*!*!* Nutrition Section Rules - READ BEFORE POSTING *!*!*

[size=3][b]Welcome to the bodybuilding.com forums! We have a few simple rules for our members, so everyone can have a more productive and enjoyable time here. Please read through these rules carefully before posting. If you have any questions about them, please PM(private message) a moderator.[/size][/b]

1) [b]Please use the search function before asking a question.[/b] 99% of the topics posted about have already been discussed at lengths in the past. You can click on the search button in the top right corner and find information on a variety of topics, as well as on the articles section on the main bodybuilding.com site. This will help you find what you're looking for quicker and easier, and put less stress on the older members of the site who have probably answered your question more than once.

You are more than welcome to post, but please run a search first! Please read through the posts "stickied" at the top of the nutrition forum to get you started. Instead of starting a new thread on a subject that has already been discussed, bumping an old topic in order to build on the previous discussion is also recommended.

2) [b]There is no advertising allowed on the forum, and posting links to outside vendors is not allowed.[/b] This board is run and sponsored by Bodybuilding.com, but we want the truth about the products, good or bad, to be posted here so you can make a smart decision.

You are welcome to post links to the cyberstore within the site, but we do not allow discussion of other supplement store sites for obvious reasons. If you attempt to post about other stores, you may notice they are blocked out with asterisks (***). Although you are welcome to discuss any manufacturer's products, you may not publicly display other places to purchase these products.

If you are a supplement company or store owner, you are welcome to post here - but advertising links in your signature are not allowed. Advertising of products is also not allowed, however discussion of products whether they are sold through the Bodybuilding.com store or not, is allowed with some exceptions. (There a few brands that we do not allow to be discussed because of abuse.) If you are a supplement company owner or representative, please make it clear to us your affiliation with the company.

Other unrelated advertising is not allowed, but you may PM a mod if you wish to post a link to your website in the misc forum. We do not allow links to online auctions or to advertise to other members if you are trying to sell your supplements.

3) [b]Be respectful of the other members.[/b] Racism, bigotry & sexism will not be tolerated. We do allow frank discussion with the other members, and like to have a laugh, but some things are not appropriate. In the nutrition forum, we are here to discussion sports nutrition. This is not the place to discuss politics, sex or religion. Repeatedly flaming, insulting and attempting to cause fights with other members will not be allowed and can result in a ban. Please be respectful to the board, the members and moderators. We are all here to learn and teach others what we know. There is a misc and a sex forum for off topic posts and topics unrelated to nutrition. If you have a problem with another board member, please PM a moderator about it.

4) [b]No posting sources or asking about sources for prescription or illegal drugs (including steroids).[/b] We want to protect our members safety from scammers and illegal purchases. We can no longer allow individuals asking for ancillary drug sources such as Clenbuterol, T3, etc. There is a steroid forum on this board, and you can find information about most of these drugs in there. If you need help verifying a source, please PM one of the steroid forum moderators (they do not give out sources, so don't bother asking them).

5) [b]Please post your stats when asking a question in the forum.[/b] Information about your height, weight, training experience, age, etc. can all be helpful when answering your questions. When posting, including this information will increase the time it is answered, and help the other members get a feel of what they can recommend and not recommend for you.

6) [b]Prohormones & steroids are not to be used or discussed by individuals under 17.[/b] We never recommend steroids or prohormones by individuals under age 21, and if you have used or plan to use these substances, you are putting yourself at great risk. If you are under age 17, we will not allow you to post questions about how to use these substances or engage in other members of discussion of these substances. Threads on this topic will be closed or deleted.

7) [b]Moderators decisions are final.[/b] Our moderators are all unpaid volunteers who are looking out for the best interests of our members. We want to help each and every member get the best experience possible on our board, but there will always be individuals who choose to break the rules and be banned. THERE IS NO PUBLIC DISCUSSION ON THIS. If you have a problem with a decision a moderator makes, please PM (private message) them and discuss with them the issue. We will be glad to discuss it with you there, but starting threads about it is not allowed. These threads will be closed or deleted.

8) [b]Do not cross post.[/b] There are many catagories in this forum, which should have subjects pertaining to them. Please make sure you are posting your thread in the correct section. For misc topics, go to the misc section. DO NOT post your question in more than one forum. Multiple threads will be closed or deleted.

9) [b]Thread titles must be descriptive.[/b] Do not start threads with titles such as "Help" or "How's this?". They will be closed or delete. Please state in the thread specifically what you're asking about, to avoid confusion and aggrevation of the other members.

10) [b]Avoid giving bad/misleading advice.[/b] What we mean here, is if you don't know what you're talking about, please don't post about it. For example, If you have never used prohormones or don't know anything about them then you probably shouldn't be giving people advice about them. This is a general rule, but we want to try and stem some of the false information that has been given out by unexperienced members.

