# SAS alternatives? The forum is dying



## forever in flux (Nov 26, 2016)

Lately I've noticed that the number of members online, new posts, and threads has gone down significantly. It's been on the decline for some time now, but it seems to be getting worse lately.

Anyone know any alternative forums with a similar structure to SAS? I mean in terms of the look and functionality of the forum.

The other SA forums have less activity than here, so that's a dead-end. I enjoy reading Reddit generally, never spent much time in the SA sub-reddit, but it seems fairly impersonal, there's no avatars so I don't remember the members as easily, less of a community from my perspective, unless you're really into whatever sub-forum you're following.

Where are people going instead of SAS?


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## Karsten (Apr 3, 2007)

I have no idea. This place definitely felt more alive 5 years ago for sure. Is it just SAS or are forums in general dying off with the rise of Reddit?

I don't like Reddit for the same reason as you, actually. The whole upvote/downvote culture turns me off and it doesn't feel as personal without avatars as you said.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

I don't know any other forum that I would like to be part of. Apart from the structure and functionalities, there is also the topic issue. I thought to join a forum about sports or diets to get motivated, but I didn't even have the motivation to look for one :rolf I thought also about one related to beauty tips, routines and such but I think it would be a bit boring if it's just about that.

I wish I could discover another forum that was fun and active enough, but maybe the thing is that people are not anymore all that much into forums? I guess it's possible that people are mainly gathering on Instagram or elsewhere. Sometimes I become very introverted, especially when I have too much work, hence I feel like I need at least to be able to socialize even it's just virtually.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Looking for one, too. I think forums are just a thing of the past. I'll probably just go back to not talking to anyone.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

I've been talking to some people on Discord but given the specifics of that, it's probably less healthy than hanging around here. Reddit is pretty impersonal most of the time yeah. I also started playing Runescape again but not really socially since I play it kind of like a single player rpg atm lol...

I'd really like to avoid getting back onto Facebook. I guess the alternative is to build a time machine.


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## Owlbear (Dec 3, 2015)

Nah.

Imo forums are a dying breed. r/ and discord provide more popular alternatives.


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## roxslide (Apr 12, 2011)

I dunno. Before forums I made friends mostly on blogging sites like LiveJournal, blogger, dreamwidth and on art posting sites. I think I'll eventually move on to reddit and chats like discord I guess.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

truant said:


> Looking for one, too. I think forums are just a thing of the past. *I'll probably just go back to not talking to anyone.*


Do you not talk to anyone anywhere else at the moment?


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## discoveryother (Sep 18, 2016)

this is the only place on the internet i engage with anyone.

maybe soon there'll just be the legit people left. the elite core of sufferers. less quantity more quality.


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## llodell88 (May 15, 2011)

Reddit isn't a good place to go for socializing. Sometimes I'm surprised nobody has made a better alternative than this site, although maybe there are some good general anxiety sites around idk, I just assumed this site was going dead because forums are not really as popular as they used to be too. Reddit is good for a lot of things, just surprised people would want to hang out on a social anxiety subreddit more than this place.


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## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

Grab the people on skype while they are still around


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## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

I haven't found a decent alternative. This is pretty much as good as it gets as a community of people who share the same struggles. Come to think of it, I think my perception of a different SA community would end up the same way eventually. Sometimes you just gotta deal with what you have.


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## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

I mostly just go to forums that are hobby based, I don't even participate in many anymore. This forum is not so bad, looking at the side toward the recent discussions it has ten posts in the past ten minutes, that is pretty decent for a forum based on social anxiety. Stick around for a while, make a few posts, you'll probably get a few responses.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

I don't know if I have ever used Discord, I think I haven't, somehow I have the idea that it's a stuff for young people maybe? I have used skype groups and they are the worst for me, I can't track the conversation, can't join any... :O we need to start making friends apart, maybe boring ones from RL, that's so sad :crying:


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

Sus y said:


> I don't know if I have ever used Discord, I think I haven't, somehow I have the idea that it's a stuff for young people maybe? I have used skype groups and they are the worst for me, I can't track the conversation, can't join any... :O we need to start making friends apart, maybe boring ones from RL, that's so sad :crying:


It started off as a chat for gamers (and I initially signed up to communicate over mic using it while playing Overwatch with my brother,) then it became stigmatised for an association with weird politics and stuff including the alt right, and I dunno about now.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

BackToThePast said:


> Sometimes you just gotta deal with what you have.


Every time I read a phrase like this I remember guys who deal with ED, no offense anyone, please. Ok. out-of-topic... I know, I just couldn't hold it.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

truant said:


> Looking for one, too. I think forums are just a thing of the past. I'll probably just go back to not talking to anyone.






Persephone The Dread said:


> Do you not talk to anyone anywhere else at the moment?


I'm not too much different from her, I guess...aside from my online friend (who I've been too much of a coward to e-mail for too long), here and Reddit are all I've been using, and Reddit is just as unwelcoming as this place is sometimes. Except most people seem to forget about their own threads within about four hours max, and every sub has its own different minefield of customs to navigate (some of them you only find out about after you violate them), and it comes with downvotes, to make it even more unwelcoming. :roll


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Persephone The Dread said:


> It started off as a chat for gamers (and I initially signed up to communicate over mic using it while playing Overwatch with my brother,) then it became stigmatised for an association with weird politics and stuff including the alt right, and I dunno about now.


Maybe one day I try it, just out of curiosity, meanwhile I'll be as others trying to find cool places to post weird things :grin2:


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## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

Sus y said:


> Every time I read a phrase like this I remember guys who deal with ED, no offense anyone, please. Ok. out-of-topic... I know, I just couldn't hold it.


That's what she said.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

tehuti88 said:


> I'm not too much different from her, I guess...aside from my online friend (who I've been too much of a coward to e-mail for too long), here and Reddit are all I've been using, and Reddit is just as unwelcoming as this place is sometimes. *Except most people seem to forget about their own threads within about four hours max,* and every sub has its own different minefield of customs to navigate (some of them you only find out about after you violate them), and it comes with downvotes, to make it even more unwelcoming. :roll


This used to be my only social outlet besides talking to my one long distance friend, though I'd also sometimes talk to people from here on skype. I'm pretty erratic with using skype though I guess. One on one is difficult when multiple people are talking to you at once which sometimes puts me off using it or sticking to invisible mode. And there's more pressure to keep conversations going. One good thing about Discord is that you can communicate in servers with multiple people and I basically just stay in invisible mode always and come and go randomly, and that's mostly expected.

Also the bolded yeah that kinda sums up a lot of reddit lol and different subs are quite different, some seem to be more closeknit than others. On some clearly nobody ever knows each other and they're only discussing whatever the specific topic is. On others people seem to recognise and remember details about others it's pretty random but I'm not on there often now.



Sus y said:


> Maybe one day I try it, just out of curiosity, meanwhile I'll be as others trying to find cool places to post weird things :grin2:


you have to find a server to join first really, people post links to them on social networks and such. There is an SAS one (probably multiple,) but the one I joined seems to have always been pretty dead.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Persephone The Dread said:


> you have to find a server to join first really, people post links to them on social networks and such. There is an SAS one (probably multiple,) but the one I joined seems to have always been pretty dead.


:con


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## Cascades (Jan 16, 2013)

I don't know of any other place where people suffering SA go aside from Reddit.

Personally, I enjoy Reddit much more and use it more often than this. I am subbed to a SA group but don't post much. I prefer places like DecidingToBeBetter, GetDisciplined, GetMotivated, SimpleLiving and various others. I enjoy this place but there's too much complaining, sadness and it's just one giant grey cloud over this forum. I understand most of us here are depressed as ****, things don't work out for us, we're frustrated, floating through life but there's not much activity in the sections such as Positive Thinking or the goals one. I can't make myself or my life better without actively working on it and not many people here are really working on themselves so I can't really buddy up with people here. Asking for advice here, most people won't give you advice but give a story about their own life and I don't mean that to sound nasty, it's great because there are people who relate to you here but not much comes out of this forum in the way of helping others and trying to better yourself and that's personally what I'm after. I also enjoy browsing through WikiHow articles on personal development and try to follow steps on how to get out there, how to talk to people more, how to be confident, change your routine, things like that. Would be great to have some articles like that floating around here. When you go to a sub in Reddit they usually have lists or places to start first, things to do, here not so much. 

You can't delete threads so for me, it stops me posting certain things because I think I'd regret saying it at a later date. 

Also, numbers are down and agreed, most people are posting less. 
Oh, and there's always like one person in the chat room.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

There is also a tiny chat, but I don't really go there, my internet connection can be weak at times for it.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

Sus y said:


> :con


Had a quick search and the only invite link I could find here is from late January and it's expired. Here's a subreddit full of them apparently:

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordservers/

edit: lol'd hard at all of the names after quick scan. Of course.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Persephone The Dread said:


> Had a quick search and the only invite link I could find here is from late January and it's expired. Here's a subreddit full of them apparently:
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/discordservers/


Oh, thank you!


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

I think its doing fine....when the main forum is lacking the blogs are up or maybe more behind the scenes stuff. Always something going on here.


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## Noraborealis (Jul 3, 2017)

I recommend the Amino app. There's an Amino out there for just about everything. They can be pretty lively. It has everything from a personal page to chat and voice chat. You can create your own and run it yourself with the help of others. You can join multiple Aminos as well.


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## fluorish (Sep 24, 2016)

truant said:


> Looking for one, too. I think forums are just a thing of the past. I'll probably just go back to not talking to anyone.


THis had me lol because I feel the same. Hehhee


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Kevin001 said:


> I think its doing fine....when the main forum is lacking the blogs are up or maybe more behind the scenes stuff. Always something going on here.


There is some activity in the forum, although maybe sometimes the topics are a bit boring. I don't know what else we could ask a forum to give us, honestly, I like forums because it gives the opportunity to interact without getting too close or making friendships with all the users you interact, but some people want more than that.


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## Evo1114 (Dec 9, 2012)

Sus y said:


> There is some activity in the forum, although maybe sometimes the topics are a bit boring. I don't know what else we could ask a forum to give us, honestly, I like forums because it gives the opportunity to interact without getting too close or making friendships with all the users you interact, but some people want more than that.


I actually think forums are most beneficial because you get a little of both (at least on a site such as this). You can interact with people who you have no further interest in getting close with but you can also identify people you can identify with so you CAN interact with on a more personal level if you so choose. The problem with Reddit is that it is so _impersonal_, while social media might be too _personal_.

