Any chance of the mods calming down a bit.

Goatworshiper said:

On the internet it is very easy to log on everytime a person gets a wave of thought.

I'm probably guilty of that. 

Longman (as per usual) has expressed this brilliant.

I'd like to add flamer's/troll's could probably be spotted by how many posts they make and in what type of discussion. Also I'd guess at how long they stick about here.

I think we also need to be a bit clearer on the political front. For instance I would say it is perfectly acceptable to give a view of a policitician or party that may not be nice, if it's relevant it dissability etc. I wouldnt think it was accecptable if some one was trying to recruit or encourage a particular party. Having revolutionary thought and joining in with revolutionary action are seperate issues. I can't say I've ever seen any political spam on here (which is good).

At this point I would completely like to distance myself from any party as I think they are all corrupt in the UK and for me personally I try and choose the least worst at that point in time.

When threads go on and on, I sometimes wether that is a combined matter of frustration and mental processing. In real life when we discuss things we walk away and the conversation is over. On the internet it is very easy to log on everytime a person gets a wave of thought.

I did point out on one of these threads earlier that telling people to email NAS directly about complaints was not best advice (not least, and I know you guys are busy and funds are constrained, but I haven't got replies a lot of times).

As others have said the site is valuable for airing the difficulties we all feel, recognising than some of us are dealing with particularly strong feelings. Perhaps we need a section set aside for venting really strong feelings that carries some warning to unfamiliar visitors that that room has the strong stuff in it.

While one function is to serve adults with autism, there are also parents of autistic children using the site, who are trying to help youngsters mainly, and who aren't really wired into what it is going to be like for their children in 20, 30 or 40 years time.

Where I do worry, and have aired comment, often rather cryptically with apologies to those who felt I was sticking my nose in, is when we get flamers - people coming on to stir things up deliberately (who may but often do not have autism), and people who like to run endless dialogues when they are not genuine (which let's face it also happens in NT discussion rooms/chat rooms).

We may also have to recognise these anonymous organisations that like busting in on disability discussion groups, who clearly don't care a jot about the intended beneficiaries of the room when they threaten to corrupt the website if we don't role over and lick their boots. I don't personally care if they raise disability issues, as one contributer said, they are mostly selfish individuals.

The other bugbear I hope the moderators will come in on are the political factions and fundamentalists tryig to hijack the site for political purposes.

But we do need some accommodation for people on the spectrum who have difficulty expressing their feelings, and difficulty understanding their own environments, even if that occasionaly means the moderators get some unfair stick. It is a site for people with real difficulties processing the information and sensations NTs take for granted.

With the greatest of respect. What was likely to have been Stuffed blowing some steam, would have more than likely fell down the posts. It ended up being a comprehensive detailed post that spiralled, I think removing his original post probably added to his frustration and made him more determined. I know my mind works in a similar way.

I don't think anyone would disagree that name calling, abuse and what went on the next thread needed ending. In another forum it probably would have stayed, but I accept some things are different here.

I think everyone also accepts thats threads that are discrimitory would be ended.

Maybe new job enthusiasm?

If I'm blunt I find it patronising. 

Hi Goatworshiper,

We hope we're not overzealous. Moderating a forum can sometimes take careful judgement, and we know that not all users will agree with our decisions.

We take the needs of our users seriously, especially those on the spectrum. In the case of the thread with the video link, we felt that the lack of context would make it hard to have a discussion. We want to make sure that users can participate easily. Threads don't have to be about autism and related conditions, but overall, the forum is supposed to support people on the spectrum and their friends and families. I suggested that Stuffed might like to start a wider discussion including the link, and he did.

It's important to keep this forum a welcoming place. This means we need to avoid moderating too heavily, but also make sure that users don't make it unwelcoming for others. So we will remove links to sites promoting hatred and discrimination, and we may choose to close threads which have degenerated into arguments.

I'm happy to say that most of the time, we don't need to do any of those things.

Thanks for participating!

Alex R - mod

PS: I can confirm that Jim V has left, and that I have taken over his role. It's good to be here.

Scorpion0x17 said:

Particularly in the General Chat forum - "

 "This thread doesn't seem to have anything to do with ASD" - 

And if you're going to go down that road, that would surely mean that Hobbies and Special interests should be closed down completely - because, althought intense interests are often associated with having an ASD, ...very often actually anything to do with ASD.

yes , i saw something like that , on the general chat thread, and it did seem a bit strange as it IS general chat, and says its about anything you want, and i saw a 'thats not about autism' type of reason, i was perplexed at that

either you can chat or you can't, in a "general chat" section, would be nice if that was clear, and thats coming from an nt

Goatworshiper said:

Ok some threads have gone outta of hand, I accept that. I understand the name calling points. But the mods other than Colin Cat and Jim V (who I think has gone) seem very overzealous in my opinion.

Im thinking of the one in particular when Stuffed put a link and said it was his life. I could be wrong but I'm fairly certain that having articulation problems and struggling with social immagination are part and parcel of Autism. The mods also seem to forget that frustration can be part in parcel of Autism.

Sorry but you seem poor in my opinion.

well, i havent been here that long to know any details i think your mention about frustration being part of autism a really valid point

it has to be rememberd, even by mods, that this site IS for autistics as well as about autism, and if they need to vent, then they should be allowed, thats what the help is supposed to be there for, making autistics lives a wee bit easier in some way, and if venting a bit of frustration does that, then it should be 'allowed' on here

but , its also a fair point on the mods behalf that this is a public site and anyone can see it, so its still got to be 'appropriate'

I do also feel that some of the recent mod decisions have been a little over-zealous.

Particularly in the General Chat forum - "Our place for general chat about whatever's on your mind" it says, but the primary reason given for locking one thread was "This thread doesn't seem to have anything to do with ASD" - so should the General Chat forums description actually be "Our place for general about whatever's on your mind as long as it's only about ASDs"?

And if you're going to go down that road, that would surely mean that Hobbies and Special interests should be closed down completely - because, althought intense interests are often associated with having an ASD, discussion about those interests aren't, by there very nature, very often actually anything to do with ASD.