why is this site not so busy?

Yes i know exactly what you mean and thanks longman xx

I worry a bit that the site might be intimidating - just giving myself as an example, because I post responses on here a lot, not always coming over as friendly as maybe I ought, it might make people afraid to post for fear of replies that make them feel foolish or antagonise them.

Trouble is it is a forum that invites involvement. Would it get any better if I shut up for a while?

Many topics have been discussed many times over, and you can get answers to most things searching back. For those who have been on a while it is tempting to be unduly irritated when someone new asks a question that has been discussed before. The classic example is "my child is good as gold at school but makes merry hell at home" which is a very important issue for many parents. Sometimes replies have opened up with "see previous postings" or "see sticky" or an indignant "this has just been discussed", which is not very helpful to the enquirer, whose own personal circumstances might not match previous postings.

Also the issue has been raised before that the site divides rather informally and loosely between parents of children on the spectrum on one hand, and adults on the spectrum on the other. There is quite a lot of potentially useful cross-over. However there have always been strong differences of opinion between parents' groups, who seem to argue that adults are taking money away from them, and adults including adult diagnosed, who feel defensive.

I suspect some parents think we adults go on about nothing, or why weren't we "cured" as is still supposed to happen after all that effort in teens? Are adult diagosed correspondents just inadequates who fancy the idea they might be on the spectrum, which notion I'll bet goes unsaid on here, but lurks in the background.

Consequently I don't thiink many parents take to advice coming from adults on the spectrum.

Also like all sites there are ups and downs. This site can be very busy for a few months at a time, then quiet for a while. We are certainly going through a lull.

The forum is also driven to some extent by current issues (the benefits reviews for example), and there haven't been so many lately.

Thanks crystal i like this site,just wish it was busier and thanks for your response on my other posts,they have been very helpful. xx

Sometimes it's more busy than other times.  A non-autistic parenting site is obviously going to be busier because there are a lot more children who aren't autistic.  Also parents can be busier looking after their children than parents of the non-autistic.  Some parents get worn out.  Some people just want to read the posts, links etc to get the info they want without signing up + contributing.  Also there are other autistic sites on offer - see home pg.