11) [b] Discussion of recreational drugs is prohibited in this forum.[/b] If you wish to talk about this kind of subject, then use the misc. forum. Threads will be closed/moved without warning.

[color=red]Repeated warnings of any of violations of any of these rules can result in a ban.[/color] Please use the "Report this Post to a Moderator" function if you see anyone violating these rules, or find an offensive post.

Above all, we want you to have a pleasant experience on bodybuilding.com so you can learn how to achieve your fitness goals. If you have a question about any of these rules, please PM a moderator.

Courtesy of FunkmasterFlex:

[b][color=red][u]HOW TO USE THE SEARCH BUTTON[/b] [/color][/u]

I am not sure if someone has already made a distinctive manual on the Search Function of these boards....so hopefully this is important enough to be a sticky or whatnot.....

~The first Section is An overlay of the Screen and buttons/functions.....
~The second Section is tips for getting the results you may want...

~~~~Using The Search Function~~~~

"I am new, I have questions, I need answers" Does this sound like you??Well do not fret because here at Bodybuilding.com WE DO have answers, help, and suggestions.However You are most likely not the first to ponder on whatever question it is your pondering on. So SEARCH! How do I effectively search you ask? Well hopefully this will give you some idea of what needs to be done to get what you want to come up!




~BEGGINING~

~~How do I begin?

*BEGGINING-The Search button is located on the Upper Right hand portion of the screen. It says "search". Clicking this would be the first step towards enlightenment.The buttion is light bluish.

~~Ok I found the button NOW WHAT??

*KEYWORD-You may search by KEYWORD....That means enter in a word or group of words, or phrases which describe what you may want to know...you can type in a whole question if you wish.

~~What the Hell it wont let me search cause The search term I specified is under the minimum word length (4) and therefore will not be found.

*4 LETTER RULE-The forum system does not allow words under 4 letters to be typed, so you cant search for "abs", "DNP", "T3" or any other word which is less than 4 letters! If you wish to search for a term such as "Abs" you must use a WILDCARD. To use a wildcard you type in "Abs*" . The asterik is your wildcard. It will allow you to search for words which are less than 4 letters long. If you wish to search for something such as "T3" you could try "*T3*" this will work as well. One note on using a wildcard....you will not bring up all threads with those words...so if you can think up a different word for the same thing,try that...such as "cytomel" instead of t3.

~~Searching by USER NAME??

*USERNAME-Well lets say you want to read articles by "Big Cat" because you read his awesome steroid profiles and want to see some of the advice hes given. Well you would type in "Big Cat". If all you know is part of his name lets say "Big C" well then just type in "Big C", and then click "match partial name". Pretty basic right?? Well lets say you want an article by "Big Cat" but you only want it if it is about steroids, well then you put "Steroids" in the Keyword box, and "Big Cat" in the Username box, and there you go click Perform search and you got it.

~~Search Options?-- Why the hell do I need more things to click and fill in??

*SPECIFIC SEARCH OPTIONS-The first Pull down bar lets you choose to search in a specific Forum.So you can either just leave it alone which will run your search through all open forums, or you can choose a specific forum.

Underneath you get four more options these options are.....

-Search Entire Post ----Self Explanatory? I hope so....This will bring up all threads which contain your Keyword somewhere inside them.
-Search Titles Only-----Self Explanatory? I hope so....This will bring up ONLY threads which contain your Keyword IN THE THREAD TITLE.
-Show Results as Posts---- This will show your results as individual posts. As in NOT THREADS. After the search you can choose to only read the individual post or entire thread.
-Show results as Threads----Will bring up results as Threads, therefor you may have to go through the post to find your Keyword.

*Dates-Then you can choose specific dates to search your post from. The default setting is Any date. However you may select to search posts from a certain date (this is the pulldown menu), and then you choose to search from that date and newer, or that date and older.

*Sorting Results- Now you get too choose from the pulldown menu to sort results by:
-title
-number of replies
-number of views
-last posting date
-poster
-forum

and then you decide whether the results show up in ascending order (going up) or descending order (going down).

*LAST STEP- Well now all there is to do is search and hopefully find threads that may hold the answers to the questions you may have.





Feel free to help me update this section by sending suggestions

~~~~TIPS TO A PRODUCTIVE SEARCH~~~~

-Use basic words for basic searchs...Wanna know more about creatine....use "creatine"

-Use detailed searches for detailed results...Wanna know more about the affects of creatine on acne?...Well then use the Keywords "creatine" and "acne"

-there is no point in typing in anymore useless words such as "a", "if", "i", "or", "why", etc.... These will only bring up the damn screen telling you that your words are too short.

