What is the purpose of this forum?

My feeling is that autism should be the primary focus here. There does seem to be a lot of 'off-topic' discussions being started of late, and honestly I feel that those shouldn't be here.

I get that social media and other platforms can be stressful and even toxic — that's the main reason why I left those spaces — but bringing such discussions here risks bringing the stress and toxicity along too.

The only exception would be where other areas of life — politics, social care, education, etc. — intersect with the lives of those of us on the spectrum, but some moderation would be required.

Regarding the 'free speech' aspect… I think some folks too often think that it's something just for them, not for others. In reality, your 'freedom' to spout nonsense if also my freedom to call you an idjit.

Yes, people can and should vent, within the rules of this forum, and discuss how to support themselves and/or others. That, to my mind, is the main benefit of this space — chances are that someone else here has been in that situation too.

SpiffyVoxel said:

I get that social media and other platforms can be stressful and even toxic — that's the main reason why I left those spaces — but bringing such discussions here risks bringing the stress and toxicity along too.

That's my concern. I'm trying (not always successfully) to ignore the stuff that isn't autism-related.

The last thing I want to encounter here is the sort of 'free speech' that takes no account of whether it hurts others. I feel that an autism forum needs to be a safe space, which may mean safe from the sort of opinions we see on social media about non-autistically-related social issues. I've moderated groups on social media and I understand how difficult that can be in terms of rules and sheer hours put in to govern a site, but it may be that we need some boundaries around this. I wouldn't want to see it going so far that it breaks this forum.

SpiffyVoxel said:

I get that social media and other platforms can be stressful and even toxic — that's the main reason why I left those spaces — but bringing such discussions here risks bringing the stress and toxicity along too.

That's my concern. I'm trying (not always successfully) to ignore the stuff that isn't autism-related.

The last thing I want to encounter here is the sort of 'free speech' that takes no account of whether it hurts others. I feel that an autism forum needs to be a safe space, which may mean safe from the sort of opinions we see on social media about non-autistically-related social issues. I've moderated groups on social media and I understand how difficult that can be in terms of rules and sheer hours put in to govern a site, but it may be that we need some boundaries around this. I wouldn't want to see it going so far that it breaks this forum.