I confess to having some reservations, but I'm cautiously in favor. I don't mind being a part of the 'resource' community for people trying to understand their relationships, I think that's part of what this site does so well.
Would you mind expounding on your reservations?
What I would unreservedly support is some kind of inducement for NTs who come here to stay here in conversation beyond their immediate needs. See us as people, and for us to see them as people. Explore more than just one thing. The drop-in-get-my-needs-met-and-leave behavior sometimes feels a little like a more evolved take on "how do I fix my partner or his/her problem"--the very attitude we want to combat. It's mechanical. There are a couple of NTs that have stopped posting and I really do wish they would return...their pieces were thoughtful.
I am hoping a dedicated section could become such an inducement. As it stands, NT enquiries are spread across several forums. This seems inefficient to me, and I feel we're losing an opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of our site as a resource.
AdamR, my partner, withdrew due to hostility from a small clutch of hostile members. He's naturally scrappy and highly defencive of his mate [I've come under attack a couple of times], so he backed off rather than cause trouble for me or the atmosphere here. He did post a bit recently, but I don't see him returning very seriously, despite the fact that the handful of members in question seem to have gone now.
- Huge membership (7000+?), but relatively small commenting community. Makes me wonder who lurks, who leaves, and why.
- A lot of energy going into one-off, single-issue fixes on behalf of NTs.
- A lot of the same questions answered over and over, but not much new depth in discussion.
- Not enough Grumpy Cats and AdamRs and other NTs hanging around providing a consistent "as I see it" leaven to discussions.
Point 1. I have discussed this with Slithytoves, a member here who has a great deal of experience running forums. She makes a good point, that it's impossible to properly explore the phenomenon, for the very fact that it's about non-response. She did say some forums send out exit questionnaires to people who quit, but the response rate is poor and most people don't bother to delete accounts upon leaving anyway. It's also possible that some lurkers are Aspies who don't want to socialise, as it's not their nature, but do wish to read as a way of feeling connected to the community, to the extent that they feel able. I guess we'll never know.
Point 2. This is what I'm trying to address with a separate forum. It's likely that most of these people may turn up in a moment of distress, just to vent and gather just a bit of feedback while the incident is hot. In that case, we might give them reason to stay if they saw they could have the support of other NTs in similar relationships/situations. That potential isn't evident just now.
Point 3. I considered a new section as a way to reduce repetition, consolidating attention on existing threads, which might create more depth. Whether it would work or not is a question.
Point 4. The AdamRs and Grumpy Cats aren't currently visible enough for like to attract like, unfortunately. Those two are a rare breed, anyway, interested in being part of our community rather than simply consulting with it. I'm not sure many NTs would want to do what they do here, unless they found a reason to stick around long enough to see us all as people they might like to know better.
Your observations are
fantastic, A4H. I've only become aware of you just recently, but I must say, I'm delighted to know you!
Valuables Summary:
1. What is the probability that a one-time visitor actually learns that we're not defective but different?
2. As we interact, are we "meeting" each other and getting to know each other better?
3. Are the one-time visitors supporting revenues for the site as measured by page views and click-throughs?
4. Are the insights being generated in the replies, rather than the one-timer posts?
5. What other valuables are being created by this site's social media dynamics?
6. What does it cost to get the value?
These are excellent questions, if very hard to quantify. You might want to send your list to Brent for his thoughts, and to see if he would even be interested to find out the answers. I'm not suggesting Brent doesn't care about the site. Not at all. I'm just curious how much of an investment of time and energy he finds reasonable on his end, as a businessman.
It occurs to me that one instrument which might be helpful is a poll or survey of members who
have stuck around, to find out why they did, what they like about AC, and what they feel needs improvement. [Just trying to think of how we could use the active members to hypothesise why we don't have more.]
If a survey were in order, there are services like SurveyMonkey that could be linked to a thread here, so members could answer anonymously if they so wished.
I am not a staff member, so I don't think it's my role to launch such an effort [not even a simple poll thread]. I am a scientist, though, so research is always appealing. And I'm a member who cares very much about AC, so I'd like to see it be the best site it can.