Thanks.

I'm referring to a old friend from a brazilian gaming forum. I prefer not to say his name, since he used his actual name as his profile, and since he's inactive, I don't know if he would like it.

I've always found you to be great to interact with, to you're doing a good job by me.

I feel like my online persona can be a bit much at times, which is mostly due to my autism, I don't always know the most "socially appropriate" way to express myself.

I do try my best though to be civil and respectful.

Back in my teens, somewhere around 2007-2009, I was having my first experiences with internet. And I meet my first digital friends (that's how I call my internet friends).

It was an incredible thing for me to talk with people from anywhere around the world. My english was slowly getting better, and I could understand everything they were saying to me. But at that time, I was more confortable with Portuguese speaking friends.

And I noticed something... When I was becoming an Adult, I was scared to grow up and have to give up on everything I like (games, animes, cartoons, movies) to become a somewhat more serious person (politics, etc). I was very pleased to see people in ther 40s still talking about things I enjoyed. So yeah, I wanted to meet new people.

Then, I joined a certain website and tried to "socialize" with gaming fans... But it was no good. They weren't very friendly to new people, and I was somewhat "purged" from that site. I think that was around 2011.

And I thought "Whoa, they really can't stand a newcomer"... It was a site about speedrunning games, and I showed my project to them and asked for directions. No responses. And when I submitted my run, they rejected it and said some very rude things.

Oh well...

Then a couple of years later, I meet some different people in another forum. They were a bit older than me, and there was a particular guy who quickly become my friend.

Something about him was very curious: No matter the heat of the discussion, he NEVER went berserk or something. He would keep his cool, argument, and give his opinion. He used funny emotes sometimes, and even if someone threw a jab at him, he would be very polite and give his opinion. Never losing his mind. He used to create funny threads too and interacted with everyone.

In fact, everyone liked him, and respected him.

I decided that I wanted to follow this guy's lead.

He teached me that not everyone on the internet is a troll or a rude person. And I noticed that, this guy, was the person that I wanted to meet when coming to a new place.

Today, I try to be like him. Don't judge anyone before meeting them. Be polite. Control your feelings to not lose your mind. If someone bothers you, and you feel like they're starting to throw jabs at you, answer with a polite statement, and walk away. Soon or later, they will reap what they soil.

I was never banned here in VG Chartz, so I think it's working.

I don't know what happened to him, since he disappeared some years ago. But I really hope he's Okay. He was the kind of user that any forum would love to have.

Everyone wants to be respected when they meet someone. And I want to give them this respect.

Shit Curl you're one of the nicest people on here.  From my perspective I cannot recall a time when i thought you were "too much" . Just my 2 cents.  

I'm autistic as well. Despite the fact that I can sometimes communicate better in texts, messages, and chatting it still is sometimes more awkward than non-autistic people.