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. :)
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.
I must admit, I had completely overlooked the fact that it was openly searchable to the outside world....hmmmm
Oh dear - I've just signed out and still had access - see what you mean.