Do you ever miss the WP mod days? Do you think the online AS world has changed a lot since then?
I do miss it actually, though I'm not the same person I was back then I might hate it if I did it now
I think the the online autistic community has grown more fragmented and diverse over the years, which isn't a bad thing, I think it's helped to mellow out the collective voice. Back then there was basically WP and AFF and they were, to put it poetically, almost like Charles Xavier and Magneto from X-Men. WP wanted to work with the NTs and what not, AFF was (from my perspective) more about establishing our own identity in spite of the NTs. They both had their extremist viewpoints within their communities (which in hindsight is kind of hilarious).
But now, the collective voice seems to more saying "Auties, NTs, pfft. Let's just get on with living and maybe educate and advocate if we can be bothered".
Of course that's coloured through my perspective then and my perspective now, and may not match reality :lol:
I think it was definitely of its time, though I miss it too, but as you say we're different people now.
I think the era of 2004-05 was a huge era for aspies, For me at least, it was the time when broad-band internet became common in the UK and lots more people started using forums for the first time, it was a time of a lot of autism awareness here such as well publicised books and tv shows, and it was a time all the big forums were set up. So you had all these people who had discovered AS for the first time, discovered the internet for the first time, and were really excited about making communities and finding each other and making friends.
I think there will never be another big surge of AS activity like that again, but I guess that level of momenteum and excitement couldn't last forever, so all we can do now is keep ticking along and stay around the people we get on with.