Do you regard posts in here as just ....

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... a bunch of text written by a person with a particular name.

Or as a person - as in : something more real than the above.
IOW, do you think of the poster in the same way as you would a person physically sitting in front of you ?

I think I'm pretty Aspergoid on this one, as I don't really think much about how what I write will be taken.

Not out of hostility or even inconsideration - but because tailoring posts to the potential sensibilities of others is highly time-consuming and severely likely to get in the way of a useful debate.

I know I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more detached than the overwhelming majority of posters.

Most posters appear to possess a kind of 'enemy or friend' mindset, which to my mind demonstrates a high degree of socialisation.

By contrast, I don't really care whether someone cares about upsetting me or not - only about what he has to say.

It's like I'm on a mission to reach the truth in the shortest time possible.
All other considerations as the science officer in 'Alien' said, are secondary.

I guess what I'm saying here is that I don't use the forum as an opportunity to socialise in any way at all.
And thus, fail to meet even the most basic 'standard' of socialisation (were there such a thing) of the forum.

I do take what everyone has to say seriously and I do my best to try and read the long posts but I have a hard time following the multi-paragraph posts on the computer. I'm trying to get to know the people on here better and I'm trying to gain a better understanding of individual personalties. I am keenly aware that for every name there is a person at a computer somewhere else that has an entire life of their own though.

Yeah, I have the same problem with the no-paragraph posts.

It's not either/ or for me. It's like asking, do you think, or do you feel? I do both.

There are real people here with real feelings. There are posers here just seeking attention. There are trolls here seeking to upset others. I have to sort them out. I have to have an 'enemy or friend' mindset, though it's enemy or friend of the (Wrong) Planet. I would rather not. Personally, I have no enemies, but it is necessary, for the well-being of the community, for someone to make these evaluations, regardless of personal spiritual principles. A certain level of detachment is required.

Difficult path to tread, that one.
I mean it's never gunna be the same for a mod.
I know, 'cos I used to mod a PC-overclocking forum.
I found it divested the trip of all fun, forcing you to adopt a parental role.

Some mods enjoyed it for the power trip (and in my mind, abused their position) - but I never got off on it, as I find genuinely free discussion much more stimulating than playing the role of respectable paternal type.

Wasn't long before I jacked it in.

I think underneath, I'm PROFOUNDLY feral and unsocialised.

Shoot, now I'm scaring myself. : eek:

Exactly. Virtually no one appreciates that fact.

I treat all forum members as “real” people, mostly because they all are, even if some of them pretend otherwise.

Of course, treating someone as a real person doesn't necessarily mean to treat him/her well. There are nice people, there are idiots, and there are the ones who, though potentially nice, for reasons only known to them, act like idiots. I treat each one accordingly, mostly because, one way or the other, they decide how to talk to others, and in doing so, they're automatically deciding how to be talked to by others -even if some people don't quite seem to actually understand the concept of reciprocity.

Hehe.
I'm so enjoying not being a mod.

To the mod/s in question : -

BTW, are you moving my posts to low-traffic forums (without even marking them as 'Moved') to isolate me ?

Should I take it as a veiled warning ?
Or are you having ethical issues with a straightforward ban ?

I am not here to make any individual contact either. When I first started reading and posting here, I had trouble seeing anyone as a 'real person'...just ideas and opinions on a page. Now that I have been here a little while, I am starting to see a select few as individuals. The rest are still just words to me.

Not at all. In the last few hours I moved a bunch of stuff from General Autism Discussions that have nothing to do with autism. You're not being singled out.

You put it much better than I did.

But yeah, wouldn't it be great if the posts could be separated from the poster ?

You know - once posted, the emotional connection to the poster is cut.

THAT would be the most kick-a$$ forum on the web.

No more flame-wars, no more personal politics .... makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, just thinking about it.

I find people just waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too political and many just seem to be waiting for the opportunity to stick an axe in the back of anyone who doesn't share their world view.

Not even Aspie-forums are exempt from that.
I guess it's too integral a part of human nature - Aspoidal or not.

Last edited by MemberSix on 31 Aug 2008, 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Excellent.

First off : Thanks for not flying off the handle at my post.
Second : That's a relief.

(I know I haven't always been the most uncontroversial poster - which I guess, keeps the mods occupied).

It is kinda the same for me, just in reverse order
What I mean is that when I started here, I wanted individual contact, and I got some, so posts I read were very personal and real to me than just text, now, I am starting to see them just as ideas and opinions, with few exceptions of course.

For some people posts here may be just opinions or just pure text to waste some time to read, but for others it may be very real, even more than real life interaction to them, depending on their social situations and the desire contact or friendship they might want I suppose. So I believe it depends on each individual.