Welcome back, by the way.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Evo1114 said:


> I actually think forums are most beneficial because you get a little of both (at least on a site such as this). You can interact with people who you have no further interest in getting close with but you can also identify people you can identify with so you CAN interact with on a more personal level if you so choose. The problem with Reddit is that it is so _impersonal_, while social media might be too _personal_.
> 
> Welcome back, by the way.


Yes, I agree and really, :thanks


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Persephone The Dread said:


> Do you not talk to anyone anywhere else at the moment?


I have an online friend I talk to most days. That's about it. But it's probably better this way.


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## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

I use reddit as more of a dumping ground since it's more anonymous. But it's also too impersonal, so not a good site to use if you're looking for social interactions. I don't actually mind that sas is shriveling away though, because I'd prefer if it ended up being a smaller more loyal crowd than an endless stream of trolls and 20 year olds going through phases. I guess one day this forum will be completely dead and eventually close down though, since it already seems pretty antiquated. 

Also I use instagram but that's just a dumping ground for my arty stuff. I don't get personal there. I also noticed privacy is a major concern on instagram since instagram was trying to add people I knew 'from my contacts' but I don't have them on my phone contacts nor on any other apps, except gmail, and I don't know how instagram got access to my gmail contacts, because I never give permissions for that stuff, and I triple checked the settings on instagram and it clearly states that I have not authorised instagram to have access to any other apps. So WTF are you doing instagram? This is why I'm reluctant to post anything compromising or private not just on instagram but on various apps because it seems most of them are so disrespectful towards privacy, and I bet my account is being suggested to these people ffs. And I know facebook is probably even worse with that stuff.


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## Amphoteric (Sep 11, 2011)

I tried talking to myself as an alternative, but had to quit because the trolling got too bad.


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## Nick Attwell (Jun 16, 2014)

Maybe more people are going to real-time chatrooms where you can cam & mike

As for forums................

A good one is Do You Remember; a nostalgia forum, all things 70's/80's/90's.

Shame if SAS went down as it is in my top five forums


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## Blue Dino (Aug 17, 2013)

forever in flux said:


> *The other SA forums have less activity than here, so that's a dead-end*. *I enjoy reading Reddit generally, never spent much time in the SA sub-reddit, but it seems fairly impersonal, there's no avatars so I don't remember the members as easily, less of a community from my perspective*


I think this is pretty much it. This forum might have been on a down trend for a while now, but it is still by far the most active forum for what it serves compare to other alternative forums. Even as a forum as a whole compare to other forums, this forum is amongst the most active.

Reddit subforum is great for the more serious advice or input without having to deal with some of the troll replies or other members that hold a personal grudge towards you because not many people remember anyone on reddit.

I think most highly active members that stopped coming here usually stopped because they are able to build connections outside of this forum, such as emails, video chat, skype or text. Once they are able to keep in touch with their social clique they made here, they don't see the point to come here anymore. I also think forums of this kind in general is starting to go obsolete. 10 years from now, I could see forums like these being a wasteland.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Why are forums getting obsolete? Why are people liking them less and preferring other places such as reddit? I don't go to that site, I don't know it too well.


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## clarkekent (Dec 2, 2015)

All of them have gone over to the adult forums.


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## Nick Attwell (Jun 16, 2014)

A lot of perv forums are around, catering for the lowest common denominator

That's the internet for you I suppose


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

truant said:


> I have an online friend I talk to most days. That's about it. But it's probably better this way.


That's good I thought you meant literally, but I get the impression you'd like to talk to more people but are unhappy with the outcome often? You seem quite extroverted, so I don't think you should give up on that.


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## love is like a dream (Jan 7, 2011)

truant said:


> Looking for one, too. I think forums are just a thing of the past. I'll probably just go back to not talking to anyone.


btw i[ always wanted to ask, what do you mean by Gender: Transgender?
like..for example... you like more to be a girl or a boy?
i'm not sure if this was rude. i'm also autistic so sometimes i'm not aware when i'm rude.

but from your signature i understand you love more to be a girl..like, you have a brain of a girl?


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## Sunb0urn (Feb 25, 2018)

We are the typing dead, hanging on to forums while the rest of the Internet moves on. 

I find Reddit to be too impersonal. You never remember anyone. The community feel isn't there for me. But I guess that's what people want.


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## llodell88 (May 15, 2011)

This site looks old and honestly it is sort of ugly. That's probably turning people off. Well I know it does for me. They said they were going to make more themes but I never saw them.


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## minimized (Nov 17, 2007)

There's no comparative place. Unfortunately, this site has been going into its inevitable crater since... well *cough*

Reddit is there, but it is indeed large and impersonal. It gets annoying sometimes with the dense people sticking their noses into places, but it's not like this site is without it's metric ton of crap. The other SA sites I've looked at were never as busy as this one used to be. These messenger apps are too small and 1-on-1 for me to even begin.

So, I guess it's Reddit or nothing these days, and I'll be half in both.


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## sprinter (Nov 22, 2003)

I feel like the whole internet peaked at about 2006-2011. Just not as good or interesting as it used to be.


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## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

sprinter said:


> I feel like the whole internet peaked at about 2006-2011. Just not as good or interesting as it used to be.


I agree with you, I really did enjoy the Internet a lot more in that time frame than I do now.


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## knightofdespair (May 20, 2014)

Society has gotten where people can't have a discussion, can't talk about anything without being moderated into oblivion or having their views dismissed because they say things people don't want to hear. It has been happening here for years and everywhere else, which is why forums are dying. People today want to walk around in bubbles and not think of anything original or different. They don't want news that isn't carefully pre-screened or views that don't tell them they're the most special person on the planet.


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## Lohikaarme (Aug 28, 2013)

Personality Cafe seems active enough.


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## funnynihilist (Jul 29, 2014)

People these days are more interested in extracting as much attention and/or cash from the internet as possible.
People are literally begging for attention and money!
"Look at my boobs and hit the donate button!"
"Watch me act like an illiterate clown! Don't forget to donate!"
A site like this isn't really good for any of those things lol...which is good...I wouldn't be here if it was.
Reddit is full of impersonal snark and attention seekers.
Social media is mostly about "look at me and my perfect life."
Everyone wants a piece of the pie and the pieces keep getting smaller. Lol.
The internet done peaked years ago and is now declining.
I'd say it peaked in the early 2000s and started to slide around 2007.
These last few years it has fallen of a cliff.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Meetups.


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## Lonely Hobbit (Aug 31, 2009)

llodell88 said:


> This site looks old and honestly it is sort of ugly. That's probably turning people off. Well I know it does for me. They said they were going to make more themes but I never saw them.


I think the site looked nicer when it was run by a guy named Drew. The mobile version is also horrible.


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## cubsfandave (Jul 20, 2016)

sprinter said:


> I feel like the whole internet peaked at about 2006-2011. Just not as good or interesting as it used to be.


 @sprinter The internet does seems like a much more boring place these days. Everyone using YouTube and social media to "start a brand" or whatever. Lots of negativity, lots of noise, and lots of people doing the same thing trying to make money. There needs to be an internet revolution!


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## Lonely Hobbit (Aug 31, 2009)

I've never understood the appeal of Reddit. I've always gotten the impression that Reddit is a place for people who didn't know internet forums existed or people who want to start a forum but can't afford the expenses that come with it.

SAS is the most active social anxiety forum to my knowledge. Apparently Social Phobia World is still around. That forum was already on the decline when I discovered it around 2008. I discovered SAS shortly after and it was pretty active at the time.

It seems a lot of internet activity has moved to Reddit and other social media sites like Twitter, none of which I really care for.


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## Lonely Hobbit (Aug 31, 2009)

cubsfandave said:


> @sprinter The internet does seems like a much more boring place these days. Everyone using YouTube and social media to "start a brand" or whatever. Lots of negativity, lots of noise, and lots of people doing the same thing trying to make money. There needs to be an internet revolution!


I remember the old days of YouTube when only a small handful of people could become YouTube partners and makes money off ads. Back then, most YouTubers made videos because they wanted to. Now, just about everybody I'm subscribed to has some kind of doughnation links in their description boxes and complain about being demonetized.


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## PurplePeopleEater (May 10, 2017)

I mean, I've never known of a forum that was as active as this one. It wouldn't bother me too much if this site became completely dead in a few years even though I'm basically a hermit. But I do like posting advice, getting advice, posting music, and stuff. I only come on here like 10 minutes to an hour at most anyways. So, in a way it would kind of suck having to go to other sites, too. It's not like this site keeps me trapped. I couldn't go to other places that I can't relate. This is the only place I sorta relate to. I don't post on any other site other than here. Since I came back the last time, this site has helped me somewhat. Oh well, I'll manage.


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## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

I like SAS. Why y'all being so negative?

The problem is, most people only want to rant instead of finding interesting things to talk about.

Rant, rant, rant, rant and y'all wandering why SAS is boring?

And if y'all take your ranting behaviour to reddit and wherever, then those places will become boring as well.

Y'all want SAS to be interesting? Y'all want new and old users to come and stay? Then stop ranting, ranting, ranting. 

(Y'all is not a word I use in real life.)

Also, some of y'all refuse to make progress in y'all life. You think SAS should magically solve y'all problems and when it doesn't, you rant some more.

Y'all need to stop the nonsense.

And remember, God is always there. Seek Him and you will find Him. He'll make all the difference in your life.


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## cubsfandave (Jul 20, 2016)

Ms kim said:


> I like SAS. Why y'all being so negative?
> 
> The problem is, most people only want to rant instead of finding interesting things to talk about.
> 
> ...


Why are you using the word Y'all online?


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## RiverOak (Mar 4, 2018)

I just got here.


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## Owlbear (Dec 3, 2015)

Ms kim said:


> I like SAS. Why y'all being so negative?
> 
> The problem is, most people only want to rant instead of finding interesting things to talk about.
> 
> ...


SAS is pretty much that. A cesspool of negativity at most times, with most of us holding onto shattered identities and treading water, let alone helping others. Back when I originally joined the site was more a detriment, as it let me justify to myself my bad situation. That even though I was doing badly, at least I was doing better than X on SAS. Then I left the website for a while, got a job, etc - now I drop in out of boredom after work.

The Society and Culture forum is cleanly divided, with side A posting an article with side B making personal attacks, and vice versa. I have yet to see either side gain or lose members to the point if we divided that forum into Leftist and Rightist subforums, the dual echo chambers would function the same as if they'd never divided. Frustrations and Relationships are 90% MGTOW/Virgin/Feminist whining or presenting clearly idiotic relationship decisions.

