How much do you think before writing a WP post?

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Hello! I haven’t written a post on here yet so I guess my 1rst post will be this: How much do you think before writing a post or a response on here? How much time do you spend on it?

Do you think intricately about all the points you might want to make and plot them out and edit them in a painstaking way? Or is writing your thoughts down fairly easy and natural? Do you have a hard time posting on here at all (if so why)?

More generally how does the art of communicating in writing compare to the art of conversation for you? Do you find it easier to express yourself in writing?

(When writing) I think I have something to say but trying to work it out causes me to concentrate to the point where my head gets hot and starts to spin. My stomach also gets jittery. (I get this same sensation when making decisions or doing creative tasks). It takes me a very long time to try to write something and then I don’t usually finish/post it anyway. Anyone else experience this? I do want to try to poin in however b/c I find a lot of the discussions on here interesting.

Well anyway that was a funny way to introduce myself but hi. I am a 30 year old woman diagnosed with aspergers around 2 1/2 years ago. I have been hanging around wrong planet a while now (even though I just made the account) so I decided to stick my neck out and say hi. Hi.

Hi Thunderstorms - Welcome aboard!

Posting for me is very easy. I think more about what I write in the real world than I do here. I just pretty much let her rip. My issue is communicating with people once I get out in the real world. I'm not far off what you are. At work, 90% + of my communication is by reports or email. When I do need to communicate orally, I have to build myself up a lot to make sure I am mentally rehearsed to get out what I need (kind of like remembering a script), otherwise I stumble and stammer and may speak gibberish at times (like I did last week with my boss).

I try to put some thought into what I attempt to write.

it depends on the post. some flow easily. sometimes i'll come back to a thread a few times before I write anything.

It usually takes me a few seconds to think of something. But if it requires something to really think about, or requires a picture/video to post, it takes me a little longer than that.

No more than 60 seconds. If I can't come up with an appropriate reply by then, it's probably not worth replying at all.

It is variable. Sometimes it is just a few seconds and at other time it requires a few minutes. Generally, I first need to decide whether I can contribute something useful. Sometimes I choose not to post because I am afraid that some of my personal thoughts on a subject might be deemed inappropriate, or perhaps viewed as being too extreme, or worse yet as contributing to anothers problem.

Example: This post required less than a second for me to decide to post a reply and about a minute to write.

I generally write something pretty quickly, but regard it as a rough draft, and go over it a couple more times, cleaning up anything that jumps out at me. I disregard this for short, stream-of-consciousness posts, or if I don't feel it warrants such scrutiny.

I tend to post very carefully on these forums and actually edit and censor myself often because there are members who like to make you rue the day you were born. This means I don't post exactly as I want and make my posts "family friendly" and "politically correct." Yes, being on the spectrum, I'm expected to have a communication deficit, but it's not always forgiven here.

Most of the time I just post whatever comes to mind at the moment, it works fine and I am usually able to say what I mean just fine, and most of those benefit from being spontaneous. I make an exception for debates though, usually PPR. Whenever I post something longer than two paragraphs, chances are I've been walking around the house thinking about how will its structure be, considering the other people's points and either refuting them or assimilating them and changing my own opinions to accommodate them, saying what comes to mind is not enough in those cases. Sometimes I can spend a whole day preparing a reply
Oh, and welcome to wp!

I also come back to a thread a few times before I post.... Maybe 3 or 4 times. Because I really try to put my thoughts together properly. I have a very hard time trying to explain myself and get upset if I didn't write what I wanted to say as clearly as possible.

But when I have exactly what to write in my head I just last a few seconds. This is a case.

Last edited by Sanduru on 02 Jul 2013, 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This is how I feel. (took me 10 seconds to latch onto this notion. Thanks Fnord!)

As a quick addition (after a little more time thinking about it), I do take some time to read and consider the other stances before I jump off. Usually, I'm building a response in my head as I read other posts, but, if a response particularly strikes me, I may jump off that track completely and answer that one directly.

Thanks all. It seems like there is some variation but most people are on the quicker end posting. It is good that it isn't too hard for most people to express themselves on here. Many people seem articulate so I wondered if that was hard thought out or just natural talent . Posting can easily take me hours. It often ends up being frustrating. I don't think I am trying to obscure what I mean, just trying to figure it out, but it gets into this obsessive territory that I don't enjoy and have a hard time extricating myself from. Yes, I agree it is good to be spontaneous or just say things as they occur to you in the moment. Things can often come out more honestly this way. Spontaneity is a beautiful thing if you can manage it. I'm not a very spontaneous person and I find it hard to make spontaneous conversation although sometimes I do when I am super relaxed or confident . I will try to be quicker if only to avoid my head exploding. Well, excuse the ramble about myself. I was just curious how others were about all this. Seems like my difficulty expressing myself in writing is more of a me thing than an autism thing (I thought difficulty putting thoughts into words might be sort of a thing for people on the spectrum...but dunno, could go the opposite way if I think about it...not sure). Anyway, thanks for the responses!

Welcome
Between 10 seconds and 45 minutes

No problem. And hey, every autie is different. Some have problems putting thoughts into words, some don't. I surely have some problems because I love grammar though I sometimes don't get the mistakes I do and when I read my posts again (Up to 9 times a month) I sometimes find mistakes and correct them. No matter how silly they are.

I hate posting on here as it takes me a lot of effort to get what I am thinking into words...
I run out of things to say rather quickly.