-If your word is too short, try finding another word for it which is not too short.....EXAMPLE..... instead of "t3" use "cytomel"

You may have noticed that there has an increase of spam messages posted in this section as of late. It seems that this section of the forum has been targeted by spammers. If you see spam in this section, please report it immediately. These threads are created by spambots who automatically post links to most of the typical spam related stuff (porno, drugs, ...). If you have already reported the post, or don't want to, simply ignore the threads. Since the threads are created by software bots, responding to the posts don't have any significant to the poster, but may cause other people to think it's a legitimate discussion.

[b]Don't click or visit the links within the spam threads[/b]

Even if the links may sound enticing, you certainly DO NOT want to click on any of them. Even if you have the latest & greatest anti-virus protection software installed, new threats are created every day and may bypass your protection, so don't take chances. These "spamvertised" websites are always fraudulent. Don't even consider purchasing whatever they're advertising.



[Quote]
Many such [spam] sites reside on hijacked hosts, but there are also "server farms" especially in Russia and China - they offer their services for a price.[/quote]

Typically the sites sell forged medicine, replica items, illegal software and such. But it's also very likely that they won't deliver anything - they just want your credit card details so that they can use it for their purposes [such as stealing your identity].

Many of the links posted by the spammers are links to sites that try to install viruses, trojans or ad/spy/malware (malicious software) on your system. If you have accidentally clicked on one of these sites, it would be advisable to run a full virus scan, or you may want to run an online scanner such as Panda ActiveScan (requires IE), which is free and can clean infections. Please also see the Computer Help Thread to make sure you have security software installed and running to prevent malicious software from being installed on your machine. Once malware gets installed, it can be hard to remove.

[b]Report Spam Threads to Moderators[/b]

To report a post, just click the exclamation point on the left corner of the users profile that says "Report post" if you hold your mouse over it. For the text of the problem, simply put: spam. We appreciate your help in getting rid of these junk purveyors.

Finally, if you notice strange posts from individuals with low post levels, usually only 1, posting things such as "hey nice site here" or strange and irrelevant messages, please report them too. That is an attempt by the spammers to built up their post count, so they can try and pass off as legitimate users and begin or continue spamming thinking no one will notice. These posts are also off topic, since this section is specifically for discussion about Music & related issues.

[b]If you have any questions or need assistance, please PM a mod.[/b]

Welcome to the bodybuilding.com forums! We have some simple rules for our members, so everyone can have a more useful and enjoyable experience. Please read through these rules carefully before posting. If you have any questions about them, please PM (private message) a moderator.

By being a registered user on the bodybuilding.com forums, you agree to these rules. These rules can change any time, without notice. These rules apply in this section of the forum, as well as all other forum categories.

Violations of any of these rules can result in a ban. Please use the "Report this Post to a Moderator" function if you see anyone violating these rules.

Above all, we want you to have a pleasant experience on bodybuilding.com so you can learn how to achieve your fitness goals. If you have a question about any of these rules, please PM or email a moderator.

[u][b]Rules:[/u][/b]
[b]1) Be respectful of the other members.[/b] Racism, bigotry & sexism will not be tolerated. We do allow frank discussion with the other members, and like to have a laugh, but some things are not appropriate. Repeatedly flaming, insulting and attempting to cause fights with other members will not be allowed. Please be respectful to the board, the members and moderators. Trolling (posting disgusting, nonsense, or attention getting threads) with false accounts, with the intention of disrupting this forum, causing harm, or aggravation of the members or the mods is not allowed. This includes long cat, logout links, browser hijacking links, and any other post intended to cause problems for another member. If a troll posts sick/disgusting/porn/etc pictures or threads, please report them. DO NOT reply to these threads or posts, and do NOT quote the post. Quoting an offensive post will subject you to the same punative actions. Also, do not make new threads calling out or discussing the trolls. You are only giving them the attention they want, and making our job to clean up their mess more difficult. If you have a problem with another board member, please PM a moderator about it. This also includes sending rude or harassing PM's or rep comments.

[b]2) Posting SICK or DISGUSTING pictures/movies/websites will result in AUTOMATIC BAN! [/b] Pictures of tubgirl, goatse.cz, etc will result in an IMMEDIATE ban. This includes images of death, gore, sexual pictures, or anything obscene or gross.

[b]3) Do not register multiple usernames.[/b] This is self explanatory. If you are caught using multiple usernames, all of your accounts will be banned. Registering using an IP proxy is frowned upon, as are disposable email accounts. These are viewed as potential activities of a troll and if we see these, you could be banned outright. We can tell the difference between ISP proxies and other proxies, as well as suspicious email address. If you are a legitimate poster, you should have no problem. When temporarily banned, you may not create a second username to post with. A ban is for YOU, not for a username.