So that was the cons lol

Pros - there are some members on here I genuinely enjoy reading posts from. Kevin, Persephonne, Rachel, and many others. Even though I know they don't agreed with me. There are also the older members who can give an experienced answer to life issues, so there is a ghost of a support network. And from the postings by new members we know there is a strong need for a healthy useful Social Anxiety forum/website. For many members here this is the only website they feel comfortable talking about their issues.

If I was to slap my old game group management mindset onto it - we lack a we. There are no clear leaders, no goals, just random hurt people milling around with fate predicting whether they end up helping or hurting each other.

Tl;dr - SAS needs goals and leaders if it'll ever rise above what it is.


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## Owlbear (Dec 3, 2015)

cubsfandave said:


> Why are you using the word Y'all online?


Ikr, the correct spelling is "ya'll"
Darn fake southerners.


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## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

cubsfandave said:


> Why are you using the word Y'all online?


Would you prefer I said unu? It nuh beta mi use words weh unu can undastan? Yuh nuh tink so?


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## cubsfandave (Jul 20, 2016)

Ms kim said:


> Would you prefer I said unu? It nuh beta mi use words weh unu can undastan? Yuh nuh tink so?


Heyyy monnnnnnnnnnnn


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## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

Owlbear said:


> Ikr, the correct spelling is "ya'll"
> fake southerners.


No, no my dear. I'm 110% Jamaican. But I do like the word "y'all".

Why are you offended by that?


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## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

cubsfandave said:


> Heyyy monnnnnnnnnnnn


Irie!
One love, rasta


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## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

RiverOak said:


> I just got here.


Welcome


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Karsten said:


> I have no idea. This place definitely felt more alive 5 years ago for sure. Is it just SAS or are forums in general dying off with the rise of Reddit?


 I don't think it's Reddit. I think it's that the vast majority of people probably can't spell anything that has more than three letters these days because of "smartphones". It's conceivable that there are people online who have never written a full sentence.


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## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

RiverOak said:


> I just got here.


Welcome!


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

Persephone The Dread said:


> That's good I thought you meant literally, but I get the impression you'd like to talk to more people but are unhappy with the outcome often? You seem quite extroverted, so I don't think you should give up on that.


I do have an annoyingly strong impulse to socialize. But also an annoyingly strong dislike of making other people unhappy. Those impulses are currently battling for supremacy in my brain. Like Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.


* *














Seriously. How did I not know about this film?






Coincidence said:


> btw i[ always wanted to ask, what do you mean by Gender: Transgender?
> like..for example... you like more to be a girl or a boy?
> i'm not sure if this was rude. i'm also autistic so sometimes i'm not aware when i'm rude.
> 
> but from your signature i understand you love more to be a girl..like, you have a brain of a girl?


I identify as a woman with a body deformed by testosterone. And as a sad panda.

I don't mind if people ask questions, but some people do.


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## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Hmm.... Who knows. 

Maybe the previously active users went to 4chan, 2chan, or maybe even into the "deep" parts. 

Perhaps they know something that we do not.....

And that maybe, just maybe, one of those users left cryptic encoded patterns of text within the long span of their posts........


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## funnynihilist (Jul 29, 2014)

The other thing that killed the internet was the smartphone. When people could post anything from anywhere just because they can.
@DustMagic I wouldn't say that reddit is a boys site, /r/twoxchromosomes is huge on there.
City Data is indeed active but its like the same people have been on there for years talking about the same stuff.


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## ScorchedEarth (Jul 12, 2014)

I just wonder what the cutoff point will be when the political trolls here stop their interminable threads. When everyone else is gone, will there still be a steady trickle of threads with the sunglasses emoticon?


----------



## shyguy07 (Mar 22, 2015)

Most forums seem to be slow these days... I think a lot of things went to Facebook groups but I don't like Facebook in general and the groups make it way too personal with your profile attached.

I've been on Reddit but not the SA part, but when I posted on other things I got good responses on there. I just don't like the upvote thing which kills off conversation as things get pushed down whether they get replied to or not.

I haven't been on this site as much as I've been busier in life and made changes this year/had other interests so haven't been thinking about my social anxiety as much.


----------



## cubsfandave (Jul 20, 2016)

Yeah, people used to read and write blogs, but the social media apps have replaced that. I remember reading a blog that was based in Iraq during the peak of the Iraq war. It had long stories about what was going on, what the military was doing, and had lots of pictures. etc. Great source of information and very entertaining. I find that social media just makes me angry most of the time and it's not very informative.


----------



## whereistheoffswitch (Jan 31, 2016)

andy1984thesecond said:


> maybe soon there'll just be the legit people left. the elite core of sufferers. less quantity more quality.


I think this is a really good way of looking at it. I'd much rather there were only say 50 people that genuinely came here for help/helping others, rather than 500 (a bunch of people) who were here for alternate (negative) reasons.

I don't need an alternative to here, if you dig through the mass of topics and people, there are good decent honest folk here


----------



## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

truant said:


> I do have an annoyingly strong impulse to socialize. But also an annoyingly strong dislike of making other people unhappy. Those impulses are currently battling for supremacy in my brain. Like Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.
> 
> 
> * *
> ...


lol I've never heard of that film either, there are a lot of adaptations of that story. I remember reading one when I was younger but I can't remember it well now except the main character was a girl (like child/teenager I think.)


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

Ms kim said:


> Irie!
> One love, rasta


What he said reminds me of the beginning of this song -


----------



## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

ANX1 said:


> What he said reminds me of the beginning of this song -


Yes rasta, and jus as Bob Marley seh, "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

Ms kim said:


> Yes, rasta, and jus as Bob Marley seh, "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."


It sounded like Bob went through a lot of pain in his last days, even losing his hair. 

I believe Bobs voice lives on in his son Ziggy Marley -






Damian Marley more has Bobs looks.

Bob would have been proud to see them playing together.


----------



## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

ANX1 said:


> It sounded like Bob went through a lot of pain in his last days, even losing his hair.
> 
> I believe Bobs voice lives on in his son Ziggy Marley -
> 
> ...


Oh wow a reggae music fan from a far away racetrack place! I bet you know some Jamaican patois too?


----------



## herk (Dec 10, 2012)

yeah there needs to be a better place thats way more active


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

Ms kim said:


> Oh wow a reggae music fan from a far away racetrack place! I bet you know some Jamaican patois too?


Maybe.  :grin2:

I can't speak or understand Patois. But seems like an interesting language. 

We have our own version of a reggae downunder in tribute to Bob (as shown by Bobs photo faded in video clip below at about 2:19+) -






After them there was House of Shem, Sons of Zion if interested in Reggae downunder.


----------



## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

ANX1 said:


> Maybe.  :grin2:
> 
> I can't speak or understand Patois. But seems like an interesting language.
> 
> ...


Downunder, that is Australia?

I will listen tomorrow when I have access to Wi-Fi


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

Ms kim said:


> Downunder, that is Australia?
> 
> I will listen tomorrow when I have access to Wi-Fi


Those video clips are NZ Reggae (song in video clip was famous due to being used in Once Were Warriors movie). Not sure if Australia has Reggae bands (never looked).

Downunder means Australia and NZ. From what I understand NZ used to be part of Australia hundreds of years ago before it broke off Australia itself due to plates shifting. Hence why I believe both are called downunder.

Tomorrow, ok.


----------



## clarkekent (Dec 2, 2015)

Alternative is death.


----------



## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

This forum is just a competition for who has it worse. Start another anxiety forum and the same themes will pop up. Threads lamenting for the good old days will follow soon afterwards. Then we'll get back to this point and the circle shall be complete.


----------



## Ms kim (May 15, 2017)

ANX1 said:


> Those video clips are NZ Reggae (song in video clip was famous due to being used in Once Were Warriors movie). Not sure if Australia has Reggae bands (never looked).
> 
> Downunder means Australia and NZ. From what I understand NZ used to be part of Australia hundreds of years ago before it broke off Australia itself due to plates shifting. Hence why I believe both are called downunder.
> 
> Tomorrow, ok.


Reggae music is universal music. I liked House of Shem.

In the past, the reggae music would mostly be in English, so most people around the world prefer the older music that they can understand. Now its mostly patois.

Whenever I watch video clips of the Jamaican artists performing abroad, de people dem there are really into it, even though they may not understand the words


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

Ms kim said:


> Reggae music is universal music. I liked House of Shem.
> 
> In the past, the reggae music would mostly be in English, so most people around the world prefer the older music that they can understand. Now its mostly patois.
> 
> Whenever I watch video clips of the Jamaican artists performing abroad, de people dem there are really into it, even though they may not understand the words


Good to hear that you liked that band. 

Thinking about it more, Sons of Zion is not really reggae music. Maybe using the name Zion, but not really reggae.

Patios reggae sounds cool -






I would think it is the beat of the music most can relate to, as is universal in any language.


----------



## discoveryother (Sep 18, 2016)

ANX1 said:


> Maybe.  :grin2:
> 
> I can't speak or understand Patois. But seems like an interesting language.
> 
> ...


those are all kiwi groups. no one calls nz downunder in nz


----------



## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

andy1984thesecond said:


> those are all kiwi groups. no one calls nz downunder in nz


From what I understand, Australia has supposedly tried to claim NZ as it's own state back in the days. It is said NZ was part of the British Colony of NSW back in the days.

They say NZ is defined as an Australian state in the Australian constitution.


----------



## feckoff (May 2, 2014)

Persephone The Dread said:


> I've been talking to some people on Discord but given the specifics of that, it's probably less healthy than hanging around here. Reddit is pretty impersonal most of the time yeah. I also started playing Runescape again but not really socially since I play it kind of like a single player rpg atm lol...
> 
> I'd really like to avoid getting back onto Facebook. I guess the alternative is to build a time machine.


RS3 or OSRS?


----------



## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

feckoff said:


> RS3 or OSRS?


RS3, might go back to OSRS one day for nostalgia purposes but don't mind the new one and it has better graphics.


----------



## Paper Samurai (Oct 1, 2009)

Sus y said:


> I don't know if I have ever used Discord, I think I haven't, somehow I have the idea that it's a stuff for young people maybe? I have used skype groups and they are the worst for me, I can't track the conversation, can't join any... :O we need to start making friends apart, maybe boring ones from RL, that's so sad :crying:


 I think it depends on the Discord room to be honest, I've seen ones with mostly people in their 30's to 40's for example. But as it started off as a chat program for gamers there is a slight skew towards teens.


