Published on 12, July, 2020
I would join in with this much more if it was a Closed Forum visible to members only. I would be interested to know how many Lurkers there are out there on an average day. I get enough people sneering at me in the outside world , I don't want it online as well. Anyway, that's why I've not been on here for a while, NEGATIVE THOUGHTS. Best wishes to you. You are all heroes. :)
If there was a closed section as Trogluddite has suggested then I would become a regular participant of this excellent forum. Otherwise I will just be posting photos of trees and talking about my favourite TV shows.
NAS38983. You haven't actually bothered to read my initial comment before replying to it.
Oh dear - I've just signed out and still had access - see what you mean.
I must admit, I had completely overlooked the fact that it was openly searchable to the outside world....hmmmm
After starting our course last week 'Sign to Talk: Sign Language for Autism, Dementia & Learning Disabilities' which is run by a wonderful, inspiring aspie (see I'm learning!), I have discovered this forum and learned so much. So please keep an element open to people like me who are really trying to understand and improve our working environment.
The problem with life ofcourse is that you can expect people to disagree with your opinion. As they might agree with you.
As long as there is a certain degree of respect, there shouldn't be an issue.
But why else express your opinion if not to receive other's opinions?
Let them sneer.
At least we are anonymous here.
My name isn't Robert.
My real name is difficult to spell and pronounce and I have real life problems when people first discover it.
I'd be in favour of there being a section of the forum which could be used that way, definitely. The trouble with making the entire forum like that is that many lurkers are people who are first exploring the idea that they might be autistic, or people who simply don't want to commit to making an account until they're sure that the forum will suit them. The things said on the forum are a gold mine of information for anyone needing to learn more about autism, and I don't have any problem with people accessing it who prefer, or are maybe unable, to contribute.
I do think, though, that an area which isn't visible publicly and cannot be web-crawled is a good idea. People could then better manage their own privacy, which I think is an important matter considering the delicate subjects that we often talk about. A support site should be particularly sensitive to the anxiety that it's use might provoke; even if such fears are objectively minimal, the anxiety is no less real to the user. If that were going to be done, attention should also be paid to views of membership lists and access to profiles.