WrongPlanet is the only place I can comfortably communicate.

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I have belonged to several online forums besides the WrongPlanet including a critics site on theme parks, a roller coaster forum, a couple forums on dulcimers, a model train forum, another autism forum, and a photography forum or two (and some more forums). But, I find myself only comfortable to communicate on the WrongPlanet (the other autism forum is great too, but I haven't done much there although I would like too). Even though I play dulcimers well and perform on them publicly, I just cannot get into the conversations with the other dulcimer players on those forums. And the same with the other forums and their subject matter which happens to be an interest to me. The dulcimer players for example talk a lot about tablature and their standard methods of playing techniques. Well, I don't use tablature and I am not a standard type of player---I have my own style. My skill with music came as a result of talent savant abilities. My knowledge of roller coasters came from me as a child looking at statistics for roller coasters and discovering that I memorized without trying the statistics of every roller coaster in North America. I am not typical. Therefore I am not comfortable with conversing with other enthusiasts in those areas. Only with the WrongPlanet have I found my comfort zone in online forums. I even have a Myspace and Facebook account---but I rarely do anything with them---I sure don't get into the socializing with them. But here on WrongPlanet I can communicate with you. Perhaps it is because I am with others like me, autistic, and different than the majority of the world. We have so much in common, but yet we have differences. We are so diverse, but so alike. We are the WrongPlanet. Anyone else relate to my experiences with other forums not autism related?

Ditto! I've found that if you don't have the same opionion as everyone else, you are easy pickings. I was severely cyber bullied on a Lion King (my main special intrest) site and on a form speficaly for bullying people on a My Little pony fourm. http://ponylandcatfights.com/viewtopic. ... t=kalahari Kalahari Meerkat was my name on the My Little Pony Arena.

I agree with PunkyKat. I got bullied a bit on a roller coaster forum because my tastes in roller coasters was different than the majority of the group. I enjoy some of the smaller older wooden roller coasters and I would rate them high. Then members would post bullying type remarks and stating they didn't understand how anyone could rate that ride that high. Then there was a roller coaster I didn't like and wow did I ever get attacked on that.

If you don't like the Lion King Broadway show, or want to know why Timon is so unpopular you are requared as a freak and targeted like it's a sport. In the Lion King fan community, Timon isnt a very popular character. Hmm, I notice Timon has a lot of AS traits, I bet they hate real life people with AS as well.

Hi, glider18. I can relate ~ I remember reading a few of your other posts, on this site, and can relate to some of those, too

I have found I can socialise on Facebook, which I first got onto in order to keep in contact with family - interstate and overseas cousins, mainly - though recently I've had to take a break from it; I can get fixated on many things, socialising included ! !

I do relate to your musical experiences. I learnt classically as a child, but.. there are many areas I just do not fit into because I learn differently from others. Some might say I have a 'savant' type vocal talent (no one has ever used that word though), yet a couple of years ago I got nothing out of paying for lessons from the best teacher around, because I'm 'unteachable'. I also got into art school after only ever painting 3 or 4 times. Just a local art school, a reasonable one, but nothing top-of-the-country I guess.
Unfortunately I've never been able to finish degree courses because (I know now) I can't cope properly in classrooms.
I also found it difficult a few years ago, trying to join bands (why, oh why, I don't know). Impossible. It seems to involve conversations I don't understand or really wish to participate in.

Currently I'm receiving help from a wonderful psychologist to (hopefully) complete an Engineering degree. The toughest part is trying to fit in and meeting the criteria they want. So, I'm getting help with it and trying to sort through it.

I mostly stick with sites I can really communicate openly on ~ this one, and some aspie sites and friends on Facebook. Many of the people I communicate with the best are actually on the other side of the planet from me, which suits me perfectly ! !
However, I sometimes ultimately find the same thing with non-aspie sites - it's hard to have in-depth discussions with those who are not reasonably close to my 'wavelength'

Thank you Mysassyself for your comments. You sound like a fascinating person and I hope you can get your degree. There's nothing wrong with going to a psychologist for help. I underwent therapy myself in 2008 and 2009. It can definitely help. And a lot of things you can figure out yourself after the therapy, like, "Oh, I understand now why I think that way." With my approximate year of organ lessons my teacher basically took the philosophy to let me play my way. I am thankful to have had her as a teacher because she allowed me the freedom to develop the way I needed to. It's neat you underwent a similar experience. I enjoyed your post and wish you the best with the degree---please stick with it and get it.