----------



## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Paper Samurai said:


> I think it depends on the Discord room to be honest, I've seen ones with mostly people in their 30's to 40's for example. But as it started off as a chat program for gamers there is a slight skew towards teens.


Interesting, never imagined a group of people in their 40s using Discord. What I like about socializing in forums is the variety of topics that can be presented, the JFF section (shame on me) also the different languages and cultures that you can find, if there is a group with vast interest and about my age, I may join, just to try it.


----------



## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Anybody who complains that SAS isn't crowded and chatty enough must not really have social anxiety. :b

Some of my favorite forums in the past have been much, much smaller.


----------



## Sus y (Aug 30, 2017)

Paul said:


> Anybody who complains that SAS isn't crowded and chatty enough must not really have social anxiety. :b
> 
> Some of my favorite forums in the past have been much, much smaller.


Is it possible that some people with SA do better online than in RL?


----------



## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

Sus y said:


> Is it possible that some people with SA do better online than in RL?


No.


----------



## Fangirl96 (Apr 13, 2015)

I have almost abandoned this forum for reddit for the past few months, but i agree. Reddit is not as personal. I love recognizing people on here by their names and avatars and by seeing them over and over again. I have barely even stepped into the anxiety subreddit because its just not as fun as on here. I'll just use reddit for other discussions and pop in here once in a blue moon to see familiar "faces"


----------



## feckoff (May 2, 2014)

Persephone The Dread said:


> RS3, might go back to OSRS one day for nostalgia purposes but don't mind the new one and it has better graphics.


I went back to RS3 after years and the changes were too confusing to me so that's why I started OSRS. I waste a lot of time on rs :/


----------



## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

It doesn't look like it's dying to me.


----------



## Bbpuff (Sep 1, 2010)

SAS has been rather slow lately... It makes me kinda sad... I don't want it to die. ;-;

Also - love the side runescape conversation going on. c:


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

BackToThePast said:


> This forum is just a competition for who has it worse. Start another anxiety forum and the same themes will pop up. Threads lamenting for the good old days will follow soon afterwards. Then we'll get back to this point and the circle shall be complete.


Indeed. Underlying core fixation detected.

var bigPictureViewGradient = 9;

bigPictureViewGradient += (bigPictureViewGradeint * 0.10);

Ouroboros, the primordial circle, 360 degrees; {3, 6, 9};


----------



## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Indeed. Underlying core fixation detected.
> 
> var bigPictureViewGradient = 9;
> 
> ...


Not using ES6 syntax? Blashphemy.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

BackToThePast said:


> Not using ES6 syntax? Blashphemy.


Well, they don't call me wannabe coder for no reason. Anyway, here you are, professor BackToThePast:


----------



## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

GeomTech said:


> Well, they don't call me wannabe coder for no reason. Anyway, here you are, professor BackToThePast:
> 
> function computeUnderstanding()
> {
> ...


There is a huge bug in your code, but it's not my job to debug your code so I'm not gonna say what it is. ;P

Just being a random d*ck for no reason.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

SolutionX said:


> There is a huge bug in your code, but it's not my job to debug your code so I'm not gonna say what it is. ;P
> 
> Just being a random d*ck for no reason.
> 
> Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


You aren't being a dick; I welcome criticism. I must know. Give me a hint at least. Is it to do with the while loop?

Please help.......

This is really going to bug (pun intended) me for some time.... gah..... I have to know.... It worked fine in the compiler.....

You really know how to torture a guy....

EDIT: I didn't add the semi-colon thingy after the calling of the method or something. Not sure if that's the error. I mean, it worked fine; but I guess it could be improved upon. I need coder friends......

Oh, and forgot the uh, script tags.


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

SolutionX said:


> There is a huge bug in your code, but it's not my job to debug your code so I'm not gonna say what it is. ;P
> 
> Just being a random d*ck for no reason.
> 
> Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


Yep. That code will fail on the 2nd iteration.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Maslow said:


> Yep. That code will fail on the 2nd iteration.


But how? Come on, guys. I ran it in the compiler, and it's working.....

Geez... Try the editor on w3schools, and copy + paste the code. I really want to learn what I am doing wrong here.

Well, that's the *last* time I'm posting any code on here....


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

GeomTech said:


> But how? Come on, guys. I ran it in the compiler, and it's working.....
> 
> Geez... Try the editor on w3schools, and copy + paste the code. I really want to learn what I am doing wrong here.
> 
> Well, that's the *last* time I'm posting any code on here....


Javascript isn't "compiled"; it's interpreted.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Maslow said:


> Javascript isn't "compiled"; it's interpreted.


 I have learned something new. Thanks for telling me. But, what's wrong with the code? It's working in the w3schools editor. You enter current understanding, and then, it spits out text onto the HTML DOM. It just runs once. I guess we could just add the html tags or whatever.

And then, save as .html or whatever.


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

GeomTech said:


> I have learned something new. Thanks for telling me. But, what's wrong with the code? It's working in the w3schools editor. You enter current understanding, and then, it spits out text onto the HTML DOM. It just runs once. I guess we could just add the html tags or whatever.
> 
> And then, save as .html or whatever.


Actually, server-side Javascript is compiled, but that's not what you're doing here.


----------



## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

I don't know squat about javascript, but your code will not allow you to enter 10  Perhaps that is what they were talking about.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Maslow said:


> Actually, server-side Javascript is compiled, but that's not what you're doing here.


Note: Wannabe coder here; not a professional or seasoned coder, so expect errors or misunderstanding.

*sigh* Alright, alright. I get it. I misspoke; made a mistake. Shouldn't have used the term "compile", and that the JS I have is client-side which is to be put in a HTML file whether between the script tags or as a .js source location, and interpreted by a browser.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

zonebox said:


> I don't know squat about javascript, but your code will not allow you to enter 10  Perhaps that is what they were talking about.


Well, understanding value was supposed to be from 0 to 9.999..... So, no problems there. 10 is like 100%, so, entering 100 % would break the understanding value scale i.e, it would be 10.01 / 10 which is not what I intended for.

Guess I could change the instructions and the range from 0.1 to 9.999..... or something.

Or could just enter another option if the understanding is 10 or something.

There, that should work...


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

GeomTech said:


> Well, understanding value was supposed to be from 0 to 9.999..... So, no problems there. 10 is like 100%, so, entering 100 % would break the understanding value scale i.e, it would be 10.01 / 10 which is not what I intended for.
> 
> Guess I could change the instructions and the range from 0.1 to 9.999..... or something.
> 
> ...


From 0 to 10 would need:

// sentinel value to start user input 
var previousUnderstanding = -1;

while(previousUnderstanding < 0 || 10 < previousUnderstanding) {
var previousUnderstanding = Number(prompt("Enter your current level of " + "understanding from 0 to 10: "));​}

Always use a constant width font for code.


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

GeomTech said:


> Note: Wannabe coder here; not a professional or seasoned coder, so expect errors or misunderstanding.
> 
> *sigh* Alright, alright. I get it. I misspoke; made a mistake. Shouldn't have used the term "compile", and that the JS I have is client-side which is to be put in a HTML file whether between the script tags or as a .js source location, and interpreted by a browser.


Sorry about nitpicking. Keep on programming! :yes


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Maslow said:


> From 0 to 10 would need:
> 
> // sentinel value to start user input
> var previousUnderstanding = -1;
> ...


Thanks for the help, I guess.

Lesson learned: No more code on here,... *EVER!*

But, would be nice to know persons that can code or something.


----------



## Ominous Indeed (Sep 6, 2015)

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Program
{
static void Main()
{
List<String> Javascript = new List<String>();
Javascript.Add("Ugh");
Javascript.Add("Javascript");
Javascript.Add("...");

Javascript.ForEach(delegate(String s)
{
Console.WriteLine(s);
});
}

}


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Ominous Indeed said:


> using System;
> using System.Collections.Generic;
> 
> class Program
> ...


Nice. C#, I believe? Yeah, just had a gut-wrenching debug / troubleshoot session with the coding masters earlier.

*sigh* Imagine what a job of coding may entail...


----------



## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Nice. C#, I believe? Yeah, just had a gut-wrenching debug / troubleshoot session with the coding masters earlier.
> 
> *sigh* Imagine what a job of coding may entail...


I imagine it is something like this.







Java is a lot of fun though, I'm almost finished with my first game and really, first java program outside of copying examples from a book.








This is a lot easier than I imagined it would be, but it is Java.. and it is something I am not forced to do. I could imagine how frustrating it would be to have to work on something that is not fun, and then have to deal with groups of people to get a project done.. I don't think the money would be worth it. I'm sure any experienced coder would look mycode and have a heart attack.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

zonebox said:


> I imagine it is something like this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep. Coding is fun; sometimes annoying because of the small details, but overall, enjoyable. I can just imagine the software engineers calling you "intellectually inferior"; and referring to your coded portion as "Complete garbage." Or sloppy spagehtti code or *gulp* a "giant abominable ball of mud"... Yikes! *shudder shudder*; and then, they'd probably work on kicking you out of the company or something due to your "inefficiencies" in writing code.

I could not handle the stress of those insults; let alone being bombarded by them everyday. Because of this, I would probably sulk in the office bathroom during breaks or something. And then, i'd probably just up and leave society altogether; never to return.

And of course, no one would care; And for the ones that did acknowledge me slightly; they'll probably be glad that I'm gone; some may rejoice over the possibility that I may have perished. "Phew, good thing we got rid of that retarded guy back there. He couldn't code his way out of a paper bag!! *Proceeds to chortle scornfully*.

*sigh* Yep. And this is part of the reason why I just want to opt out.


----------



## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

Maslow said:


> Sorry about nitpicking. Keep on programming! :yes


Yes, LOL. Me too. I didn't mean to start a riot, just messing around because you were messing around by writing the code. 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


----------



## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Yep. Coding is fun; sometimes annoying because of the small details, but overall, enjoyable. I can just imagine the software engineers calling you "intellectually inferior"; and referring to your coded portion as "Complete garbage." Or sloppy spagehtti code or *gulp* a "giant abominable ball of mud"... Yikes! *shudder shudder*; and then, they'd probably work on kicking you out of the company or something due to your "inefficiencies" in writing code.
> 
> I could not handle the stress of those insults; let alone being bombarded by them everyday. Because of this, I would probably sulk in the office bathroom during breaks or something. And then, i'd probably just up and leave society altogether; never to return.
> 
> ...


