The Future of Testosterone Nation?

Off Topic
41

Most of these forums, like any other bodybuilding forums mind you, is shit.

You find the classic internet forums shit talkers, trolls, and white knights but arguing on “manly” things like muscle mass and curls versus compound movements instead of computers or lol cats.

It was shit, it is shit, and it will remain shit.

Even more so when the forums are moderated by the ones having shares in the supplement company funding it and having no problem censoring whatever they do not like.

I already know that some of you falling into the troll category will be all over this post to tell me how I suck since I am participating in the forums I am myself describing. Whatever, I am just passing by and might never be back to this thread.

42

These types of threads come up every now and then.

It will never be how it was, back in the day there was a much smaller community of dedicated lifters, Biotest wanted a wider audience to sell more supplements (fair enough, i would to) and as such we now have a much much larger community with far less “hardcore lifters” (whatever the hell that means)

That and just a general explosion of internet use by teens and high school kids anyway

Its like a small hardcore gym that becomes a global franchise, theres only so many “hardcore” guys out there.

No amount of moderation, branding changes or I,Bodybuilder programs will ever change that fact.

The guys in alpha have as close to the “old times” as this place will get.

if anyone is TRULY serious about discussing HARDCORE bodybuilding, the fact is there are probably now other forums better suited to that.

Cheers

43

[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
yay T-Nation![/quote]

x2!

44

I’ve been reading the free articles on this site for the past four years. The negative responses have always been there. What’s changed, I think, is the increase in membership (well, logins, at any rate).

You know what would be great is the ability to vote up/down individual posts (like YouTube does). If a post goes below a certain threshold, it’s hidden. I think that will help clean up some of the clutter.

45

Every few months I see one of these “this site is going to shit” posts. It’s always has the same ingredients: 1) site used to be more hardcore 2) more hardcore members in the past, now they’ve all left because of all the disrespectful noobs 3) the hardcore members that are left are all too mean to the actual noobs who have potential and they leave/stop posting too 4) articles are not what they once were 5) blah, blah, blah.

Who cares, get a life…

46

[quote]Mod Brian wrote:

[quote]SSC wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]SSC wrote:
This website initially drew me in a few years back with the articles. That’s when I didn’t know a whole lot about weight lifting. Curious about a lot of the super “technical” terminology presented in articles and the seemingly abundance of contradictory information in said articles, I made my way to the forums.

What I found there were hundreds, if not thousands of clowns that worship the authors and training techniques presented by them, but none of them looked like they lifted. My goal is bodybuilding. 99% of the articles posted on this site have no relevence to actual bodybuilding, and aren’t really helpful in any endeavors to ME. Thus, I don’t bitch about them (with this exception.)

What I’m getting at is that this “community” here is for shit, mostly. Guys inhabiting the “bodybuilding” forum who have no interest in bodybuilding whatsoever. Regulars on the website who all apparently are best friends, but I’ve never actually seen any of them posting anything related to training or lifting. People who want to know the ins-and-the-outs of every facet of every training programming who don’t even know what it’s like to be intense when lifting.

I have it on very good authority that there are a lot of guys who left this site because of this stuff, whether it’s posting primarily on other lifting sites or just leaving all together. I also know they come back mostly just to troll. These are big, strong, and smart fellows who actually live the lifestyle accordingly.

And I hate to sound like a prick, but I can’t figure out if this forum is unmoderated or not. I post a video in the bodybuilding forum about a HUGE guy moving a LOT of weight and it gets taken down because it’s ‘basically just a praise video’ (not exact words,) but we have guys like Dankid and other ignoramuses who run around and give out information that is extremely stupid and in existence just to rile people up.

So, the future of T-Nation (forums?) It’s going to be like the class of '09, x a billion.[/quote]

Good post.

If I may ask, what video was taken down?

I agree that there sometimes seems to be some effort to limit actual discussion or praise of BODYBUILDING while we let idiots like dankid post endlessly, but up to this point I thought it was mostly limited to connecting other business sites with this one. [/quote]

It was the James Henderson “10 minutes to 6” video on youtube. JAMES HENDERSON 10 MINUTES TO 6 - YouTube

Granted, I think I only made a quick post because I had to go to work or something and it’s not strictly about a “bodybuilder” (in a competes-type of sense.) I got home and planned to start a discussion about it but had found it was taken down.[/quote]

The mod that handled the video post you referenced just forwarded me the PM that he sent to you about it.

