Dog Pound Update

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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Thanks to all who applied early for the upcoming Dog Pound, part of the new T-mag forum which will kick off soon.

A few notes: Others will have a chance to apply once the new forum goes up. If you make a post and you’re not a member, you’ll be given application instructions.

We’re starting off with about 50 readers out of the hundreds who applied, plus all T-mag writers and staff have been given passwords. Many great folks applied who were not accepted… for now. Why? Usually because they just haven’t been around long enough to call “vets”. Or maybe they’ve been around, but have lurked more than posted. Those not let in this time around (which is most who applied) may be next time. Just post more on the regular forums so we can get to know you.

Also, several people applied after I sent in the last list to the computer guys, so don’t panic if you haven’t gotten a password yet. You probably will within a week if you met all the criteria.

Oh, and before anyone gripes, some who may not seem like vets were accepted. This is because they had changed their screen names a few times, so they were vets, but not always with the same name. They informed us of this so we’d recognize them. Worked out fine.

Again, no panicking, whining, or tantrums please if you didn’t get in. You probably will soon… unless you throw a big ol’ spittle flyin’, panty wadding tantrum on a thread somewhere, which doesn’t exactly make us want to give you a password next time, now does it?

Just to remind everyone why we started this “private” un-moderated forum (which everyone can read but only a few can post on): We noticed a few of our best forum posters and writers had stopped posting, probably because of too many annoying posts from newbies and troll-like behavior from others. Some readers went elsewhere and formed their own “advanced” T-forum. We thought, hey, why not give them their own forum here? So we did. (See, no big conpsiracy.)

Thanks again to all who sent us an e-mail to apply!

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I think that the “vets” and “newbies” will form thier own forum gangs and have a rumble Westside Story style. I think its a good idea, but there will be a rift between “us” and “them”. Im not cryin, so don’t flame me; saying how much of a loser I am. I know how much of a loser I am.lol. --just tryin to rack up my posts so I can be “popular”. Bye

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Spongebob, Michelle, and Professor X: Still having trouble with your e-mail addresses. Michelle, I think you have your passwords now though. Sponge - I think you have a spam blocker type program on your e-mail that for some reason won’t let me e-mail you. Let me know if you didn’t receive your password.

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I KNEW it. I KNEW it. I KNEW it. Chris Shugart is SPAM. Uh oh. There goes my Dog Pound password. :frowning:

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When will all this get started, Chris?

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The four new forums will be opened up today (Monday) barring nuclear meltdown. That will include the semi-private Dog Pound forum, the Renegade Forum, the Chemical Solution forum (Bill Roberts) and Thibaudeau’s forum, which I think may be called “The Lair of the Ice Dog” or something like that.

The whole new forum with buddy lists, private messaging, logins (to prevent trolls and people posting under your name) etc. will be up in a week or so.

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Everything sounds great to me except for the private messenging. One of the main reasons for having a forum is so that you can learn from the discussions of others. I’m worried that too much “private messenging” will take place therefore lessening the quantity of public information.

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I understand what you are trying to do here, but isn’t the purpose of this forum is to inform newbie’s? How will we be able to do that if the so called “experts” are on another forum. Wouldn’t that take away all the good advice from this forum? All though its a great idea to seperate the annyoing post and Troll like behavior to the respected behavior but I think it will take away what you were trying to do here is give everyone a chance to express opinon.

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I’m pumped! This is going to be soooo cooool. And if I didn’t make it, that’s cool too: I don’t even consider myself a veteran yet. Indeed, there are others who are more deserving.

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Fear not, D Rock! There are already a few peoples here that do conduct discussions “offline” via email and messenging (AOL or MSN). Some of them discussions even bring up some interesting topics that eventually do find their way here onto the forum.

If anything, private messenging may help "refine" thoughts before they become forum topics/discussions. This should indeed be interesting!

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D-Rock: I worry about that too, but we’ll try it and see what happens. If anything, it will increase community and interactivity of the forum. But if not, we’ll scrap it. Let’s try it and see what happens.

fitone: Just because the “experts” have their own forum does not mean that they can’t or won’t continue to post on the regular forums. In fact, those I’ve talked to all said they would. Also, I think a newbie who reads the Dog Pound will learn more in a week than he does from most forums in a year. True, he can’t post on that forum, but sometimes it’s best to shut and listen anyway.

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Yeah I know that it goes on. I’m even a partaker. I talk to John Roman about BB’ing stuff all the time on AIM. And many times I thought “there are probably other people that would be interested in reading this”. But then again, everything discussed between he and I has probably been talked about before. I just hope that if there is a good private discussion between users, that it would find its way (via copy and paste) to the forum.

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D_Rock - excellent point!

Actually, with the creation of this forum, a lot of that private messaging stuff will be able to be moved to the Dog Pound.

Frankly, it got to the point that it was often easier and faster for me to email several of the soon to be Dog Pound members to get an answer to my question. Yes, I lose out on some of the good responses that I've always got from the forum, but the speed of response and lack of useless information that I sometimes get from people who don't know me made it worthwhile.

With the advent of the Dog Pound, I'm much more likely to just ask there.

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Frankly, I’m surprised about the non-vets reaction to this new forum idea. I am sure the vets will continue to post on the regular forum. Also, how come a lot of “lurkers” who claim to be knowledged and well read and a veteran are now surfacing and complaining b/c a new vet forum is being established? If you don’t post often and only care about reading the information then why would you care about this type of restriced forum? I’m still confused about that.

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Much of what is happening here is nothing more than “growing pains”.This whole situation is a good problem to have. At least we know that there are enough intelligent fitness minded people out there that are willing to share the knowledge that they have (on THIS website). Of course a few bugs may need to be worked out but this only helps the t-nation grow. I am looking forward to this new forum idea. Thanks Chris as it is obvious that you did alot of the legwork on this…

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To echo Chris S’ comments, I will visit the Dog Pound everyday and will post on it. The fact that I’ll have my own forum will allow me to get out information at a faster rate (everyday instead of once per week) and to get article ideas from the readers.


In regard to the private messaging, from having used such a fonction on other boards I can tell you that it’s mostly used to ask for personal/private stuff and is generally not abused.

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“Also, how come a lot of “lurkers” who claim to be knowledged and well read and a veteran are now surfacing and complaining b/c a new vet forum is being established?” Interesting question. I think it has a lot to do with the simple fact that it is an exclusive forum; you have to have a proven ‘track record’ to participate and that is bringing out a lot of whiners who never bothered to post or contribute because it ‘wasn’t worth their while’. Well, now the people who took the time and energy to help others are being rewarded and there are a number of brats having tantrums. They can get over it and start being members of the community, then they will get a return on their investment like the rest of us.

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I believe the whiners do, in a sense, have some good points, in that the selection process for this whole thing may not be perfect, and that the outcome may not be perfect, but dammit, who cares? T-mag is taking somewhat of a risk by trying something new. If it sucks, they’ll can it. If it turns out to be productive, they’ll keep it.

And to all the "whiners", if it really seems like that bad of a deal now, don't apply, wait around a little while, see what it's like, then reevaluate your decision. I really doubt that it's going to hurt much.

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“Patiently awaiting/expecting/hoping for his Dawg Pound approval since 2002.” - Ike

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Where can I apply again?