The sad thing is, I can already see a plethora of mistakes in my code. In the screen shot alone, I see where I can clear up the code in an if statement. I spent the better part of four hours yesterday, trying to understand why loading a new map into an ArrayList was crashing the game, until I found some code I goofed up a while ago was the culprit. It was a simple boolean variable, set to pause the game. My game was trying to read from an ArrayList, I had removed, because the game was still running in the background all due to that one variable. I felt like such an idiot after having wasted so much time.

It is definitely a learning process, but doable, I'm just an overly sensitive person who has spent most of my life hiding from others, rather than facing them. I could not handle the constant stress of other people looking over my work, but I am like that with everything, I hate people hovering over me, scrutinizing every detail.. If either of us really applied ourselves, I'm sure we would do just as fine as everyone else does, people are not born with this knowledge.

I've never worked well in teams, I'm a definite loner. I hope you are not serious about opting out, if you are as bad or worst than I am regarding people, there are still programming jobs you can do. I think there are even small jobs posted on sites, you can take on, and build up your skills with - I've never pursued it myself though. I don't think it will make you rich, but it would make for some pocket change while you are learning.

I hope eventually, I can write a few android games in the future that net me a few extra dollars a month. Nothing may come of it, but it is still fun just the same. There is just something about creating my own things, that makes me squeal like a moron. Be it beer, or video games


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

zonebox said:


> The sad thing is, I can already see a plethora of mistakes in my code. In the screen shot alone, I see where I can clear up the code in an if statement. I spent the better part of four hours yesterday, trying to understand why loading a new map into an ArrayList was crashing the game, until I found some code I goofed up a while ago was the culprit. It was a simple boolean variable, set to pause the game. My game was trying to read from an ArrayList, I had removed, because the game was still running in the background all due to that one variable. I felt like such an idiot after having wasted so much time.
> 
> It is definitely a learning process, but doable, I'm just an overly sensitive person who has spent most of my life hiding from others, rather than facing them. I could not handle the constant stress of other people looking over my work, but I am like that with everything, I hate people hovering over me, scrutinizing every detail.. If either of us really applied ourselves, I'm sure we would do just as fine as everyone else does, people are not born with this knowledge.
> 
> ...


Same here. *sigh* Always the littlest of details with code.

Android app development seems nice. With what you've done so far in the screenshot of the code; you'll probably churn out some pretty savvy android app games that may generate decent money. Who knows.


----------



## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Thanks for the help, I guess.
> 
> Lesson learned: No more code on here,... *EVER!*
> 
> But, would be nice to know persons that can code or something.


Peer review and feedback is a common and expected part of software development life cycle. In fact I would consider it bad practice for someone to merge their code onto their team's develop branch without at least a few people or more giving their approval, depending on team size. Don't feel discouraged.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

BackToThePast said:


> Peer review and feedback is a common and expected part of software development life cycle. In fact I would consider it bad practice for someone to merge their code onto their team's develop branch without at least a few people or more giving their approval, depending on team size. Don't feel discouraged.


Valid point. I need to be more detached and objective about these things; acknowledge these critiques come with life in general so to speak. Put the feelings aside (a little hard to do in my case), and care about the efficiency and functioning of the system or code or whatever we may be working on in large groups or teams.

However, still can't help but feel deflated, and really nervous when having code inspected and scrutinized while simultaneously acknowledging that it's expected and will better the software I am contributing to.

Gah...


----------



## BackToThePast (Aug 31, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Valid point. I need to be more detached and objective about these things; acknowledge these critiques come with life in general so to speak. Put the feelings aside (a little hard to do in my case), and care about the efficiency and functioning of the system or code or whatever we may be working on in large groups or teams.
> 
> However, still can't help but feel deflated, and really nervous when having code inspected and scrutinized while simultaneously acknowledging that it's expected and will better the software I am contributing to.
> 
> Gah...


Yep. It's easy to fall into that mindset of 'it's my code, my creation' especially when you're blindly entering this field without having worked extensively with groups of people before. This is what a lot of computer science courses are lacking I feel. You can gain the ability to write functional, human readable code from independent projects and homework, but all that won't matter if you're not communicating with team members in an agile environment and potentially stepping on their feet by working on things they may not be aware of. It was kind of silly of me to think this career would be perfect for someone with social anxiety, to think I would be sitting in a secluded cubicle typing away, when in fact it's constantly forcing me out of my comfort zone every day. Hopefully that doesn't seem discouraging to you, because I think being in that type of setting does wonders.


----------



## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Lovecrushed said:


> lol why is there a bunch of code in this thread? What are you guy's career goals? I got into a really great internship as a Software Engineer Intern at an amazing company so I'm pretty excited for the summer! But I'm not sure if I want to be a SWE though. It's a great way to break into the tech field, but I'm also interested in going into finance.
> 
> A good alternative community to SAS is Reddit r/socialskills. I would say that the community on there is very helpful. An advantage is that it's a lot easier to be anonymous on reddit because you can easily make new accounts. But SAS forces you to have only one account. And you can easily delete your reddit posts by using a chrome extension, but you can't delete posts that easily on SAS.


Oh yeah; that stuff. Well, too scared to go to topcoder or some coding convention / hackathon; so I thought I could find some coders on here (As I'm on here quite often nowadays, however, still scary by the way) by churning out a little code or something; which I did. Though, a better idea would've been to create a thread entitled "Any coders here?" or something along those lines. Felt bored, and wrote that crappy JS code I posted earlier.

And yeah, yeah; I would delete that crappy code, but I guess I can refer back to it with a chuckle in the future when I've gained better skills in coding or something. I just procrastinate, and slack off quite a bit; scared to start projects, and learn the "nitty gritty" as one could say.

Gah.... I am envious yet glad for your internship.

Coding interviews.... are a seeming nightmare.

*gulp* good luck...

And meh, reddit is OK, I suppose. Haven't used it in a while. Before, I was on there daily, but not anymore. Seemed a bit boring for my tastes. However, one of these days I will eventually venture back to reddit.


----------



## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

GeomTech said:


> Oh yeah; that stuff. Well, too scared to go to topcoder or some coding convention / hackathon; so I thought I could find some coders on here (As I'm on here quite often nowadays, however, still scary by the way) by churning out a little code or something; which I did. Though, a better idea would've been to create a thread entitled "Any coders here?" or something along those lines. Felt bored, and wrote that crappy JS code I posted earlier.
> 
> And yeah, yeah; I would delete that crappy code, but I guess I can refer back to it with a chuckle in the future when I've gained better skills in coding or something. I just procrastinate, and slack off quite a bit; scared to start projects, and learn the "nitty gritty" as one could say.
> 
> ...


It takes several years coding full time to become proficient in a language. If you want to get an entry level job and you don't have a degree, I'd suggest you start with testing. You still need to code, but most of it's not very advanced. And it's actually kind of fun.

Install Selenium WebDriver and find some tutorials.
https://www.seleniumhq.org/


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## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

Maslow said:


> It takes several years coding full time to become proficient in a language. If you want to get an entry level job and you don't have a degree, I'd suggest you start with testing. You still need to code, but most of it's not very advanced. And it's actually kind of fun.
> 
> Install Selenium WebDriver and find some tutorials.
> https://www.seleniumhq.org/


Oh yeah. I've made some useful scripts (some web scraping stuff, Regex, and reading info from text files; which took quite a while) using the selenium module; well, for python at least. But that was a few months ago. And last month, I was churning out powershell and bash scripts like pellets exiting a goose; and coding some crappy applications for school (C# Windows Forms Applications the year before). But I don't know, I guess I've hit a slump or something.

Yeah... I've pretty much forgotten how to use WebDriver, and the stuff you can do with it; like explicit waits and implicit waits or something? Well, good thing I still have the python code to look over, and to critique / improve upon it.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

I always feel bad when I can't identify accents correctly. There was a couple from NZ that went to my parents church growing up, and people often thought they were from Australia and they hated that.


ANX1 said:


> From what I understand, Australia has supposedly tried to claim NZ as it's own state back in the days. It is said NZ was part of the British Colony of NSW back in the days.
> 
> They say NZ is defined as an Australian state in the Australian constitution.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

I don't closely follow the new internet trends but i can't recall finding a better SA forum than this one. It has the potential to survive for a little while longer despite all the forum issues thanks to the dedication of its members and moderators.

Forums like this seemed more in vogue when i started to get hooked on the internet around 15 years ago. There were fewer options i suppose, no social media and so on. None of the other outlets for SA discussion appeal to me in the same way. The new generations aren't growing up with these kinds of communities so they perhaps don't appreciate them or they simply have different needs and wants to older generations. 

I used to post on a good soccer forum during the 00s but it died out for similar reasons to other forums i guess. Now the smaller forums are rubbish and are usually controlled by megalomaniacs with a god complex. On larger forums i just feel like my voice is drowned out and can never keep track of whos who. Then there is the tendency for forums being bought out and used as an ad portal. Setting up new forums is complicated in terms of appearing high up on searches compared to more established ones such as this.

I don't know if there are alternatives that people would be keen to support. They'd probably rather watch this place die than have to pay for membership to eliminate the corporate side. That would also come with the risk of it becoming more partisan as the bigger donors might expect more influence and better treatment. Could we apply for charity money?


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## blue2 (May 20, 2013)

My alternative is just going back to playing computer games in my spare time, I can't really connect properly with people IRL or places like this anyway, being alone is better than being alone in a crowd, better the devil ya know.


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## twitchy666 (Apr 21, 2013)

*keep it alive!*

fire the person responsible for messing up the wrangled HTML / php ..

get someone doing it properly. make it work. clean up.

I'll do all the database backend voluntarily no doubt

all tidy

alongside the webbymaster / mistress.

most amusing description of role I find absurd: work SO closely WITH! !!! ?


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## LydeaCharlotteGirl (Aug 27, 2013)

andy0128 said:


> I don't closely follow the new internet trends but i can't recall finding a better SA forum than this one. It has the potential to survive for a little while longer despite all the forum issues thanks to the dedication of its members and moderators.
> 
> Forums like this seemed more in vogue when i started to get hooked on the internet around 15 years ago. There were fewer options i suppose, no social media and so on. None of the other outlets for SA discussion appeal to me in the same way. The new generations aren't growing up with these kinds of communities so they perhaps don't appreciate them or they simply have different needs and wants to older generations.
> 
> ...


