Criticism of this site.

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Sorry, I really tried to like this site.

1) This site is filled with spammers and obnoxious attention seekers and completely useless threads. I feel like that I cannot post a thread without worrying about it going to obscurity by the next day, where it ends up on page 7 or so. And the mods here are incompetent and immature (except for maybe Graelwyn). I know that we all like to play games, but then there is playing games and then there is going out of control.

2) Doesn't this site have some sort of security system? Or a censor system for that matter? For one, I notice that just about anybody can walk into the adult forum. Also, as I was looking at threads in this section, I run into some posts with profanity on it. That's right, uncensored profanity for all to see (e.g. the thread C**TS).

3) I am seeing a bunch of advertising banners everywhere on this site. Sometimes they are adult in nature. Why is this? Usually you see stuff like this on some third party site (in which I have to lower my security setting to view these sites in the first place. I had to do the same with this site). I use Firefox nowadays because their adware blockers are much more effective.

Pretty much, this is really a poor quality site. I find it really stressful to be here, and this site really isn't civil at all. And the so-called Haven doesn't offer any real help either.

And one more thing I would like to tell you: I remember surveying this site way back when and as I was on here, somebody hacked into my computer (I eventually kicked him out) and email address and apparently used it to do all sorts of screwy things with it (I got an email from both Wrongplanet and Ebay regarding an account I did not create, for example).

Okay, so I did a quick peek at the length of time that threads are sitting on the front page. In the Autism/Asperger's discussion area, the oldest first page thread is more than 24 hours. In the member's only section, it goes back about a week. These are a couple of the most heavily used non-spam discussion areas, and this on a weekend (when posting tends to be highest).

This all harkens to the fundemental strength and weakness of this site, which is the sheer size, in number of participating members. Certainly there are other AS-themed sites which have lower posting quantities, but primarily because they are smaller. It's a double edged sword.

As to civility, there is an interesting boundary as to protecting people from being insulted or offended, and allowing freedom of speech. If anything, I would argue for more freedoms. The one clear area where attacks are NOT allowed is within the haven, but even here, some leeway must be allowed, to enable members to vent - as long as they are not directly attacking one another.

Yeah, that was Atomika most likely. He's a fabled one around here (whenever he shows up). WP also got hacked one time and the title got changed, and it wasn't put back until about 7 hours later. Alex, the guy who runs the site, is still in college, and also tutors (I think) another Aspie so that takes up even more time. It makes me think he should have an assistant to help out.

I agree that the bot should be upgraded, I could say s*** right here 5 times and not get noticed (not that I'm going to do that). Also, WP is global, spanning regions like America, Canada, NZ (where I am), Britain, Sweden, heck, we even have a user in Iraq posting some times in between fighting the good fight in Iraq (or stupid fight, depending on which way you look at it).

On the forums, they're not too bad. I find however I can barely stand coming back here after 2 days due to the sheer amount of stuff people have posted (double-edge thing again).

LIES. There is nothing bad about WP.

Wrongplanet has it's faults, as does any other forum... you will be hard pushed to find perfection on any forum, let alone one of this size... I mean, 10,000 members is a lot, even if nowhere near the total of those are posting regularly. It is an awful lot to keep a watch on. I, personally, do not see spammers... not what I would term true spammers. There are some members who only like to post in the games and the less serious threads, but I do not see spamming. Spamming, to me, is the sort of thing Atomika posted that disrupted the forum. IF the forum were being disrupted at this time, we would know of it as others would be posting to complain.

The security... I do not know about that, but would agree that maybe minors should have to have some special registration process to so as they cannot get into the adult areas...but then again, even that isn't foolproof as anyone can lie about their age etc. You simply cannot totally lock out kids. If they want to get on a forum, they will.

The moderators are a mixture of ages and maturity, but all are fairly familiar to various segments of the membership, which hopefully makes us seem less like some alien force working behind the scenes. Some of us maybe are younger, but I do not see any among us as being immature in the way they mod.

I would say that, in the end, as with life in general, you have to take the rough with the smooth. I tried just about every aspie forum there is out there before I settled here. I found the membership here more diverse, more relaxed and more like a true community where people actually do get familiar with one another and offer support as best they can. For me, at present, the good outweighs the bad.

Maybe, if you find it so bad, you might like to try a few others and see if they are more suited to you, though I would point out, they will have their plus and minus points also.

I take your insults to my modship personally.