirely autistic led.

I know there are many other autistic communities online for example on Reddit, Facebook and Twitter but I am not sure these types of communities allow for the depths of discussions we have here.

I would like to keep some of the topics we have in this community but also include others. These could be: Dedicated interests, Autistic Joy, Self care, Work and Employment and any others that you would be interested in.

Who would be interested in this?

Does anyone know how to start building an online community platform?

Thank you!

  • Hi neurokin! 

    I have just started to create an initial forum! What do you think?

    https://autopia.freeforums.net/board/1/general-discussion

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Unknown said:
    When I have achieved that level of understanding of the bad bits, whilst I could then try something new that might have less bad bits, initially, i would not know what they were and therefore could get "caught" by new unexpected traps or downsides

    Thanks for explaining, I understand now.

  • in reply to Autonomistic
    Autonomistic said:
    From the list here it sounds like the best option might be 'Art and Culture', as it is part of autistic culture.

    Yes thanks! Great idea!

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    Disambiguation = Whilst I know that there are many things that are less than ideal about this forum, I know what all those things are ie. I know all the bad bits = I know the devil of it.  When I have achieved that level of understanding of the bad bits, whilst I could then try something new that might have less bad bits, initially, i would not know what they were and therefore could get "caught" by new unexpected traps or downsides.

    Therefore - I generally run by a mantra that says "Better the devil you know."

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    I'm not sure as I've only been a user, not actually set up a forum. I don't think it really matters which category you use as long as the people who want to use it can find the forum.

    From the list here it sounds like the best option might be 'Art and Culture', as it is part of autistic culture.

    https://www.proboards.com/forum-directory

    I suspect you might not want to use health as that is too pathologising.

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic

    If there's anything under 'health' or 'general discussion' or something, I'd just go with that.

  • in reply to Ausomely Autistic
    Ausomely Autistic said:
    Do you realise that this community is in itself a form of social media?

    Yes I suppose it is. I was thinking of the big platforms (Facebook, X, Instagram, etc) when I used the term social media. They're all alien to me as I've only ever used forums Alien

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    Hi I have just tried using Proboards and it asks you to describe the forum category but known of the categories listed are relevant!

  • in reply to HMO
    HMO said:
    I would prefer it if this forum had the same kind of traditional message board layout, as it'd just be easier to keep up with.

    Yes, it is quite easy to lose track of replies and discussions as they progress so quickly.

  • in reply to Autonomistic
    Autonomistic said:
    I quite like the idea of another community that isn't based on social media, as I don't have any social media accounts and don't intend to. However being very monotropic I do prefer one thing at a time and am not sure I have the bandwidth to use another forum in addition to this one.

    Great! Yes I understand as I am monotropic too! Do you realise that this community is in itself a form of social media?

    Autonomistic said:

    I believe there are various free forums available such as the ProBoards one mentioned above. I've used that in the past in relation to one of my interests and it seems to work quite well.

    https://www.proboards.com/create-free-forum

    Setting up the platform is probably going to be the relatively straightforward part. It's the ongoing moderation that will be more difficult.

    Thanks for this recommendation, very helpful!

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    I run a private ProBoards forum and it's fairly easy to navigate but it's not that busy, there's only about 20 of us who are regularly active and I don't have to do that much 'moderating' per se.

    But yeah, I think with this sort of thing it's about what might be something that people are looking out for.

    I would prefer it if this forum had the same kind of traditional message board layout, as it'd just be easier to keep up with.

  • I quite like the idea of another community that isn't based on social media, as I don't have any social media accounts and don't intend to. However being very monotropic I do prefer one thing at a time and am not sure I have the bandwidth to use another forum in addition to this one.

    I believe there are various free forums available such as the ProBoards one mentioned above. I've used that in the past in relation to one of my interests and it seems to work quite well.

    https://www.proboards.com/create-free-forum

    Setting up the platform is probably going to be the relatively straightforward part. It's the ongoing moderation that will be more difficult.

  • in reply to HMO

    Thanks for letting me know!

  • You can create a message board. ProBoards is one I've used since I was 12 (!) and is fairly easy to get the hang of.

    You can also make it invite-only if that's what you want.

  • in reply to Deleted User

    Hi Number 

    Thanks for your feedback.

    Unknown said:
    I'm firmly within the "better the devil you know" camp in ALL things.

    What do you mean by this?

    Unknown said:
    Not a fan of change, unless I really have to.

    I completely understand!

  • Ausomely Autistic said:
    Who would be interested in this?

    I'm firmly within the "better the devil you know" camp in ALL things.

    Not a fan of change, unless I really have to.

    Accordingly, it won't surprise you to hear that I'm a "stick" not "twist" type.