Shy United used to be a very nice forum to post on, though very small (only about 3500 members in total!). Sadly it basically seems totally dead now. Applying for charity money to set up an alternative to SAS? I doubt that would be possible, but no idea. Like Anxiety - Space, SAUK has a donate button (both are privately owned, unlike here). I have never liked the (latter) site enough to donate, wonder how much they get that way.


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## sad1231234 (Jul 10, 2016)

Small world...


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

SAS alternative = Getting laid


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## BeautyandRage (Jul 2, 2018)

Why’d you let it die? :con


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Forums (in general) don't seem to be too popular with the "R U there?" texting crowd. I honestly think you could sell them smoke signals as "social media" and they'd spend $500 on it easy.


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Forums (in general) don't seem to be too popular with the "R U there?" texting crowd. I honestly think you could sell them smoke signals as "social media" and they'd spend $500 on it easy.


I think that's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say! ;P


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

SolutionX said:


> I think that's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say! ;P


 Unless I've somehow mastered telepathy without knowing it, I don't know how you heard me say anything.


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

WillYouStopDave said:


> Unless I've somehow mastered telepathy without knowing it, I don't know how you heard me say anything.


My AI girlfriend/slave could have read it to me.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

LydeaCharlotte said:


> Applying for charity money to set up an alternative to SAS? I doubt that would be possible, but no idea. Like Anxiety - Space, SAUK has a donate button (both are privately owned, unlike here). I have never liked the (latter) site enough to donate, wonder how much they get that way.


SAUK is much smaller than here. I'd probably be ok with chipping in something IF the forum was operating along those lines.


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

There are always going to be slow periods. If you leave just because there aren't a ton of people posting here ATM, you're just going to make it worse. It's like driving by a store that's going downhill because it's going downhill (even though you were going to spend money there) and then wondering why it went out of business. Forums can cling to life when they have to as long as they have SOME posters. I've seen forums that have like 3 active posters that persist for years just that way.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

Yeah  you can think of it like it's a small group forum for awhile. It's had it's highs and lows over the years, it's nothing new.


WillYouStopDave said:


> There are always going to be slow periods. If you leave just because there aren't a ton of people posting here ATM, you're just going to make it worse. It's like driving by a store that's going downhill because it's going downhill (even though you were going to spend money there) and then wondering why it went out of business. Forums can cling to life when they have to as long as they have SOME posters. I've seen forums that have like 3 active posters that persist for years just that way.


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## andretti (Jan 2, 2016)

Been on forums since like 2003. I've been apart of great ones that have died . Still apart of a sports one that is alive and active and I'm a well known and liked member there. 
I stopped coming here for awhile cause I really don't have any friends or people I can relate to on here (aside from the sa). The people I did really like left . 

Number of people don't really matter , quality of people do. My favorite forum was a spot on Gamespot years ago. Very personal because it was about a group of 30 of us that just made it fun. 

I like reading different things on Reddit but don't like posting at all. Very impersonal as other have stated.


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

Yay, I've been waiting for the demise of sas since I joined ten years ago.


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

Any chance there is a good forum with less than 50 percent of threads with Virgin in the title?


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## MCHB (Jan 1, 2013)

I checked out the other one that was posted and liked the layout but don't really need to be on two anxiety forums. I've weathered storms here and built character and learned a lot so for the present it's my preference.


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## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

SofaKing said:


> Any chance there is a good forum with less than 50 percent of threads with Virgin in the title?


:lol

Rule 1 of virgin club, members must complain constantly about bullying about being a virgin
Rule 2 of virgin club, members must take every opportunity to remind people they are a virgin


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## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

In the past 35 minutes, there have been ten replies, much better than what I would see on a lot of other forums that are very specific to one common issue. If you want more dialogue here, then post a thread, as intimidating as that seems. It doesn't even have to be controversial..

"What is your favorite color, what is your least favorite color, and why?"

"To beard, or not to beard, that is the question!"

"This is my thread, mine!! MINE!! *MINNNNNE*!!" (Okay, my thread like that was deleted)

"Why do restaurants put so much ice in my soda, is it a conspiracy?"

People here love, love, LOVE, sharing their opinions with others 

I would suggest you stay away from issues of gender, race, politics, religion, anything that invites hostility really, you will get a ton of replies, but they are hot topics and invite a ton of drama. This forum is a pretty amazing place, with a lot of great people, I have yet to find any better.. and there are quite a few posts here. Most SA forums I have seen, don't get near the traffic SAS does, this is the one place that maintains a good presence, mostly because the members here, the moderators, and admins are all pretty cool.


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## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

zonebox said:


> In the past 35 minutes, there have been ten replies, much better than what I would see on a lot of other forums that are very specific to one common issue. If you want more dialogue here, then post a thread, as intimidating as that seems. It doesn't even have to be controversial..
> 
> "What is your favorite color, what is your least favorite color, and why?"
> 
> ...


Gah... Controversial topics are interesting to ponder about, but it's just the "#calledout" or "Q.E.D Debunked!" resultings that seem to be invited by it.

Idk... Seems a lot of people on the internet in general are "on-edge". One small remark, and wham! Food fight! Then, all one can do is duck out of there unscathed before being spotted or..... one can participate (I wouldn't).

Even relatively harmless stuffs; I think to myself "Why did they word it this way?". *sigh* Idk what's going on anymore. Maybe a good idea is just to talk about the ideas behind topics and avoid referencing people directly. Probably not a good idea, but this crap is just too intense.

Like, even on reddit; I was browsing a subreddit, and a guy was looking for advice, but nitpicked a particular comment, called it "ridiculous", and then baited the other person into arguing about existential philosophy. What is going on around here? It's like you have to tip-toe around if you don't want crap flung towards you; which makes one a bit scared; always looking over your shoulder, expecting that ball of crap to hit you square in the face. *sigh*

One can ignore and leave altogether, but I just wonder why that had to take place at all.


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## zonebox (Oct 22, 2012)

GeomTech said:


> Gah... Controversial topics are interesting to ponder about, but it's just the "#calledout" or "Q.E.D Debunked!" resultings that seem to be invited by it.
> 
> Idk... Seems a lot of people on the internet in general are "on-edge". One small remark, and wham! Food fight! Then, all one can do is duck out of there unscathed before being spotted or..... one can participate (I wouldn't).
> 
> ...


I've given up on most topics people consider controversial now, there never really is any correct answer, it is just usually in your face hostility. I almost always feel worst after engaging in such topics, and my contribution really has no benefit. I avoid Reddit like the plague :lol Honestly, after reading people argue on the Internet for years, it gets a bit tedious, it is the same routine, the same arguments, just a different topic, repeated. It is like a chess game, I suppose, each person makes their move, their opponent then makes theirs, but there never is a winner. When I read a post of of someone arguing, I can often predict how the response is going to be.

Lately, I enjoy silly discussions, that serve no purpose, and are meant to be taken lightly. I think I have just moved on to a point where I don't take most things people say on the Internet very seriously anymore, I don't put much value into their words, and lack the interest in changing their minds. Controversial topics are usually just a battle of wit, rather than an attempt to gain knowledge.


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## sabbath9 (Dec 30, 2014)

Back in the day SAUK, SPW, Tapir and even Anxiety Tribe had pretty good forums, but I haven't browsed them in years.


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## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

zonebox said:


> I've given up on most topics people consider controversial now, there never really is any correct answer, it is just usually in your face hostility. I almost always feel worst after engaging in such topics, and my contribution really has no benefit. I avoid Reddit like the plague :lol Honestly, after reading people argue on the Internet for years, it gets a bit tedious, it is the same routine, the same arguments, just a different topic, repeated. It is like a chess game, I suppose, each person makes their move, their opponent then makes theirs, but there never is a winner. When I read a post of of someone arguing, I can often predict how the response is going to be.
> 
> Lately, I enjoy silly discussions, that serve no purpose, and are meant to be taken lightly. I think I have just moved on to a point where I don't take most things people say on the Internet very seriously anymore, I don't put much value into their words, and lack the interest in changing their minds. Controversial topics are usually just a battle of wit, rather than an attempt to gain knowledge.


Ah. I see. Never was involved in this "changing minds" stuff. The most one could do, given that you're not forcing ideas upon them is planting a seed. But even this, It's not really necessary; as I believe if the possibilities allow for it, persons will eventually reach that said idea through their own accord (and it may hold more significance that way), and if not, there might be a reason as to why it hasn't occurred.

Perhaps one day, the state of non-attachment will be reached in these matters; where I will no longer be afraid of whatever may be flung my way or what I may witness being flung towards others. But life in general seems this way; like there's a squad of bulldozers patrolling around, and as soon as they see you, their headed your way..... Yikes.


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## truant (Jul 4, 2014)

GeomTech said:


> Idk... Seems a lot of people on the internet in general are "on-edge". One small remark, and wham! Food fight!


Yeah, I'm bad for this, tbh. I've always been argumentative. I've been trying to curb that for years but I really struggle to control it. Believe it or not I used to be a lot worse than I am. Though not having time to argue probably has more to do with it than self-restraint.

Some day I'd like to get to the point where I just don't need to post at all.


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## GeomTech (Sep 29, 2015)

truant said:


> Yeah, I'm bad for this, tbh. I've always been argumentative. I've been trying to curb that for years but I really struggle to control it. Believe it or not I used to be a lot worse than I am. Though not having time to argue probably has more to do with it than self-restraint.
> 
> Some day I'd like to get to the point where I just don't need to post at all.


Maybe what underlies this all is fundamental differences in temperament. But you also mentioned there being a kind of compassion or empathy in regards to persons consuming seemingly harmful ideas, and that through this, you argue with said person?

I on the other hand have some of the same feelings, but would view it as draining and something scary; as I have problems with conflict in general. I'd like to think that one day, before it's too late, people may realize the need to change and act upon it. Maybe I'm just too selfish in that regard. Idk. Never been a "tough love" sort of person.

I believe I've always carried the streak of being agreeable in general, or "soft", and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a coping mechanism to not get "shot down", and that on the inside, I'm a complete monster. Could be.


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## h00dz (Dec 25, 2012)

I really hope this place doesn't die, but the way the internet is going who knows. This kinda format, you can actually create some sort of connection with people. I can't see how could do that on reddit at all.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

I think part of the quiet is due to issues people are having accessing the site, not being able to see the full site or access the features, and that Amazon bug that was popping up. Tapatalk is a pretty nice way to avoid that for now.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

A Toxic Butterfly said:


> I think part of the quiet is due to issues people are having accessing the site, not being able to see the full site or access the features, and that Amazon bug that was popping up. Tapatalk is a pretty nice way to avoid that for now.


