Voyeurs on Autism

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I guess I could be considered a quasi-lurker, in that I have been a member here for over two years and have a lower post count than most who have been members for two months. If I have something to say (that has not already been said) I will post it, but I do not post just for the sake of posting.

I don't have a problem with lurkers. To me, the idea of posting in a forum like this is to make your thoughts available to others, not necessarily to get a response. You learn by listening, not by talking.

It is actually surprising that I got to the end of this thread. I usually quit threads that become this chatty.

There are a couple of reasons why people lurk. One can be that the person isn't a good speller. He or she might have been on other message boards and gotten ridiculed for it. Another reason could be that the lurker is not a native English speaker and does not feel confident typing in a foreign language.

agrees,
maybe it would be good if WP could add a pop up questionaire accessible by members and non members-asking if they have some form of autism-or another condition that WP is aimed at,what they get out of wp most etc.
they did this on a big mixed disability forum am use [with members with probably every disability represented there] the company mods then announced that the most users were lurkers who just want to read-and ticked that they did not have impairment/disability either.

it is quite common [on WP as well] for researchers to use forums to get their information,so may see them around but not posting.


one reason have thought of is that WP is aimed across the spectrum [all forms of autism],other PDDs,ADHD/ADD,and anything similar-as well as welcoming the families.
-users who do not have aspergers but relate to a lot of stuff, do not always have topics to relate to,especially when topics only ask for specific groups to answer all the time [usually aspergers] even when they could apply to a very wide neurological spectrum so it can limit a lot of answers.

it sounds good in some ways that there may be people without an ASD/unconnected to any neuro condition,reading here as it may help pass on awareness.



that sounds like a pyschologist.

I think someone of you don't realize how many lurkers there are on here and I find it doubt the majority of lurkers are just shy Aspies. Like right now there are 23,567 members (someone just joined in the last minute by the way) yet only 522 are online but only maybe a couple hundred peoples names do you ever see posting. Sure some people have registered multiple times like I did because I registered then decided not to post till I was diagnosed then I forget the name and password I registered with so I re-registered. But even if every one of us registered 4 times that doesn't all add up.

I'm positive at any one time there are at least 100 researchers and psychology students on here just eavesdropping.

<continues to drink his peach snapple while checking peripherally for above mentioned lurkers.

too true!

What's wrong with that?

This is the internet. Anything posted here is for anyone in the world to read; it isn't exactly fair to call people doing so eavsedroppers or voyeurs.

If you want a private conversation, there are better places to have it.

We are all here to learn, and to educate.

A common statment, said in shock is, "But everyone seems so normal!"

We do not live up to our press, or what has been written in textbooks.

In fact, we are rather boring people.

It is not us, it is the world we live in that is strange.

Let them explain the housing bubble, did they really think that the price of anything can go up forever?

Conformity leads to everyone having the same problem at the same time.

Our differance in thought and perception is one of the checks and balances nature built into the system.

We are something this country lacks, a loyal opposition.

Our Minority Report is needed.

well, another thought, is that since we're a worldwide forum (the server ain't on my side of the world, at least), there's always a chance that at least 1/3 of us are asleep...

As most web sites go, that have options to join. you get a large number of people poking their heads in, and then drifting off forever. Heck, if one less person had shown up at the art site I hang out on, I coulda been 'gadfly', my first choice...

Maybe we need an 'inactivity' period, say a year, to cull the people who never returned.

Also, lot of people who registered here, lot of them are sockpuppets or troll accounts, and people who don't go here anymore. Some even join just to make a post and leave.


Anyone remember that 5 year old girl getting kicked out of the restaurant and there was a thread about it, the mother joined here just to tell her side of the story because lot of us were saying she was a bad parent.

I have nothing remotely relevant to contribute to this conversation, but I'm posting a reply anyway.

What if everyone did that on every post?

We'd get to see a lot of avatars.

Well I post but I can account for one of those people connected in the user count even when I am not posting.

There are a few reasons I have

1. As mentioned by others sometimes there is a thread that I feel I can contribute to but the topic has moved on, someone else has said it, it is relevant to an individual post a couple pages back, or the conversation is getting to be more of a personal argument.

2. I do not have a PC available to use so I just have WP open all the time on my smart phone and use it when I have a spare moment. At any given time WP probably sees me as connected but it is probably a minimize browser session on my phone.

3. (related to #2) I frequently start a post but get interrupted and never actually post it.

4. I have been using WP to learn about AS for myself but also about Autism to help me parent my severely autistic son. I spend a lot of time reading posts and older posts in the parents forum. I am very interested in the conversations of parents of children older than mine but do not have anything to contribute.

5. Finally I spend a lot of time reading other old posts that look interesting. The archive has some very good info. Not much to contribute though when the last post is 18 months ago.

I'm not saying that I am typical but I am one of the couple hundred connected but not posting most of the time...

Yet here you are. You always seem to come through no matter how many excuses you make for not being here.

Excuses? You sound like my wife! Or my boss...