if you want me to be honest… here it is. the strength sports of T-Mag is pretty much pointless. it honestly drives off numerous people who resort to other actual strength oriented sites. the problem lies in the undeniable fact that members of T-Mag with other goals come here and insult anybody who has goals contrary to theirs.
joking around is fine. deliberate personal attacks on members here and other pl’rs or strongmen or what have you is simply unwarranted. most actual pl’rs here display a thick skin, myself included.
however, if you could tell me what the actual point of reading and posting in this section is when the vast majority of it is flaming?
the saddest part about it is that you’ll never see a pl’r from here in a thread insulting a pretty boy who just works out for abs and girls, which this site is abundant of. i respect all goals.
my honest suggestion is to simply close down the strength section of this website. once long ago there was no strength section, as you know, and it was “better” that way. while i know you judge, or have made implications that T-Mag judges the worth of a section by # of hits, i feel it’s misguided in this area. the most hit threads are the ones full of flames and stupidity.
it drives off more people than you think. pl’rs & strength seekers alike just need to accept that while T-Mag has attempted to be diverse… it’s really not. it’s a pretty straight forward physique dominated site.[/quote]
John, I couldn’t (respectfully, of course) DISAGREE with you more. That would be a step in the direction of making this a “T-Fitness” site. I have thoroughly enjoyed lurking in the strength forum and learned a great deal from it. Granted- I haven’t contributed much to the forum, as I don’t feel qualified, but without this forum, hell- I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a “bench shirt”, etc. With this forum, I may learn enough to feel qualified to respond, one of these days. I think there is a lot to learn from the powerlifters on this site that most of us aren’t exposed to at the “Health Clubs” that call themselves gyms. Most of these powerlifters are going to come straight to the strength forum. I’m not likely to find these discussions in the “Sex and the Male Animal” forum. (see where I’m coming from?)
That T-Nation is relatively uncensored is one of its strongest points.
Of course, one of its other strongest points is that some very strong people post here. If it comes down to an ugly choice between censoring fools and no longer benefiting from the experience of the strength athletes who currently frequent this site, we should obviously choose the former.
Hey, Atomic Dog I don’t really care about these people insulting powerlifters aka me. But when are we gonna get some powerlifters on the powerful images?
After a posters third nomination they could be banned and relegated to the “Asshole Allstars” for an annual vote and a year of T-Nation infamy.
This should have some effectiveness as it seems that most people who are a PITA on Strength Sports tend to be PITA’s in other forums, as well, like Politics.
You guys could put up a nice bologna ring avatar for them. That would be freakin’ hilarious.
if you want me to be honest… here it is. the strength sports of T-Mag is pretty much pointless. it honestly drives off numerous people who resort to other actual strength oriented sites. the problem lies in the undeniable fact that members of T-Mag with other goals come here and insult anybody who has goals contrary to theirs.
joking around is fine. deliberate personal attacks on members here and other pl’rs or strongmen or what have you is simply unwarranted. most actual pl’rs here display a thick skin, myself included.
however, if you could tell me what the actual point of reading and posting in this section is when the vast majority of it is flaming?
the saddest part about it is that you’ll never see a pl’r from here in a thread insulting a pretty boy who just works out for abs and girls, which this site is abundant of. i respect all goals.
my honest suggestion is to simply close down the strength section of this website. once long ago there was no strength section, as you know, and it was “better” that way. while i know you judge, or have made implications that T-Mag judges the worth of a section by # of hits, i feel it’s misguided in this area. the most hit threads are the ones full of flames and stupidity.
it drives off more people than you think. pl’rs & strength seekers alike just need to accept that while T-Mag has attempted to be diverse… it’s really not. it’s a pretty straight forward physique dominated site.[/quote]
Wow! There is some harsh truth there. It’s harsh, but true. I don’t think pulling the forum is the answer.
I agree with mica617 completely. I didn’t realize the problem was that bad until I saw this post, but I think ending the strength sports forum would be a shame. This site started out with a lot of contributors who were predominantly strength coaches (i.e. Poliquin and King), not “physique-enhancement coaches” or whatever. And I don’t mean that as a slam of most of the newer contributors either, there’ve been some great articles in the last year or so, and I’m looking forward to trying the Thibaudeau bench press article when I have totally free Sundays in a couple of months.