Many of us oldies will put up with these issues because we have invested so much in the forum over the years. It's not so easy to simply pull the plug on the whole thing/shambles whatever you wanna call it. Newbies on the other hand aren't going to stick around too long if the place is crashing, experiencing security issues and losing threads left right and centre.


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## KotaBear96 (Dec 11, 2017)

Sad I just got here! I already notice that people come and go quickly.


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## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

A Toxic Butterfly said:


> I always feel bad when I can't identify accents correctly. There was a couple from NZ that went to my parents church growing up, and people often thought they were from Australia and they hated that.


You can tell the difference by how they say things.

Like bro is uniquely NZ. Mate is Australia. But some things like that get mixed up, like NZ people say mate which makes it confusing. 

If hear of putting some shrimp on the barbe or billabong, you are talking to an Australian. 

But usually the Australian accent is different to NZ accent.

Both countries are like cousins, so find that we rib each other.


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## 969033 (Jul 24, 2018)

ANX1 said:


> You can tell the difference by how they say things.
> 
> Like bro is uniquely NZ. Mate is Australia. But some things like that get mixed up, like NZ people say mate which makes it confusing.
> 
> ...


mince or munce


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## Mondo_Fernando (Jun 26, 2014)

A Toxic Butterfly said:


> I think part of the quiet is due to issues people are having accessing the site, not being able to see the full site or access the features, and that Amazon bug that was popping up. Tapatalk is a pretty nice way to avoid that for now.


It works ok without issues on new browsers. But need new operating systems with updates to run those browsers.



Onlytheone said:


> mince or munce


With accent, probably sounds that way.


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## batman can (Apr 18, 2007)

I don't really understand why Reddit is so popular. It is a downgrade from the forum structure IMO.


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## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

A Toxic Butterfly said:


> I always feel bad when I can't identify accents correctly. There was a couple from NZ that went to my parents church growing up, and people often thought they were from Australia and they hated that.


This girl describes the difference very well - it's all to do with the vowels.

When I was a kid we always used to get Kiwi (NZ) girls to say "six pins." (because when they say six it sounds a bit like sex - silly I know, but we were boys and very stupid.)


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## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

ANX1 said:


> You can tell the difference by how they say things.
> 
> Like bro is uniquely NZ. Mate is Australia. But some things like that get mixed up, like NZ people say mate which makes it confusing.
> 
> ...


Only thing is we say "prawns" - not shrimp mate. :wink2:

With a lot of the American shows on TV you might get some people saying shrimp nowadays though - it always sounds silly to me - like they aren't Australian.


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## AffinityWing (Aug 11, 2013)

SAS is still my #1 choice for SA communities, because I'm an oldie here now and have a special attachment to it. (Since it is what helped me learn I have SA, what SA is, and helped me through some of the darkest times in my life so far by showing me I'm not alone.) I've been here even longer than my registration date shows, lurking for years before I actually decided to make an account.

It's a shame we've lost so many of our oldest members, quite a few due to what I believe were unfair banning practices, but I've been seeing alot of newer people that may now be slowly becoming long-term members of ours in the future. We just need to do out with the trolls. 



andy0128 said:


> *Many of us oldies will put up with these issues because we have invested so much in the forum over the years. It's not so easy to simply pull the plug on the whole thing/shambles whatever you wanna call it.* Newbies on the other hand aren't going to stick around too long if the place is crashing, experiencing security issues and losing threads left right and centre.


Yes, I'd be devastated if something happened to SAS. There are too many memories here!


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

Reminds me of the cringeworthy outback steakhouse commercials, they say shrimp in the same manner Anx1 wrote out. They're not really Australian either hahaha. I'm so sorry we have an embarrassing theme restaurant.



harrison said:


> Only thing is we say "prawns" - not shrimp mate. :wink2:
> 
> With a lot of the American shows on TV you might get some people saying shrimp nowadays though - it always sounds silly to me - like they aren't Australian.


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## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

A Toxic Butterfly said:


> Reminds me of the cringeworthy outback steakhouse commercials, they say shrimp in the same manner Anx1 wrote out. They're not really Australian either hahaha. I'm so sorry we have an embarrassing theme restaurant.


I think a lot of Americans think we're all living out in the desert or something here - or in "the bush" as we say. When actually most Australians live in big cities and don't talk like that at all.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Yeah, most of Australia is empty desert. Almost everyone lives in the south-east corner of Australia.


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## Fever Dream (Aug 18, 2015)

harrison said:


> I think a lot of Americans think we're all living out in the desert or something here - or in "the bush" as we say. When actually most Australians live in big cities and don't talk like that at all.


And the next thing I bet you'll tell me is that not all Aussie's know how to throw a boomerang, or wrestle crocodiles.


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## harrison (Apr 14, 2012)

Fever Dream said:


> And the next thing I bet you'll tell me is that not all Aussie's know how to throw a boomerang, or wrestle crocodiles.


Well now that you mention it, I just had to put a crocodile in the bathroom for a sec so I could answer this post.


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## In a Lonely Place (Mar 26, 2012)

SAUK Social Anxiety UK


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## CWe (Mar 7, 2010)

Nothing better than SAS so i hope it never fades away


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## thomasjune (Apr 7, 2012)

This site is always dying yet it keeps going and going and going...
I'll probably be dead way before I get to cry for this place.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

Let's assume new people land on this forum more often than they choose to stay. What do you think would turn new users off to this site? After all, it isn't only "fresh blood" that keeps a forum going. It's when those people who are interested enough to join choose to stay a while. 

There are only certain things the current admin can do about the issues that might be detrimental. He really can't do anything about the glitches other than complain to the people who own the site.


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## blue2 (May 20, 2013)

Yeah thats why I showed up, anything dying I'm there.


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## Hikikomori2014 (Sep 8, 2014)

Is there anyone out there?


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## Jackthedog (Jul 29, 2018)

I think a lot of older folks stop coming here because it just becomes a doom and doom feedback loop.


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## LydeaCharlotteGirl (Aug 27, 2013)

In a Lonely Place said:


> SAUK Social Anxiety UK


SAUK has also become quite a lot less active than in the past, rather like on here. IMO that forum has always had a very different atmosphere to here (certainly not really to my taste, maybe some would like it though). I'm sure their (seperately run) chat is still good, but it uses IRC which may take some getting used to if you're not good with computers.


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## LydeaCharlotteGirl (Aug 27, 2013)

AffinityWing said:


> SAS is still my #1 choice for SA communities, because I'm an oldie here now and have a special attachment to it. (Since it is what helped me learn I have SA, what SA is, and helped me through some of the darkest times in my life so far by showing me I'm not alone.) I've been here even longer than my registration date shows, lurking for years before I actually decided to make an account.
> 
> It's a shame we've lost so many of our oldest members, quite a few due to what I believe were unfair banning practices, but I've been seeing alot of newer people that may now be slowly becoming long-term members of ours in the future. We just need to do out with the trolls.
> 
> Yes, I'd be devastated if something happened to SAS. There are too many memories here!


Just wondered why you think unfair banning practices? Some users have certainly made that accusation before, and some of them sounded a lot more bitter about it than you seem to. It's certainly true that temp or permanent bans used to happen more often than now, and that there have been countless permabans over the years. Yeah the trolls are always a pain, of course!


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## AffinityWing (Aug 11, 2013)

LydeaCharlotte said:


> Just wondered why you think unfair banning practices? Some users have certainly made that accusation before, and some of them sounded a lot more bitter about it than you seem to. It's certainly true that temp or permanent bans used to happen more often than now, and that there have been countless permabans over the years. Yeah the trolls are always a pain, of course!


Hm, I don't know the full stories for the users I know that got perma-banned, even from when I became a mod since most of them had already been banned at that point but I was surprised to see users that had been on the site from very early on, such as UltraShy who had been here as early as 2003(?), to suddenly get banned when I had never see them get so much as a temp-ban before or anything like that. Again, since I don't know the full story, they may have been given chances I don't know about but I have also seen long-time, familiar users who are usually on very good behavior that got the ban hammer instantly. There should certainly be more careful consideration for older users who break more serious rules.

I don't want to throw out names, but for a time there was one user who has been a really well known and long time regular here that changed their avatar to something quite explicit yet nothing seemed to be done. These are the kind of loopholes and inconsistency in the forum's rule enforcement that should be worked on, I think. I suspect there has been somewhat of a preferential treatment in banning practices, for awhile now.


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## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

AffinityWing said:


> Hm, I don't know the full stories for the users I know that got perma-banned, even from when I became a mod since most of them had already been banned at that point but I was surprised to see users that had been on the site from very early on, *such as UltraShy who had been here as early as 2003(?),* to suddenly get banned when I had never see them get so much as a temp-ban before or anything like that. Again, since I don't know the full story, they may have been given chances I don't know about but I have also seen long-time, familiar users who are usually on very good behavior that got the ban hammer instantly. There should certainly be more careful consideration for older users who break more serious rules.
> 
> I don't want to throw out names, but for a time there was one user who has been a really well known and long time regular here that changed their avatar to something quite explicit yet nothing seemed to be done. These are the kind of loopholes and inconsistency in the forum's rule enforcement that should be worked on, I think. I suspect there has been somewhat of a preferential treatment in banning practices, for awhile now.


I think he was doing something illegal or highly questionable someone made a thread about him selling them a gun or something like that.

Sometimes people post porn to get themselves banned as well because they don't want to post here anymore and there's no way to delete accounts.


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

He's been been temp banned before and other long term members have been temp banned multiple times as well. Usually, the only times where it's instant is when someone posts porn.


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## 0589471 (Apr 21, 2012)

shyvr6 said:


> He's been been temp banned before and other long term members have been temp banned multiple times as well. Usually, the only times where it's instant is when someone posts porn.


Yes and Shyvr knows having been a mod, but for the others, a lot of things happen on the back end users don't see.

Warnings and infractions go out to troublesome users privately, and accrue on the account, but a lot of the time other users assume we are doing nothing as they cannot see it and ask why nothing has been done.

Sometimes they assume a user has been banned when nothing has come up before but can't see the warnings and infractions that have added up on the account over time.

Some users play it off really normal in the forum and cause trouble privately, like harrass or do illegal things via PM. Again things happening where general users would not be aware.

