Introducing Autostraddle Social 1.0 : Social Networking For Total Weirdos

Hi! We thought it would be fun if y’all could talk to each other so we installed this plug-in for social networking and now you can! We’re starting out simple but the sky and possibilities lay ahead! In this post, I will tell you how to join in case you can’t figure it out yourself or need to take a xanax or something.

Welcome to Autostraddle Social 1.0™. Here’s a stock photograph to represent this concept, the first of many I will utilize in this post: As this is still in its infancy, please inform tess [at] autostraddle [dot] com if you have a technical issue! We’re aware of the uploading-an-avatar problem.

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1. Creating an Account

First, you click “sign up” if you’re not already signed up.

It will ask you some simple questions about yourself. You can answer them, or you can hold your cards up close to your chest, say what you have to and hold back the rest. But really, you’re someone I don’t know, so I’d like to get a firm grip on who you are before I accept your friend request. What if you’re really into cats, or you have a cat, and I’m allergic to cats. Strike one, right? Also, what if you have a duck pond, and I have a duck pond, and nobody has a duck. These are problems lesbians face every day in this country.

After you do this there will be a brand new menu bar for you at the top, filled with portals to additional worlds of imagination.

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2. Enhancing Your Profile With More Words

You can make your profile better by uploading a gravatar to gravatar.com (OUR AVATAR UPLOADING THING IS TOTALLY BROKEN, TESS IS FIXING IT) and then by answering additional sets of invasive questions. They are almost all optional, except for like your name.

If at any time a question offends you or you feel as a celiac that you are not represented, please send hate mail.

This is the profile of my daughter, Intern Emily Choo:

There’s so many other questions and you can choose what to hold back… and what to reveal!

 

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3. Groups

Groups are groups, but also groups are forums, in a way. We’re gonna have forums one day but we’re seeing how this goes first. You can join one of them and then talk about all those strange things you do and care about. There are so many. Like if you’re shy, or live in Canada or think you’re the only lesbian in your town, or really like Doctor Who or Glee or play rugby or are straight or live in New York or in Philadelphia or just about anything really.

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4. Make Out

So far several people have successfully made it to first base b/c of Autostraddle Social 1.0™

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5. Or Don’t, Just Talk

You can message each other! I’ve actually never done this, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s self-explanatory and y’all could figure it out. You know what I like about it? It’s so non-invasive and gentle. I feel like social networking layouts are sort of inherently all-consuming and invasive. I feel like Autostraddle Social 1.0™, or ASS 1.0 for short, is humble, and I appreciate that in an aesthetic.

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6. Community

Click this to see what’s happening everywhere. Bookmark it or something!

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3279 articles for us.

87 Comments

  1. WOW. Yay! Automatic log-in! That’s really all I wanted, but groups and community and all that schtuff are cool too.

  2. I HAVE BEEN USING ASS 1.0! it makes me happy, seriously jubilant. people on AS are oodles better than people on FB lemme just say.

    p.s. thank you for the stock photos, riese. you know how i love me some retirees.

  3. I am enjoying the hell out of Autostradle Social 1.0 and hope to one day have a thriving social community a la the Something Awful forums, without the mysogyny but with the hilarious photoshops.

    (P.S. We are having awesome conversations over in the Lesbrarians group.)

  4. Fantastic addition to the site, but I have problem. I can’t figure out the f@$#ing crop tool because it just magnifies a tiny corner of the picture. Am I mentally deficient, or is there something up with the tool?

      • And me. I think that’s what they meant by “theirs is still broken”. I managed to get my current icon by resizing an image in Picnik over and over again until it worked. If you make a 200×200 icon of the image you want, and then don’t crop it, it should (mostly) work.

      • Okay, cool. I wanted to have other pics as icons but they just come out as coloured smears lol

        @Avery I might just do that, but my current hack-work is sufficient for now. Thanks for the tip!

    • It took me 10 uploads to get the avatar (mostly) right for my group about documentaries and I pretty much gave up on my other group.

      • I’m fairly in love with ASS 1.0 (the wit! the hilarity! the acronym!) but this supremely skilled implementation of stock photos seriously takes the cake/all teh win.

  6. Although I have barely got to grips with this ASS, I am confident it will give me a great deal of satisfaction.

    • Seriously. Now that I’ve gotten ASS, I don’t know what I would ever do without it…

  8. Ok, Question time: I’m trying to sign up and it says only lowercase letters and numbers are allowed. But I’ve seen other (member) names out there with capital letters and spaces! Hmm, how can I do that?

