Some advice

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Hi.

A friend of mine is really eager to make friends. He is autistic like I am, but he really does not have any confidence.

I recommended him joining wrongplanet to meet other people like him, but he is really unwilling.

He's nervous of getting trolled, and embarrassed, and I don't know how to get through to him. Any suggestions?

He's really shy, and I keep trying to tell him that the only way for him to make friends is by meeting people like him, and participating in forums or social groups.

He can't be trolled or embarrassed if he doesn't post here. Why not simply invite him to read here. If he reads here for a while he may conclude that this is a safe environment to post in.

I agree with MountainLaurel. Just suggest he read it for awhile. Isn't that what most people do anyway?

There are lots of places where you can be yourself and not have all the stress of wondering if you said something or did something in the right way. He just needs to get around a good group of people (either online or in person) so he can build his confidence. Is he interested in any kinds of nerdcore things? I've been into nerd stuff my whole life and there are pretty much no rules for social behavior EXCEPT no bullying/trolling.

I think it's really cool that you're encouraging him.

I just read and lurked here for a long time before posting.

Aww, bless.

It's nice that he has you, at least.

Maybe he could read the forum and notice specific people that he thought looked friendly judging by their posts, and then he could PM them, thus not leaving himself to exposure to nastiness in the open forum.

Ya, half of my posting is just lurking around looking for something to say...like this