Forum Etiquette. Things you know how to do in real life but

nixirain

I have been coming to this site for about 6 weeks now and reading the forums as my form of entertainment during work.

I have learned a few things. But I have been annoyed by a few things as well. Mainly how newbs are treated and the overall behavior of people on the forums.
I will explain. Here is how I see most newbies first veiw of the website.

You create your account by entering in all your personal info and boom! With little explanation, a number pops up and that’s what you are supposed to go by. I believe most people have no clue how much they were eating to maintain their weight before so they really have no clue how much of a deficit they are starting their journey with. If someone is smart, they would want to know the why behind the number.
At this point, with little guidance they search the site looking for answers to this magical number that the website spit out at them and what it means. I believe most of the time the first thing they find is the forums and if they don’t find an answer to why they only get 1200 calories and a real explanation to eating back exercise calories is necessary on the first page they post a new topic!
They then post on the forums something like this, paraphrased of course:
1200 Wha?
I am this tall# and weigh this much # and I want to weigh this # much less. Is 1200 right?

And then there is 12 pages of replies of a bunch of crap from people that got the same number spit out to them that have no clue as well, but they decide to reply anyway. And only about 2 or 3 people that post somewhat of an intelligent answer that makes things makes sense. Then of course there are the stragglers that don’t read the previous pages, sometimes even the last comment and repeat the same thing.

Why did I post this? It is more of an aggravated observation. I think the only request I will make in this post is obvious but I know by posting this, nothing will change. And I am fully prepared to be ok with that. Here it is:

Please know what you are talking about before posting on the forum. Thanks.



What does that mean?
1) If you have knowledge from personal experience on a topic it is appropriate to comment. Even if you are wrong. The knowledge you have is from personal experience and as long as you are not putting someone down because they didn’t do things the same way you did then I feel like it is ok.
2) If you have done research on the said topic and have research backing it. I think it is ok to reply to a post WITH the info that made you come to that conclusion. Ex.: Articles, scientific research. I don’t think it is ok to say things like: That’s not good for you! You shouldn’t do it!! Its bad!! Without a reason behind it.

Have I done this? Yes. Did I feel dumb after I did it. You bet ya.

3) If someone is asking for your opinion, give it. Don’t bash someone because you can. I can almost be certain you wouldn’t if they were standing right in front of you.

The truth is we are all here for a reason. We want to be pretty. We want to be happy. We want answers sometimes.
Be nice and put some thought into what you say.