Changes to the Steroid Forum

Pharma / TRT
21

As one of the individual’s who’s been spending more and more time on the Steroid board (doing reading and trying to write as little as possible), it has been absolutely killing me how much bullshit has been posted as of late. There are too many people who are not interested in reading (or even in taking any of the advice the active members give them), and simply post a stupid string of non-sensical questions, then get mad when some understandably frustrated ‘vets’ tell them either what they don’t want to hear (usually that they are too young and need to do their own research), or simply tell them to screw off.

However, this board has been an invaluable learning tool for me (due mostly to the contributions of members like Bushy, InTheZone, Schwarzenneger, Cortes, and many others, who are owed a debt of gratitude by just about everyone on this board). I find that the information the community here has put together answers most of questions a potential first-cycler may have, and if it doesn’t, at least gives them a more specific set of questions to research elsewhere.

As such, I do feel it would be a shame to lock out those who have fewer posts on T-Nation from at least being able to view the discussion, especially on some of the finer points of AAS use (which would undoubtedly occur in the ‘vet’ section of the board).

While the idea of a dedicated Mod would be ideal to weed out the trolls and stupid questions that could easily be answered, that seems like a bit of a Herculean task, and would be putting quite a load of work onto the shoulders of a member who, in all likelihood, already contributes a lot to this community.

One idea that just popped into mind would be to arrange, literally, a test for writing privileges in the Steroid forum. Give new members access to the Steroid Newbie and Newbie Cycling planning threads, and with the help of some of the more experienced members, write a 20 or so question online MC test, based on the information in those threads, which if successfully passed, would give the used the ability to post questions (provided he/she has shown they understand punctuation, spelling, grammar, capitalization, and courtesy). Maybe it would a) answer many of the questions these individuals have, and b) keep at least some of the trolls out of this section of the board. While it may not be feasible, it’s just an idea.

Hopefully some sort of solution can be reached, as some of the posts have even me wanting to crack my head on a wall.

22

I think RJ has pretty much hit the nail on the head. There needs to be a mod for the steroid portion of T-Nation, and not just any old mod- it needs to be someone who understands the implications of every post made. While RJ “hate[s] the idea of vets”, I think that one of our “vets” would make a good mod, or at least what a mod should be modeled after. There are plenty of people on here who would make good Steroid Forum mods. Like RJ said, the stupid questions will always come, because everyone is new at some point. But a mod to sort through dangerous posts that could potentially have legal issues would seriously help a lot.

23

There many pros and cons to this topic. It would be nice to have a place to start new and interesting threads regarding advanced AAS use and information on new drugs. I also agree that there are a ton of stupid fucks who post half ass cycles without any clue as to what proper research is.

However, there is the tricky topic of who gets in and who doesn’t. Would there be voting by all or just a few members? I don’t think post numbers mean very much either. Some may have 500 post and 400 of those are bullshit. Also the thought of the orignial steroid forum becoming disregarded by knowledgeable members would be a very bad deal. Bro knowledge would take over and all the idoits would then start to feed off each other. Besides, the newbies tend to stay away from intelligent threads and discussions. They usually start their own threads that we mock and flame.

My final thought is that the starting of an advanced steroid forum would be helpful but I’m afraid that the previously mentioned issues would make it nearly impossible to create and maintain without doing damage.

Now I do like the idea of a mod or elected member being able to ban a bad seed for various offenses.

Although I disagree with a vet board, if there were to be an advanced forum I would lobby my ass off try to get into it;)

24

If someone were so inclined, they could create an account and set the profile to “friends only,” and then send friend invites to only those people that would be allowed to see and post in the profile. The blog system of the profile could be used as a type of private forum. Problem solved. For all we know, there is already such a “forum” here, we just wouldn’t know unless we were invited.

25

[quote]rainjack wrote:

I hate the idea of vets. Hate it. [/quote]

I’m glad I’m not the only one. The way it is now we all participate and help each other out. Some of us know more than others and we can easily correct each other’s mistakes etc… And I just have to say again, the stupid posts AREN’T all that terrible. I am very ‘stupid’ on many topics and if all of my stupid questions were junked I’d never learn anything.

26

[quote]rainjack wrote:
Doing anything more than what we have now is going to make us look like a bro board.

