LiveJournal and Autistic Communities

Last updated on July 26, 2026

LiveJournal, Yahoo Groups, Second Life, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Internet Relay Chat, and many other social and chat platforms have faded away over the years. Many of those spaces, particularly LiveJournal, once had supportive autistic communities.

LiveJournal was where I found an autistic community that was okay. That was years ago, and I recently realized how much I miss that community.

Today’s dominant social media aren’t the same. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok do not offer the same experiences as the old-style communities and virtual spaces.

What made the old spaces more autistic-friendly? Why did many of us feel safer in those spaces than we do on Facebook or Twitter? And, if we did like those spaces, why did we abandon them?

My exit from LiveJournal coincided with its sale to Russian owners. Six Apart sold off LiveJournal in 2007, and by 2009 the system felt different… but maybe that’s because all online communities were changing. AIM is gone. Yahoo Groups are mostly dead, little more than mailing lists — the Group Pages are gone.

IRC and Second Life continue to exist in their familiar forms, with much fewer active users.