[b]4) No adult/explicit nor any illegal material is allowed to be posted.[/b] This means no posting, quoting, attaching, linking to, or embedding images and/or videos of any form of nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit/graphic content. Posting passwords to pornographic sites or making threads to PM porn is also not allowed. This includes drill threads and posts. Also, no posting of illegal items such as pirated software or torrents, where to buy fake ID's, where to find heroin locally, etc. This is due to varying legal standards. Basically, no threads on porn or illegal things. [b]Do not ask others to PM you porn/nudes or other illegal content.[/b]

[b]5) There is no advertising allowed on the forum, and posting links to outside vendors is not allowed.[/b] You are welcome to post links to our cyberstore, but we do not allow discussion of other supplement store sites for obvious reasons. Although you are welcome to discuss any manufacturer's products, you may not publicly post links to other places to purchase these products. You also may not make reference to these places by nickname or initials. Basically, if it's not a brick and mortar supplement store, don't link it, make mention of it, or tell others to PM you for it. [b] Advertising commercial sites, referral/affiliate sites are not allowed.[/b] We also do not allow links to online auctions or advertisements (for anything).

[b]6) Signatures[/b] Just keep your signature around 10 lines. See rule 5 for advertising restrictions. You are allowed to post links to your personal home page, blog, fitness log, myspace/bodyspace page, and things of that nature are fine.

[b]7) No posts about RACE.[/b] We do not allow posts asking about preferences or functions of various races, ethnicities or creeds. This always end up turning bad and will be closed or deleted

[b]8) Do not post "SPOILERS" unless CLEARLY MARKED! [/b]Posts that do not adhere to this policy will be deleted or closed, and the offender(s) will be banned. If you are unsure if something is ok to post, mark it with spoilers or PM a mod first. See [b]Thread title tags[/b] for appropriate use.

[b]9) There is now zero tolerance for abuse of other members pictures. [/b]We request that no threads will be started that ask you to edit/modify individuals pictures from Bodyspace, avatars, Myspace, or any other sites, with an intention to harass or make fun of that person. All threads like this will be deleted or closed and the offender(s) will be warned or banned.

[b]10) Do not place "Banned" under your username. [/b]This is annoying and we have enough to worry about having to deal without this nonsense. If you place the word "Banned" under your username, expect to become banned.

[b]11) Don't abuse the rep system.[/b] No gang-negging is allowed. Please only rep based on post quality. Reps are meant to portray a user's helpfullness or knowledge level, not to be a popularity contest. Please do not be obscene with rep comments either. "Rep trading" threads are not allowed. No "stretch negging". Malign acts can be reduced by penalizing misdeeds through loss of reputation. Good can be increased by rewarding correct behavior through increased reputation.

[b]12) All Moderators decisions are final. [/b]Our moderators are all unpaid volunteers who are looking out for the best interests of our members. We want to help each and every member get the best experience possible on our board, but there will always be individuals who choose to break the rules and become banned. [b]THERE IS NO PUBLIC DISCUSSION ON THIS.[/b] If you have a problem with a decision a moderator makes, please PM a mod and discuss the issue with them. We can address it there, if possible, but starting threads about it is not allowed. These threads will be closed or deleted, as will O/T posts in other threads about the issue. [B]DO NOT FLAME MODS.[/B]

[b]13) Posting ANY personal information [/b](real name, phone number, email addresses, IM or social networking accounts, home/work addresses, email, voicemail or private messages ) without permission from that individual will result in an immediate ban. No exceptions. This includes private pictures! [b]Let this serve as a reminder to everyone. Always keep personal and important information private.[/b]

[b]14)[/b][b] Posting about illegal drugs or controlled substances is another topic that is off limits.[/b] Please refrain from making threads and/or posting about drug usage. This includes discussion about smoking pot, using *******, heroin, etc etc. This also includes discussion about anabolic steroids, research chemicals, DNP, Clenbuterol, Cytomel (T3), etc.

[b]15) Avatars and pictures on BodySpace absolutely MUST be of the user.[/b] They should NOT be funny pics, pics of pros, morphed pics, or ANYTHING ELSE. Refer to [url]http://blog.bodybuilding.com/BodySpaceAdmin/2006/12/18/bodyspace-photo-guidelines/[/url] for further elucidation.

[b]16) Do not participate/ egg on/ encourage/ post in threads that are against the rules.[/b] This, in itself, should be common sense. If you see a thread or post which breaks forum rules please REPORT the thread (the red flag under the poster) and it will be dealt with appropriately.

[size=3][center][color=red]If you have any questions about these rules, please PM a mod to discuss them[/color][/center][/size]