Hi PunkyKat. The roller coaster that got me in a lot of trouble (similar to your Lion King experience) was the Son of Beast at Kings Island (about 2 hours from where I live). I don't like the ride. And I took a lot of bullying/ abuse over it. Then members would look at my profile and check my ratings and post comments about looking at my profile and making fun of my choices for favorite roller coasters. It's interesting that that site is rarely posted to anymore by anyone.

Yes, thanks glider18.

I do get a lot out of reading of people's similar experience to mine. I think I was lucky to have had a similar experience with my piano teachers ~ the 'main' one I had, had rooms full of sheet music and was wonderfully kamp (gay) and eccentric. He would give me expressive, more unusual pieces and wouldn't let me play Chopin or anything like that, because he said people always had their own ideas of how they ought to be played, implying that I would not have played them 'right'. Which, I liked. Turned out I was a little better at voice (less physical co-ordination than piano, I guess - my technique wasn't great and my left hand is just slow; there's more to 'unlock' going from the mind to the hands) than piano, but goodness I still love pianos.
It's important, to relate these things, because otherwise people can end up thinking they're 'dumb' or 'wrong' ~ I've certainly had moments like those, at times! Perhaps it's loneliness, as a representation of a pervasive need, that causes us illusions. I believe there's a balance, with all of us ~ even if I enjoy and need solitude, as I do, I still have human constitution and must balance my functions.
It would be interesting to model such functions, I think. Autistic-type function and thought process just have different shape to 'NT'.

afterthought ~ as an aside, I ever learnt to communicate and post on here through 'copying' ! ! My friend millie 'taught' me.

I'm glad.

Geeze, I always liked Timon.... Guess I should stay away from Lion King forums...

~Kate

Wow---Millie---I learned a lot from her too. I miss talking to her. She's a special person. I hope she is doing well.

She is doing well, this I know.

And she is a very special person, this I doubly know; in fact, in many ways I just don't know what would have happened without her. She has lots of projects going on I believe.

I lurk in some forums and post a bit here and there, and I find lots of people that are judgemental and they can be extremely emotional .
It can be quite juvenile when they tenaciously cling to erroneous conclusions.

As Mr. Spock would say: "Stop thinking with your glands Dr. (McCoy)."

I feel the same Glider. I have been on many many forums before. Even forums that were especially designed for my hobbies, but it seemed like even though I shared their hobbies I couldn't properly connect to them. It was like my passion towards the hobby was more than theres. And none of them knew what I was going through or cared for what I was going through. I finally feel connected here, like I can share experiences and be glad people experience them as well.
I don't feel like I'm crazy any more. I just discovered AS and this site and realized a lot of what the people who have AS experience, I experience as well. I have always experienced these. But its now a question on how to convince my family I have it. But its great to feel a connection and that I can fit somewhere.
I got banned on other forums simply because I couldn't understand or was misunderstood by a lot of the people. I'd have stress meltdowns even on some forums, and that got me in a lot of trouble. And it seemed like no one liked to understand or consider the stress put on me. I am glad I found this site.
I haven't felt this connected in a while.

Thank you Mdyar---I appreciate the Star Trek reference in your post.

Hi Clyde and thank you for your post. Although there are sometimes disagreements here at the WrongPlanet, I think you will usually find respect. Most of us, including myself, have AS/autism. And we have had many of the same experiences in life with socializing. So we have come to feel a special bond as a result of it. I think you will enjoy it here and learn a lot. I definitely know what you mean when replying to the hobbies thing on those forums. That is what I got into with the dulcimer forums.

Absolutely, and now I have no desire to ever again spend very much time anywhere else ... and for me, the big difference here is the opportunity to be candid among people who are typically forthright and not repeatedly mocking others at every turn.

But I am sure, at least from what I have seen, many of the fights here on WP are because we have strong passionate views. And we're extremely adamant about our beliefs and want to share them. We can easily respect other's views even when expressing our strong views. A lot of the time on other forums, disagreements get nasty because its always about one upping someone or mocking them to make them look stupid. On a lot of other forums people fight about how each other's views are dumb instead of fighting the person's views with strong valid views.
Here from where I have seen once, it appears people here have strong views, but people aren't mocking or insulting them telling they are dumb. Instead they try to disprove what they say with their views. I like that. Its what stimulates me in a conversation and makes it easier for me to speak. When someone isn't insulting me.

I always hated that on the other forums. If I got upset someone was being rude, no one would do anything about it. Instead they would insult my intelligence for my views. And when I got upset that they insulted me they'd tell me I was being immature and childish. Yet they were the ones who threw the slanders.