Mods.. please cry like a baby here

[Keri]

The problem is that new people aren't yet indoctrinated into forum etiquette. No one is to know the narrow definitions that we insist upon here.

Rather than the monotonous cycle of: "atheism is no belief in a god so let me tell you what you believe without bothering to find anything out about you" ... We could simply state that up front. Save ourselves on tissues.

I'm not speaking really on netiquette. When do you NOT introduce yourself?
Even on the internet. Sending a message to someone you just added on facebook? You at least say, 'Hi I'm so and so. We have a mutual friend X.' I rarely add people as friends on social media that if I don't already know them. If I we have a mutual friend and that mutual friend recommends them, then I send a quick message and ask if it's okay to friend them.

If you're sending an email to someone for the first time, then you introduce yourself.

If you meet someone in person for the first time, you introduce yourself.

Surely you would know that even if you have never been on a forum in your life.

With that said, I've noticed patterns that when people have social issues such as Autism or Aspergers, that introductions are often overlooked. My cousin's son has Aspergers and he's 18 now and she still has to remind him to introduce himself. Otherwise he'll just start talking about World War 2 airplanes and the Japanese military or whatever fascination he's on at the moment. He's incredibly intelligent and he graduated high school near the top of his class but he still lacks the sensitivity to social complexities. Even the simple ones as it's polite to introduce yourself. I used to work in a mental hospital and I've learned a lot about various disorders and I can usually spot them a mile away. Even online. My last forum was rampant with various levels of diagnoses in the Autism-Spectrum category.