After seeing your Twitter account I can see that you're being sincere, but your reply to my post really does come across as edgelord - just letting you know.

Sorry about that, expression of "ugh yeah I'd hate that" tends to overlap significantly with sarcasm. Being autistic also hurts the tone a little.

I was being sincere, yeah.

I think the cases where you italicized might be better bolded? For me personally, italicization could emphasize certain words but sarcasm-ized others depending on the context.

> Species dysphoria makes me uncomfortable

I'm pretty sure thinking you're not "supposed to be" human is a mental illness and you should be seeking treatment for it, not leaning into it.

This kind of unnecessary combatism doesn't belong on HN in my opinion. It is (by some very limited measures, at least) a somewhat diverse community, and that works better when people aren't at each other's throats.

Wombatism > Combatism. Got it sir. flaps wings and flies away

Edit: Actually it occurs to me I should not presume to write sir. I am in the habit of using "fellow human" as a backup but that can no longer be assumed apparently.

Do I address you as creature or is that also frowned upon?

Edit the 2nd: Out of curiosity, aren't you being exclusionary against combatism? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_of_aggression

> I'm pretty sure thinking you're not "supposed to be" human is a mental illness and you should be seeking treatment for it, not leaning into it.

That's not what I meant by "dysphoria". I use "dysphoria" to mean that I feel a mismatch between my inner identity and outer body. It doesn't mean that I think the body is somehow wrong or incorrect, but rather that I'd prefer to be inside a different one and I am uncomfortable with this one.

I never think "I was supposed to be born as something else", because that isn't true. I was born exactly how I was supposed to be. Autism and ADHD are merely genetic differences. But one can grow to dislike their own existence and desire a different one, and that's not necessarily a mental illness in itself. I don't have delusions of transformation or rebirth or religion. I just feel like I identify as something else.

It's similar to how some people feel gender dysphoria or gender euphoria. HRT and SRS exist for gender/sex transitions, but unfortunately transhumanism or "species transition" isn't really possible. So I have to tough it out and try to make myself as comfortable as possible despite that.

This includes expressing myself online the way I want to instead of a way mandated by the laws of "reality". Having to identify online using the body would indeed be very dysphoria-inducing because I don't identify that way and I don't want to be seen that way online.

Going through ADHD treatment is helping me significantly (and with other mental illnesses too), because some of my discomfort probably stems from executive dysfunction (i.e. the body not listening to me when I tell it to do certain things), but I will never not be otherkin; take that as you will.

It’s probably some sort of missing childhood syndrome, where you didn’t get to experiment enough with identities as a child. But as long as you are doing this with similar people and in a community, who cares, be happy.

What’s ridiculous is the types who want to force this play on others, especially the aggressive trans types, who claim any misgendering is basically violence, or want biological males in female changing rooms, because that’s the game they want to play. It’s extremely damaging narcissistic behaviour and wanting to control others.

> It’s probably some sort of missing childhood syndrome, where you didn’t get to experiment enough with identities as a child.

It could be the opposite. I was given a computer with internet access around age 5 and allowed to experiment all I wanted. I was a faceless entity at first, but after around a decade, I started exploring animal roleplay and eventually animal identities as I saw others doing those things.

Found a form that I felt like I identified with... and now that's my honest identity.

> as long as you are doing this with similar people and in a community, who cares, be happy.

I am <3 species euphoria is great, when I can express myself~

> What’s ridiculous is ...

Please don't.

> I was given a computer with internet access around age 5 and allowed to experiment all I wanted.

Most identity experimentation games happen from age 2-3, and much of it depends on parent and environment feedback. Sitting at your computer "experimenting" is highly unlikely to be what our psychology and evolution needs for us to become fully mature adults. It's much more about direct feedback and interaction with parents, siblings and others.

Well, I'm autistic and have ADHD bad enough that my body will not even respond to my attempts to move sometimes. There are a million reasons for me to be unhappy with it, feel trapped and isolated inside my own head, want to escape/avoid reality, and choose to do so through fantasy. But it doesn't change the fact that I honestly identify this way now, no matter how I got here. I think explaining it away as some syndrome or illness is a bit minimizing. My identity is important to me.

Almost everyone finds ways to cope with the issues of life, or the traumas of childhood, whether that's extreme sports, or alcohol, or however you've been able to cope. As I said in my first post, that's fine, everyone has to find a way, and we shouldn't judge each other.

Except when your coping mechanism has negative implications for other people. As soon as you are forcing others or damaging them (note: easy to see how that works with alcohol for example), then it's not ok. Find a way to cope, fine. Just don't expect me to play along with it (we have interventions for alcoholics for a reason).

> Except when your coping mechanism has negative implications for other people.

What are you implying? Does not wanting to link my accounts to a real-life body have negative implications somehow?