I would like someone to have the ability to ban idiots from the forum for a month if they offer bad info, or give stupid advice.

Clear that sort of baggage out of the steroid forum, and you will have very few problems.

[/quote]

AGREED!

27

I don’t know if the software running this website allows for it but I would like a couple subforums for arranging different topics. Most other boards have subforums for specific categories of questions (eg, cycle advice, beginners, peptides, chemistry, etc) and though the quantity of static is the same, it’s easier to find the useful or desired content amongst it.

Maybe instead of subforums a tagging system for posts could be considered which would allow a reader to display only those threads with a specific tag at any given time. This would also help with progressive decline in usefulness of the search engine that has happened over the years with the tremendous increase in archived posts.

Either system would probably require some sort of moderator figure in order for it to work properly but I think better organization from the start would lower any future mod’s workload (somewhat).

Additionally, having some sort of subforum or sorting system like above would reduce the need to censor and maybe also provide a better way of highlighting the best threads that can’t all be stickied.

[edit]
One other arguement in favor of these methods is that they don’t increase the profile of the “steroids” forums at the front of the site, which I think makes the changes more viable.

I don’t think the steroids forum itself creates much business for Biotest directly and its presence probably turns a few people off. I think they’ve kept it around all these years though because it lets them market their goods as being “steroid like” or on the same plane of effectiveness more with greater apparent credibility than if they prohibited steroid discussions.

I don’t think they want any more visibility for this section and that’s why subforums as opposed to additional forums would be appropriate. That and I like hierarchical organization better.

28

As a newbie, take this with a grain of salt. But - I do think that developing and advanced thread for the vets is a great idea. In order to qualify for that thread, there would be a minimum number of required posts AND time (Like, say, 100+posts and 30 days, or whatever). Also, the advanced board rules would specifically state what NOT to post about - threads like RATE MY FIRST CYCLE?, or IS A-DEX A PROTEIN SUPPLEMENT? would not be allowed. These rules would be in a sticky at the top.

Although I would request that newbies be able to read the posts by the vets, just not respond or ask a question without certain post/time qualifications. One thing I’ve done as a newbie is to write down the name of all the vets, then one-by-one click on their name and select LOCATE ALL POSTS. That let’s me quickly (well, not so quickly) read LOTS of great information. I also think people underutilize the search feature - that has proved a GREAT feature for me.

My advice for first-timers is use the search key and read til you go blind or fall asleep at your computer! Also I’ve found that if I’ve done my homework and don’t sound like a complete nimrod then most vets don’t mind you PMing them and asking and intelligent questions or two…LittleRunt

30

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:

Personally, I think we just need to ignore the 'tards and and bump the good threads regularly.

Anything else might just blow up in our faces.

Ultimately though, I won’t leave just becasue of a few ignorant threads. But then I can ‘entertain’ myself in the S&N and BBing forums quite happliy. Man, there are lots of members with musculoskeletal issues.

Bushy[/quote]

Agree with the shunning and bumping. Ummm though I am less concerned than Bushy with the musculoskeletal issues of the members…

31

I guess I’m sort of one who believe an open forum is best. Even with trolls, etc infiltrating, they only do you damage if you are overly sensitive to their antics. In my opinion, even though it clutters the “good” posts from the “bad”, sometimes it is fun finding some gems among the slag.

Being on this board over the years, I have developed my “taste” for certain posters; i.e. those who I don’t consider “trolls”, “newbies”, or who I know will post something that I might be sensitive to. I like the way the forum let’s you know who the last “poster” on a thread is; I try as best as I can to go to those posts where certain posters who I think are legit to see if there are some gems of knowledge or ideas in there. Oftentimes there are!

The forum also let’s you look up who posted what; you can keep up with things they wrote.

32

im not really the one to talk about this subject, becuase some may consider me one of those retards that asks dumb questions…buuut, cant a person that has had their posting privelages suspended just make a new account. and if they can they will probably be pissed off and just tear the forum apart once they make a new account. maybe mods would have to do what wikipedia does and break it down to IP adress instead of account.

