Moderators

I have seen several replies on posts today that say,

You may like to contact our Autism Helpline team who are best suited to answer.

This is different from normal, and has made me a little uncomfortable, they are posts i have replied to and to me the mod seems to be saying the answers you already have are crap so ring us for the right answer. An i being over sensative? It's hard enough to write in here as it is without feeling like your answer is being negated by an official

  • I'm so are you saying that she didn't mean what she wrote?  So am I over reacting or just being my normal autistic self. If she has written something she doesn't mean then it would be an over reaction, but if she meant what she said then she should have messaged me to tell me to stop spouting crap at people. And posted to my post that it was rubbish or removed them. Or just kick me off. Maybe I should go. I'm going in circles.

    I don't doubt for a moment that the help line when you are able to get through can give expert advice, but surely when you ask a question in forum you are asking for peer advice or experience.

  • Greetings, I am Posting here to very much support what DragonCat16 says as well.

    NAS Moderators generally try to remain "Neutral" (if not aloof). There are a few exceptions, but theyare very few, and I would like to see anyone prove me (us) wrong about the fact that the Moderators, when replied to, generally do not engage - Unlike the WebPM!...

    Not all of us can EMail, but we can Post here. And some of the helpline people may be already here, yet they prefer anonymity, or else invite a flood of replies at them... As with the "feedback" Thread which they have ignored for a very very long time...

  • if they don't have enough staff, then why do they keep telling people to contact the helpline, only to wait on hold forever?It sounds like an exercise in frustration rather than a way to get help with a genuine problem. I realise they are trying to help but it just doesn't work to refer people to the helpline all the time.

    I think you'd be a good moderator. I wonder how moderators are chosen.


  • With the ~


    "You may like to contact our Autism Helpline teams who are best suited to answer"


    ~ it has the optional clause "You may like to . . . " which is fair enough, but stating the "Helpline teams are best suited to answer." appears in the autistic black and white thinking sense very demeaning.

    This might be better considered if understanding of autistic psychology also involved comprehension ~ for it is not enough just to understand what autism is, but comprehending what in the experiential sense autism involves is certainly not easy, most especially when people are not themselves autistic.

    Perhaps remember also that NT's also have communication problems in terms of speaking or writing in abstractly oriented vagaries ~ more especially when not communicating concretely with us ;-)

    Something more befitting might be:


    "You may also find it useful to contact our well trained and resourced advisors on the Autistic Helpline."


    I have got to say that in my experience, doing so has been very worth while. I have found that making three consecutive calls one directly after the other works, with one exception being when they answered straight away!!!  ~ which I was so not prepared for but the advisor was a total and utter bonus about it :-)


  • I think they do not have enough staff.

    I think I would like to be a moderator.

    I think I would really enjoy moderating.

    I wish someone would be interested in me.

    I could also answer the questions on the forum so everyone could see the answers and then new people with the same questions could simply look at the answers that are already posted on the forum.

  • I think that is probably a very logical thing to do.

  • I just thought of something else: why don't some of the helpline people come on here and answer the questions on the forum so everyone can see the answers and then new people with the same questions can simply look at the answers that are already posted on the forum?

  • I also wonder why they advise people to contact the Autism Helpline when I understand that people wait on hold for a long time, and the wait to receive an answer via email is around a month. I think it's better to get answers from people who have gone through the same experiences, because those answers are provided on a much faster timescale. I don't think they are saying the other answers are rubbish, but what is the point of telling people to contact a helpline that is already vastly oversubscribed?