There are a few changes taking place that everyone needs to be aware of, both in the short term while I square away some issues behind the scenes with the forum software and server, and others that will be longer-term or permanent changes.
User "promotions" (the progression ladder that determines where you can post, if your posts are moderated or not, what your user title displays, etc.) are normally automatic however for a reason we haven't been able to figure out they've been behaving badly and randomly "demoting" some of you temporarily and others for good requiring manual intervention. For the next several days and possibly longer, I will have to process those "promotions" manually via a script, and because it requires re-indexing the entire user database with over 8300 members after doing so it's something I'm probably only going to do once every few days and late at night when it will be least disruptive. Ultimately this means that some of you (especially newer members whose posts are still moderated) will to have to wait longer before you're able to post without having each one reviewed. I apologize for the inconvenience, but we try to get most posts approved anywhere from within a few minutes to occasionally a few hours so please be patient with us during this time. FWIW, a little secret to helping advance through the promotions process to gain more permissions a little faster is to upload an avatar. That will also prove you actually read all of this.
As part of these changes going forward, all brand new members have a new restriction that requires them to make an introductory post (fittingly enough in the Introduce Yourself section) first before we will approve them to post anywhere else, along with posting a couple of replies to interact with fellow members, receiving a couple of likes, etc. I ask everyone to please continue to be welcoming and encouraging in that section since I think it will be a great way for people to feel welcomed and more comfortable getting involved in the discussions of the day as well as help them avoid many of the common issues we've been seeing lately with new members finding us via other social media. I also ask for your vigilance in reporting any inappropriate posts or content like link begging (and/or sharing), trying to sell things, shilling and anything that remotely resembles shilling, etc. I'm putting my foot down with the endless first posts by newbies asking "where do I buy __ from?", "has anyone bought from?", "is ___ a good vendor?", "do you have their contact (or telegram, or discord, or whatever), and "please DM me if you know where I can __". Those posts will no longer be tolerated from new members.
Another change is that Direct Messages (DM's) are disabled for new(er) members until they reach a certain combination of posts, likes received, length of time as a member, moderation/warning history, etc. Of all the updates and changes this is probably going to be one of the things most noticeable to a larger population. I do apologize and honestly it's pretty crappy I had to do it, but too many newbies were abusing it to either try to sell something or ask questions they knew wouldn't go over well out in the open. Additionally, DM's have been permanently disabled for vendors. Most of this results from a small minority of abusers but unfortunately it's also become a constant source of headaches so I threw a bucket of Advil at the settings and fixed it.
If you don't (or no longer) have access to DM's and need to contact me or one of the mods there is a "Contact Us" link in the footer at the bottom of every page which will raise a form that you can fill out to email us. It's not ideal I know, but it should serve the purpose until all the dust settles. You can also "contact" us by reporting problem posts since it's helpful for the overall atmosphere plus everyone should have that ability.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, at some point in the not-too-distant future I will be starting to head us back towards the originally-intended "design" of this forum where any and all research talk will be restricted exclusively to the Research Lab section of the forum which while anyone can read, the only members allowed to post there will be what is currently the "Established" level (GLP-1 Member showing under your name). This essentially follows a similar roadmap to MesoRX which greatly influenced my original approach to this forum as it seems to work quite well over there given the volume of roid rage on permanent display. I know that with the more sophisticated and welcoming group we have here that we will be able to avoid many of the pitfalls and improve on the overall environment and quality of content.
Thanks as always for being here and continuing to help us grow into an important destination for anyone navigating our shared journey to improve lives through GLP-1's! ❤️
User "promotions" (the progression ladder that determines where you can post, if your posts are moderated or not, what your user title displays, etc.) are normally automatic however for a reason we haven't been able to figure out they've been behaving badly and randomly "demoting" some of you temporarily and others for good requiring manual intervention. For the next several days and possibly longer, I will have to process those "promotions" manually via a script, and because it requires re-indexing the entire user database with over 8300 members after doing so it's something I'm probably only going to do once every few days and late at night when it will be least disruptive. Ultimately this means that some of you (especially newer members whose posts are still moderated) will to have to wait longer before you're able to post without having each one reviewed. I apologize for the inconvenience, but we try to get most posts approved anywhere from within a few minutes to occasionally a few hours so please be patient with us during this time. FWIW, a little secret to helping advance through the promotions process to gain more permissions a little faster is to upload an avatar. That will also prove you actually read all of this.
As part of these changes going forward, all brand new members have a new restriction that requires them to make an introductory post (fittingly enough in the Introduce Yourself section) first before we will approve them to post anywhere else, along with posting a couple of replies to interact with fellow members, receiving a couple of likes, etc. I ask everyone to please continue to be welcoming and encouraging in that section since I think it will be a great way for people to feel welcomed and more comfortable getting involved in the discussions of the day as well as help them avoid many of the common issues we've been seeing lately with new members finding us via other social media. I also ask for your vigilance in reporting any inappropriate posts or content like link begging (and/or sharing), trying to sell things, shilling and anything that remotely resembles shilling, etc. I'm putting my foot down with the endless first posts by newbies asking "where do I buy __ from?", "has anyone bought from?", "is ___ a good vendor?", "do you have their contact (or telegram, or discord, or whatever), and "please DM me if you know where I can __". Those posts will no longer be tolerated from new members.
Another change is that Direct Messages (DM's) are disabled for new(er) members until they reach a certain combination of posts, likes received, length of time as a member, moderation/warning history, etc. Of all the updates and changes this is probably going to be one of the things most noticeable to a larger population. I do apologize and honestly it's pretty crappy I had to do it, but too many newbies were abusing it to either try to sell something or ask questions they knew wouldn't go over well out in the open. Additionally, DM's have been permanently disabled for vendors. Most of this results from a small minority of abusers but unfortunately it's also become a constant source of headaches so I threw a bucket of Advil at the settings and fixed it.
If you don't (or no longer) have access to DM's and need to contact me or one of the mods there is a "Contact Us" link in the footer at the bottom of every page which will raise a form that you can fill out to email us. It's not ideal I know, but it should serve the purpose until all the dust settles. You can also "contact" us by reporting problem posts since it's helpful for the overall atmosphere plus everyone should have that ability.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, at some point in the not-too-distant future I will be starting to head us back towards the originally-intended "design" of this forum where any and all research talk will be restricted exclusively to the Research Lab section of the forum which while anyone can read, the only members allowed to post there will be what is currently the "Established" level (GLP-1 Member showing under your name). This essentially follows a similar roadmap to MesoRX which greatly influenced my original approach to this forum as it seems to work quite well over there given the volume of roid rage on permanent display. I know that with the more sophisticated and welcoming group we have here that we will be able to avoid many of the pitfalls and improve on the overall environment and quality of content.
Thanks as always for being here and continuing to help us grow into an important destination for anyone navigating our shared journey to improve lives through GLP-1's! ❤️