33

I’ve posted here some over the years and lurked a lot more- some on the steroid board and some on the. I have appreciated the open dialogue here- from experts to newbs to folks who just oughta shut up. I’ve learned a lot- some of it true, some of it false, and some of it untested. My observation has been that things generally work themselves out and the boneheads move off to other forums.

34

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:

Personally, I think we just need to ignore the 'tards and and bump the good threads regularly.

Bushy[/quote]

The excessive bumping turns threads that are two solid pages of info into 15 pages of heavily diluted and unnavigable info. This historically has made many great threads much less usable.

On this note, I think it would be great if copies of some of the best classic threads were cleaned up, condensed, locked and put in a subforum all their own. There are some people who will never research on their own before posting, but there are others who will if the info is easy to find.

35

A chemistry sub-forum would be the coolest!

A steroid-only mod wouldn’t work.

Most times, the bonehead threads actually have a lot of “what not to do” information that’s quite useful to noobs that do read.

Being conservative, I’m all for no more changes, because they’ll most likely suck. The forum regulars have to police the place to keep it cool. Sort of like a secret, rotating cabal.

I’ll end with the notion that Cy Willson or Tim Patterson should be more involved with this section of T-Nation.

36

i’d personally like to see the steroid newbie thread re-authored and stickied as several seperate threads. the original was a great idea, but has lost it’s ooomph from numerous bumps, hijacks, and just plain useless posts in it.

basic stacking philosophies found in some of Cy’s articles (notably steroids for dummies) and the two fine threads created by furiousgeorge could be integrated into a good baseline document.

steroid profiles should be another sticky thread, seperate from the newbie document.

there should also be a PCT thread stickied outlining strategies for standard PCT recovery.

another stickied thread should be devoted to the test taper.

restructing the forum this way would help a little in weeding out some of the retarded posts. yet, there have been and always will be seemingly stupid, redundant and repetetive questions asked. that is the nature of the beast when in a public forum. remember that even if you are a “vet” per se, you did start off as a green newbie asking some similar questions. it’s not that bad, and won’t disappear, but can be improved upon.

37

Damn it looks like i have missed a TON in the past few days, sorry been workin CrAzY. I didnt read all the posts but i like the general idea of where most are going. I think either the steroid only mod or the seperate forum would be best but i agree with the olympus thing too cortes. Got some brainstorming to do

38

[quote]rainjack wrote:
All we really need is something on the order of a dedicated steroid mod.

The steroid forum is a different animal than any of the other forums we have here on T-Nation. There are legal issues raised here that you just don’t run into in any of the other forums.

We need someone that knows what is reasonable to post, and what is over the line.

If we learned anything from ORD - we should know that there are things you can say in the open forum, and things that need to be said in private.

That is my concern. Not so much the stupid newb questions in general, because everyone was new to this at some point. But I think that certain comments and questions need to be made on private.

I hate the idea of vets. Hate it. [/quote]

I agree. I think people pretty much just need to suck up/ignore the stupid posts just like any other forum and pretty much any other online messageboard.

39

[quote]juice20jd wrote:
i’d personally like to see the steroid newbie thread re-authored and stickied as several seperate threads. the original was a great idea, but has lost it’s ooomph from numerous bumps, hijacks, and just plain useless posts in it.

basic stacking philosophies found in some of Cy’s articles (notably steroids for dummies) and the two fine threads created by furiousgeorge could be integrated into a good baseline document.

steroid profiles should be another sticky thread, seperate from the newbie document.

there should also be a PCT thread stickied outlining strategies for standard PCT recovery.

another stickied thread should be devoted to the test taper.

restructing the forum this way would help a little in weeding out some of the retarded posts. yet, there have been and always will be seemingly stupid, redundant and repetetive questions asked. that is the nature of the beast when in a public forum. remember that even if you are a “vet” per se, you did start off as a green newbie asking some similar questions. it’s not that bad, and won’t disappear, but can be improved upon.
[/quote]

              Best actual workable idea in my opinion right here. Do this, and then just deal with whatever slag runs out or spills over. Inevitably it will be to a less degree with these basic restructuring ideas put into place.

I like this, very comprehensive and a great way to outline breaking into the steroid forum for any noobs, which in turn makes them better, and smarter noobs. Less confusion with all the basic bases covered for them.

               Bravo JD, well done!

                    ToneBone