"Sorry, but we had to delete your recent new thread about James Henderson.

The Bodybuilding Training forum is getting cluttered with threads about pictures, rather than discussions about actual bodybuilding training, so we’re trying to manage any further threads.

It would be better if you post your message either in the “Motivational Pics and Quotes” thread:

Or possibly in the Performance Photos thread."

This looks like it was handled properly.
[/quote]

Right, which is why I went back and re-iterated that I hadn’t actually made a complete post. I chose not to put it into any of the suggested categories because I didn’t feel that it fit. This eventually led to me not re-posting it at all. I wasn’t going to discuss James Henderson, but rather his training methodology and further details about his video, not about his physique in specific.

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I for one appreciate all the information that’s been posted on this site. I spend as much time reading, lurking, printing, and digging up old articles and threads here. I’ve learned a lot. And while I’m not as experienced or hyoooge as some of the guys here, I’m workin on it. gotta have that 20 year plan right? lol only 19 or so more to go.

I’d love to buy some Biotest products too, but as of right now, an ex student paying down debt who hasn’t gotten work in his field yet, I find it hard enough to just have enough food and cover the basics with generic brand supps. In time I guess.

48

[quote]bundy wrote:
Over the past three to five years I have seen this website go to shit. I believe this should be put down to a number of reasons:

  1. A lack of quality articles from some of the classic authors such as Waterbury, Poliquin, Berardi and the great Ian King! These guys produced some of the greatest article in the history of T Nation. Why is it they no longer produce any articles??? Which leads to my next point.

  2. A lack of respect to the opinions/ideas of the authors of articles. I couldn’t believe it when I read the thread where Waterbury was treated like shit. This guy produced some great articles and offered a lot of advice on the forums. What was said about him was disgraceful. The same goes for what was said about Poliquin.

  3. The attitude of SOME senior members. One of the main reasons the message boards are full of shit is because some of the senior members are of the opinion what they say goes. Prof X always complains about the amount of shit spoken on the boards yet speak just as much shit himself.

If you don’t have anything productive to say and only get on the boards to argue with anyone and everyone then there’s no point in complaining. Two of the hardest trainers to contribute to the threads, Alpha and Caveman were helpful and respectful and didn’t need to talk the shit which is spoken by some.

  1. The idea that unless you post a picture then you’re a fucken nobody. Not everyone needs to be slapped on the back and told how huge they are by a group of fifteen year olds. Posting pictures for advice of what to work on = good. Posting pictures so pindicks can tell you how great you are = shit!

It wasn’t long ago when I read a comment from someone who had under 10 posts and was a member for about a month. He replied to a comment from a beginner with “No pictures and four posts. Who gives a fuck what you think!” This said it all about where this site is heading.

It would be a shame to see what was once a great site and full of great advice to go to shit. [/quote]

Hmmmm…this thread didn’t go like you planned, huh?

49

I’ve only been here under 2 years and the only places I read about training is here and very occasionally the crossfit site. While most of my posting is in the for fun forums most of my reading is in the more serious parts of the site and I’ve learned so much, especially from CT and from the BB forum. I certainly appreciate the wealth of information here especially from the senior members. I do look at join date and pictures when determining the credibility of a poster.

50

[quote]randman wrote:
Every few months I see one of these “this site is going to shit” posts. It’s always has the same ingredients: 1) site used to be more hardcore 2) more hardcore members in the past, now they’ve all left because of all the disrespectful noobs 3) the hardcore members that are left are all too mean to the actual noobs who have potential and they leave/stop posting too 4) articles are not what they once were 5) blah, blah, blah.

Who cares, get a life…

[/quote]

I was just thinking the same thing.

This seems to happen every 6 to 8 months and it’s always the same thing. Some people begin to take things, including themselves, too seriously.

I’ve been coming here more or less since the site was started. In reality, the site hasn’t changed all that much since the forums were first implemented. Sure, there’s been a few changes here and there and more traffic, which means more newbs, but the biggest issue is that some vets, and wanna-be vets, get pissed that they don’t get more respect from the newbs.

If it’s really that bad here, why not spend your time on another site? Unless you’re the type that just likes to bitch and moan.