I think this issue ties into the debate over on that “Mice & Men” thread about what this place is trying to be. I hope it never becomes a physque site, full of bodybuilding info at the expense of performance and strength information. It’s challenging for this one site, however crammed the main page may be, to try to embrace people from the Brad Pitt in Fight Club end of the spectrum to guys who bench 700 pounds, but I think it’s generally a good thing. That being said, I’d rather see less of the the “help me be 180 pounds with abs so I can get laid all the time” mentality, and a lot more powerlifting and strongman stuff, even though I participate in neither sport.
I hope it doesn’t have to come down to censorship, but seeing most of the really strong guys on this forum slowly trickle out because it’s a waste of their time would hurt everyone that posts or reads here. I would hope posters would have a thick skin about all of this, but if half the posts in the strength forum just degenerate into flaming, I can see why a powerlifter wouldn’t bother coming here. Post more strength pictures (anytime a guy’s standing up with 600+ pounds in his hands, a la Franco, I think that’s powerful), less T&A.
I guess Dr. Ryan’s suggestion sounds like the best compromise solution, or maybe doing AIM-style warnings. But TC, good job recognizing this and taking action, before there are hardly any strength athletes left here.
While we’re at all this how about we just employ a full background check and semen for DNA testing for all who wish to post in the strength sports section?
Pulling the Strenth Sports forum would be a big loss. I know that I’ve personally gained a ton of knowledge there.
Rather than moderating, I wouldn’t mind some notation on the forum directory (maybe a little flame) that indicates that a thread is out of control. Give the folks who want to spend there time arguing on a forum the freedom to, but let the rest of us know what’s going on before we waste time.
A huge improvment would be made if posters soliciting advice would take the time to do more than show that they have read the instructions for their digital camera. Saying “what ya think” below a picture doesn’t provide enough information to give someone any input that is meaningful. Goals, age, training age, restricions, maybe even some context etc would all play roles in that. Absent that, you get back what you put into it.
[quote]TTewell342 wrote:
Hey, Atomic Dog I don’t really care about these people insulting powerlifters aka me. But when are we gonna get some powerlifters on the powerful images?[/quote]
Send me some high-quality, high-res shots that are GOOD, i.e. are more than just snaptshots and that capture some drama.
Also, keep in mind that because of the way the site’s constructed, the pics need to be vertical as apposed to horizontal. That pretty much negates any benching photos.
[quote]old_dogg wrote:
Pulling the Strenth Sports forum would be a big loss. I know that I’ve personally gained a ton of knowledge there.
Rather than moderating, I wouldn’t mind some notation on the forum directory (maybe a little flame) that indicates that a thread is out of control. Give the folks who want to spend there time arguing on a forum the freedom to, but let the rest of us know what’s going on before we waste time.
[/quote]
I don’t intend on killing the Strength forum.
No way.
And regarding the censorship thing, there doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus. How about, since Tim, Chris, or I can’t be everywhere at once, you let me know when someone’s starting to be a problem?
If I hear about it from more than just a couple of people, I’ll know that I have to keep the butthead in line.
Oh, and regarding the “Asshole of the Week” suggestion, it’s my feeling that the assholes in question would relish and seek out such a title.
I think you would be correct!
I dont really comment on the PL stuff since I dont know jack about it. Learning lots though!
Good moderation and PM’s to the mods when people are being retards should help. I think if you have someone that is constantly offending people then they should be banned though.
There is no chance in hell we need censorship on this site. If people can’t recognize that it’s just some intellectually insecure meathead spewing out insults at them, and they’re genuinely hurt, then I’m going to have to say they need to toughen up…a lot.
That being said, I have no problem with having people banned if all they seem to do is start shit and have no intelligent input whatsoever.
Censorship does not sound good, but then what is the purpose of moderating? I have seen forums die because idiots got involved, and complete lack of censorship has lead to many learning the benefits of viagra, penis and breast enlargement, and finding the best porn on the net.
If there was an asshole of the week, it could come with a lockout where they could only post once every 48 hours for a limited time. And if they get it a second time, it becomes permanent. Third and it becomes once a month, or something like that.
Another option is to do what many have done, and put a link where people could report the post, and if it looks like a legitimate complaint, have a vote by members. Majority wins, and the thread vanishes into limbo after say 24 or 48 hours of hours of voting.
Third option is to track these people down, and post their address on the forum, and let the T-members (hey that sounds dirty) take care of it on their own time.