Point of Curiosity: ASL?

[saruchan28]

I've found a lot of difficulty being clear with this online. How would you respond to the "s" part of someone asking "asl?"

I've tried "null," "agendered," "-," "N/A"... People just don't GET it. Can you think of any way to be clearer than that?

[Psychopomp]

Sadly, I've had that problem too. Some people forget about an answer to it if you say something more interesting but I've never had anyone 'get it' when it comes to our situation.

[Ryles]

I've never seen someone ask that who was at all tolerant or accepting- just people who are interested in cybering. I once had someone grill me about my genitalia (as if it was their business) and block me after I said "I'm not my genitals".

[Jicragg]

I saw ASL and thought American Sign Language.

I'm in the wrong decade.

[AlexTheSane]

I usually make fun of people who ask that. I challenge the assumption that ANY of those letters actually give you legitimate information about a person. When I'm feeling less challenge-y I tend to ask people to talk about something else.

[Catechin]

When people throw the "ASL" muck in my face, I screw with them as it is a marker of superficiality. I can't help it. Something like "Fossilized/Amoeba/on a drifting antarctic iceberg slowly floating east", or similar. If they can't deal with their impersonal inquisition being snubbed, their loss.

[Lyn Aven]

Back when I was in places where people would actually ask "ASL?" (note that this was the late 90s!) it was more a matter of being kids and thinking it was a good ice-breaking question rather than being interested in cybering.

You don't have to answer the question -- take it for the icebreaker that it's supposed to be. Don't worry about answering the question any more than you would answer "How are you?" (you're not gonna unload on all of your problems unless it's a friend). Change the subject, maybe answer it as if someone said "what's up?" -- most people won't even notice you didn't answer.

[Kladeos]

I thought you were talking about American Sign Language and was very confused for a while.

[not_quite_pie]

I don't talk to people who open coversations with 'ASL'. They're either displaced teens from 15 years ago or creepy people looking to cyber. A time travelling teenager would be pretty cool to talk to, but it's not worth the risk of ending up with jerks.

[AlexTheSane]

I've actually started explaining the truth on places like omegle. I've gotten many many disconnections and a couple "so you're a heshe?" But I've also had some very interesting conversations about it. I'm starting to think that it's worth it being honest just to weed out the assholes.