51

[quote]enrac wrote:
I’ve been reading the free articles on this site for the past four years. The negative responses have always been there. What’s changed, I think, is the increase in membership (well, logins, at any rate).

You know what would be great is the ability to vote up/down individual posts (like YouTube does). If a post goes below a certain threshold, it’s hidden. I think that will help clean up some of the clutter.[/quote]

I’m not sure that would work here. Since forum topics are living, breathing, changing things (unlike videos posted to share sites like YouTube which are static). Also, popularity of an idea or suggestion doesn’t equal its value to the community, particularly over the long run. People might say some unpopular things that nonetheless need to be said. Likewise, the most popular posts might be banal. Maybe we could create just one forum that follows this model, with folks voting on posted topics (even if they don’t post).

52

[quote]randman wrote:

Who cares, …

[/quote]

You, apparently, since you took time to read this thread AND post a response.

53

[quote]stevo_ wrote:

if anyone is TRULY serious about discussing HARDCORE bodybuilding, the fact is there are probably now other forums better suited to that.

Cheers

[/quote]

I disagree, but I haven’t seen everything. I continue to look at new sites and options, but I have yet to find something more relevant and accessible than T-Nation.

54

Dude, it’s an interwebz magazine! whadddya expect?!

55

The only thing that changed was when the forums got taken off site, I realised there’s alot of people in SAMA and GAL now that don’t even lift. But that’s cool. I only go there for laughs.

56

Nothing in life comes exactly how you want it, unless you find the perfect woman, in which case you should marry it or tie it down.

Society changes, attitudes shift, you just need to be aware of what you want to accomplish, so you can sift through everything and find what is going to help you truly succeed.

This is true for anything, a job, a relationship, you need to be able to go after what you want, and let everything else fall by the wayside. Those who are truly successful set goals, and find/do whatever is necessary to accomplish those goals. Those that get caught up in everything else are the ones who fail to achieve, most likely because they never knew what they wanted to accomplish in the first place.

57

[quote]debraD wrote:
I’ve only been here under 2 years and the only places I read about training is here and very occasionally the crossfit site. While most of my posting is in the for fun forums most of my reading is in the more serious parts of the site and I’ve learned so much, especially from CT and from the BB forum. I certainly appreciate the wealth of information here especially from the senior members. I do look at join date and pictures when determining the credibility of a poster.[/quote]

You really have to wonder about the kind of person to which the results of the poster do NOT matter at all. It is like some here are claiming they would equally take advice from some 500lbs behemoth who is too fat to move from their bed about DIETING as they would someone who actually looks like they lift seriously.

The only conclusion is that people making little to no progress feel threatened by people who do make progress. They then bitch and moan because they want the same attention in the gym that people get with arms as big as their legs.

The OP felt the need to call me out by name but has fallen silent in response to these other posts.

58

[quote]stockzy wrote:
The only thing that changed was when the forums got taken off site, I realised there’s alot of people in SAMA and GAL now that don’t even lift. But that’s cool. I only go there for laughs.[/quote]

I don’t think that is the issue so much as all of these people who jump into the bodybuilding forum to basically tell us we are wrong for trying to look like the big lifters and that since most will never compete, none of us should worry about balance, symmetry…or any of those other things that are the primary factors that separate bodybuilding from just showing up at the gym randomly.

There are clearly many people here who are less serious than some old ladies I see in the gym on weekends but who think the rest of us should think like they do.

They are first to tell us that basically the only way training like a bodybuilder works to get big is if you are a genetic freak or on tons of drugs…otherwise, you should just give up your goals and take your place looking like some of these loud mouths who waste years “lifting” only to look like newbs forever.

59

The Future of Testosterone Nation? Are you referring to the bodybuilding forum? It’s not going to get shut down because you don’t like Professor X’s advices. Waterbury does have good ideas but they don’t apply to pure bodybuilding as much as his followers think. I also don’t see any from the bodybuilding forum going to his locker/articles and mocking him for it. And Poliquin leaves himself open for criticism with the absurdity of some of his claims. It’s not as bad as you think.

60

Personally I love this site, but of course no site is ever perfect. My biggest critique is the pornographic nature of the forums and articles. I really am not into porn and it gets annoying to constantly get it thrown in my face on a website I am on to learn more about, and discuss training.

I know what you are thinking, and no, I have not caught “teh ghey.”

Other than that, keep it up T-Nation!