    PS: Thanks for sympathizing with my only child need to have what everyone else has and my obsession with the presentation of words. :)

    • Possibly the members who have used capital letters signed up as members prior to Autostraddle getting some ASS. I think now we are restricted to the plugin username rules. I’m not making any promises, but I will try to change that in the very near future.

      Wait a few days and then try to change your username. If you have any further issues, email me at tess[at]autostraddle[dot]com.

    • And you can always just change your name after you register. A lot of the member names you see aren’t the same as their username. Like, Laneia’s username is actually “green,” Carmen SanDiego is “carmensandiego” etc.

  11. I love this but random words in my profile appear to turn blue. Does it just do that whenever we create a list with commas or what?

    • Yeah, it’s the same concept that’s used in FB (or once was) – those words are hyperlinked so that we can find others on AS that have the same words (read: interests) in their profiles.

      • considering the large majority of us are interested in women it might get hella meta up in this ASS real quick

        • actually i still think that’s an error, it seems random what it highlights. we haven’t been able to fix that yet either

          • I tried to start my About Me section with “Oh, man,” and it linked to the user with the username “Oh.” I was confused.

  17. You guys, I was having the shittiest day and then I came here and read all the ASS jokes and now I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I love you all.

    I’ve been loving the ASS but I am too timid to grab ahold of it and really do something with it (sigh). So feel free to friend me and message me! I am pretty not-shy once I know someone wants to talk to me.

      • I mean, I have a pretty good hold on it, but I’m not sure what to do next. I really want to use this ASS right, or you know – it may not give me anything in return.

        • Hmmm, so now that you got a good hold on it you wanna make sure you’re gonna tap dat ASS. I see.

        • It’s okay if you need to take it slow or be extra gentle. Love the ASS and it will love you back.

          • That’s right… you don’t want to hit the ASS too hard. But then again, hitting it too softly doesn’t do much, either.

            Perhaps those who use the ASS with proficiency should get a special button for their profile? Like “ASS Master”?

  20. ASS is asking for our underwear preferences? this is the greatest social networking site EVER.

    p.s. “commando” is an option, don’t panic

  21. well i would love to join and register but ever scince i signed up months ago the site says my name and password is already in use but refuses to reconise it…same with my e mail address..so there ya go

  22. I’m just hoping that they back that ASS up in case there are technical problems with all these new people signing up…

  24. My interest in ASS has introduced me to more queers on the internet than I know IRL. So, yes, ASS is awesome.

  26. This is awesome. I may actually use this unlike the Facebook profile I have never updated a single time.

    But, or course I can’t do anything without processing. (Which probably isn’t something you should admit around people you hope will want to talk to you but I’m also pathologically honest.) The first profile question asks for a label and I don’t know how to answer and then it’s like my whole life becomes about it.

    The first couple who met on ASS will probably be getting gay married before I finish my profile. In like a week probably.

    • you can always not check anything off if it’s too difficult. or check everything off, maybe

  28. >you feel as a celiac that you are not represented

    I feel like that ALL the time. The fact that you know what celiac is makes me feel represented. That is a wee bit sad.

  32. I was so anxious to use it at first because I felt I would just make myself look like a gigantic idiot BUT I NOW REALIZE THAT PEOPLE (AUTOSTRADDLERS SPECIFICALLY) ARE AWESOME.

  36. Ah, after a hectic and exhausting day, I got to come home and enjoy ASS with all you fine folks. I haven’t yet gotten to the bottom of all this social networking stuff, but I really get behind how cheeky y’all are, you know.

  37. dear powers that be,
    can there be navigation links/buttons on the bottom of the groups page, too? for people like me who have nothing to do but browse groups for hours on end, and yet don’t have time or patience to scroll all the way up to the top to go to the next page of random groups?
    love, abby

  38. So umm, how will this affect two users with the same member name? There are two ‘Jules’ on here.

  39. yo guys, i made a group called “straddle this piano bench” for all you singer songwriter lovahs out there. given the 23094 ani difranco posts on this site, i know theres a market.

  40. I hope this makes you tons of money!
    Then you guys will just have to figure out who will play you in “The Lesbian Network”!

  42. I need help uploading a profile pic! I did the Gravatar thing (numerous times)and just can’t get the pic!

Comments are closed.