A permanent ban has to be voted on and there has to be a history of trouble first. Unless an obvious troll or spammer who is posting ads or porn everywhere.


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## Cool Ice Dude55 (Jan 7, 2014)

Anyone else have loads of technical difficulties using this site? It's why I've stayed away.

There's some reddit boards that are good alternatives.


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## AffinityWing (Aug 11, 2013)

Persephone The Dread said:


> I think he was doing something illegal or highly questionable someone made a thread about him selling them a gun or something like that.
> 
> Sometimes people post porn to get themselves banned as well because they don't want to post here anymore and there's no way to delete accounts.


I see, I think I may have seen something about that. Either way, the banning function is know to be quite limited, since there is always a way the user could go around it, even beyond creating multiple accounts or hiding their IP so nontheless I'm sure many of them are still around... for better or for worse. LOL



A Toxic Butterfly said:


> Yes and Shyvr knows having been a mod, but for the others, a lot of things happen on the back end users don't see.
> 
> Warnings and infractions go out to troublesome users privately, and accrue on the account, but a lot of the time other users assume we are doing nothing as they cannot see it and ask why nothing has been done.
> 
> ...


Yes, I remember these from when I was a mod. I never knew the users much at all aside from their posts I would see browsing the forums, and it surprised me to see how notorious some of them were in the mod community when I joined it.


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## WillYouStopDave (Jul 14, 2013)

AffinityWing said:


> SAS is still my #1 choice for SA communities, because I'm an oldie here now and have a special attachment to it. (Since it is what helped me learn I have SA, what SA is, and helped me through some of the darkest times in my life so far by showing me I'm not alone.) I've been here even longer than my registration date shows, lurking for years before I actually decided to make an account.
> 
> It's a shame we've lost so many of our oldest members, quite a few due to what I believe were unfair banning practices, but I've been seeing alot of newer people that may now be slowly becoming long-term members of ours in the future. We just need to do out with the trolls.
> 
> Yes, I'd be devastated if something happened to SAS. There are too many memories here!





LydeaCharlotte said:


> Just wondered why you think unfair banning practices? Some users have certainly made that accusation before, and some of them sounded a lot more bitter about it than you seem to. It's certainly true that temp or permanent bans used to happen more often than now, and that there have been countless permabans over the years. Yeah the trolls are always a pain, of course!





AffinityWing said:


> Hm, I don't know the full stories for the users I know that got perma-banned, even from when I became a mod since most of them had already been banned at that point but I was surprised to see users that had been on the site from very early on, such as UltraShy who had been here as early as 2003(?), to suddenly get banned when I had never see them get so much as a temp-ban before or anything like that. Again, since I don't know the full story, they may have been given chances I don't know about but I have also seen long-time, familiar users who are usually on very good behavior that got the ban hammer instantly. There should certainly be more careful consideration for older users who break more serious rules.
> 
> I don't want to throw out names, but for a time there was one user who has been a really well known and long time regular here that changed their avatar to something quite explicit yet nothing seemed to be done. These are the kind of loopholes and inconsistency in the forum's rule enforcement that should be worked on, I think. I suspect there has been somewhat of a preferential treatment in banning practices, for awhile now.





Persephone The Dread said:


> I think he was doing something illegal or highly questionable someone made a thread about him selling them a gun or something like that.


 IMO, permabans are used about as often as they should be. They are sometimes overdue when they happen but I reckon that's just to make sure.

I sometimes think temp bans could (probably should) be used a bit more liberally. Although I think probably the mods are maybe limited to a pretty lengthy temp ban period instead of (say) a 3 day timeout or something for someone who is just locked into a pattern of aggression and needs to take some time out.

As far as Ultrashy goes, I once trusted and kind of admired him. All I'm gonna say is if he did what I think he did, he deserved his permaban. I don't think such a longtime member would have been permabanned for no reason. I don't know the facts. Just suspicions from rumors that float around put together over time.

I don't think strict moderation has anything at all to do with the decline. The moderation here is more than fair compared to some forums. I have gotten the equivalent of an infraction on other forums for calling someone dull (that was recent, too). I've had countless posts removed from the same forum for being only slightly off-topic for the thread they were in. While that probably is technically against the rules here, I doubt it would be an infraction unless I had been causing lots of trouble. That's how easy it is to get on the wrong side of the mods on some forums. Here, you pretty much have to do something that's not cool in a big way to get permabanned.


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## wmu'14 (Sep 17, 2010)

Yes I've noticed SAS dying too. Used to be 3 pages worth of new postings in a thread in every section, now it's just a few threads on one page in just a few sections.

I spend more time on FB.

I'm not really sure where to go to talk about SAD anymore because I don't really suffer it as badly as I used to. Maybe try Reddit? Or maybe there's other


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## wmu'14 (Sep 17, 2010)

Cool Ice Dude55 said:


> Anyone else have loads of technical difficulties using this site? It's why I've stayed away.
> 
> There's some reddit boards that are good alternatives.


I was for a good year or so it seems. Looks like they just fixed it b/c the technical difficulties went away a couple weeks ago or so. This will get me posting more then what I was the past couple months, maybe.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

You can get permabanned for posting a documentary.


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## Chevy396 (Jul 10, 2017)

Now would be the time for someone to crush it by making a new Social Anxiety site. I might be interested in working on it if someone pitches me a really good idea.

I don't think there would be any money from it, but it could be a non-profit.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

wmu'14 said:


> Yes I've noticed SAS dying too. Used to be 3 pages worth of new postings in a thread in every section, now it's just a few threads on one page in just a few sections.
> 
> I spend more time on FB.
> 
> I'm not really sure where to go to talk about SAD anymore because I don't really suffer it as badly as I used to. Maybe try Reddit? Or maybe there's other


But the formats elsewhere suck. I.e. just a list of topics. You have to scroll down for ages to retrieve a discussion.

I think discussing SA is only part of the appeal of this place for those that have been here a while. It's more a community of people with a common problem.


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## Maslow (Dec 24, 2003)

Chevy396 said:


> Now would be the time for someone to crush it by making a new Social Anxiety site. I might be interested in working on it if someone pitches me a really good idea.
> 
> I don't think there would be any money from it, but it could be a non-profit.


I've thought about making one, too, but it takes many years to establish a large enough member base, and I'm not willing to put it all the effort and money in hopes that it will be popular some day. I've done that with a few other sites without much success.

And I don't know what you could do different from this site -- other than get some of the bugs out. :lol


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## Overdrive (Sep 19, 2015)




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## scarpia (Nov 23, 2009)

^^

This guy?

He was banned more than once. I think his behavior got worse after his mother died.


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## Jackthedog (Jul 29, 2018)

I wasn't active when Ultryshy got banned, but I'm reading this thread and it sounds very interesting:

https://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f24/a-glimpse-of-the-real-ultrashy-2000817/


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## Cam1 (Dec 4, 2011)

I just saw the amount of people currently logged on the forum was a third of what I remember it typically being. It's not too surprising though. There are a lot of alternatives like Reddit, Discord, and online gaming. 

I don't think many people regularly use forums any more. As a result of that SAS probably has less of the community feel it had in the past, and has become more transient. It's too bad, this place has been great for a lot of people. Hopefully it becomes more active again.


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## Mik3 (Nov 11, 2015)

In my personal experience I use this forum sparingly because when I do post I don’t really get much interaction so kinda just slope off and find other places to vent (mainly through crying in the shower)


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## JohnDoe26 (Jun 6, 2012)

Well that's what happens when you go on a permanent ban craze. All the interesting people have been booted out and you're left with us socially inept folk. What's worse is we can't ever speak about the reason as to why they're booted out (sort of like a cult or Soviet Union style when people just disappear and it's never acknowledged).


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

JohnDoe26 said:


> What's worse is we can't ever speak about the reason as to why they're booted out (sort of like a cult or Soviet Union style when people just disappear and it's never acknowledged).


Most of the time it just leads to people either talking crap about the person who got banned or mod bashing.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

Jackthedog said:


> I wasn't active when Ultryshy got banned, but I'm reading this thread and it sounds very interesting:
> 
> https://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f24/a-glimpse-of-the-real-ultrashy-2000817/


I was active at the time, and that thread is indeed interesting (I somewhat remember it before it was edited), but it's not the ultimate reason he was banned.


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## andy1984 (Aug 18, 2006)

good alternatives to SAS:
picking your nose
navel gazing
wailing
suicidal thoughts
sleeping all day
generally just fantasizing and living in your head
talk to imaginary friends
regret every little thing you've ever done


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## JohnDoe26 (Jun 6, 2012)

shyvr6 said:


> Most of the time it just leads to people either talking crap about the person who got banned or mod bashing.


I can understand closing down a discussion when that happens. But you can't even ask why so and so got banned, not even privately to the mods.


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## shyvr6 (Feb 18, 2008)

JohnDoe26 said:


> But you can't even ask why so and so got banned, not even privately to the mods.


There aren't any rules about asking in a PM, but it's not a guarantee that you'll get an answer. Your chances might be better though to get a broad answer if it's just normal rule violations or a duplicate.


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

JohnDoe26 said:


> Well that's what happens when you go on a permanent ban craze. All the interesting people have been booted out and you're left with us socially inept folk. What's worse is we can't ever speak about the reason as to why they're booted out (sort of like a cult or Soviet Union style when people just disappear and it's never acknowledged).


Many people hold the opinion that the moderation was stricter in the past before things became less active. In fact some attribute the loss of members to being too lenient lol so there you are. It amazes me how much people speculate about what occurs behind the scenes as if they have read all the problematic posts on this forum.

I think there are a number of possible reasons for the decline. The evolution of internet discussion in general and ongoing technical issues.


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## andy1984 (Aug 18, 2006)

scarpia said:


> Porn. You know about online porn, right?


porn is a poor substitute for SAS. whereas with my suggestions, if you use the correct rotation of activities, you can exactly simulate the true SAS experience.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

andy1984 said:


> good alternatives to SAS:
> picking your nose
> navel gazing
> wailing
> ...


You forgot complaining and bickering with your imaginary enemies.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

So how is it going on other forums, besides reddit?


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## andy1984 (Aug 18, 2006)

komorikun said:


> You forgot complaining and bickering with your imaginary enemies.


yeah that's the most important one!


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## andy0128 (Dec 19, 2003)

The decline here is more noticeable when you're on holiday as i am at the moment, and you check this place more regularly.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

We barely go over 100 at times...I remember staying around 200 daily.


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