"Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction"
-Pablo Picaso
*Okay, fist I'm going to touch on the most sensitive and volatile subject right now. The Mods, past and present. I'm going to preface everything I say first with the obvious that the following is only my opinion so take it with a grain of salt. So there have been some Mod changes right? I see the constant eulogy being given for the recently "demoted" mods and the flames for the newly appointed ones. As far as the members here who now are AR Mods I would say congratulations on being recognized and offered a position to continue and improve this awesome site. The question I ask you all is "why the hate?"... Can you honestly tell me that if you were approached to be an influential member of a board you love that you would deny the opportunity?? C'mon now guys, I know none of you would. So cut these guys some slack. If you haven't had any direct interaction with some of them then step up and ask away and see for yourself. Don't fall in line with the sheep and let the mass form what should be an individual opinion. The ones that I have seen "promoted" are extremely knowledgeable and always accessible to answer posts.
"We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything"
-Blaise Pascal
*Now I want to touch on member post counts. What is this? a pissing contest? A whos dick is bigger contest? Is this board really about contributing or about numbers? This obsession with titles that are given for the number of posts you have is as logical as me shooting growth in my dick in the hopes I'll win the dick contest mentioned above..lolol... Seriously though, who cares if you have 200 posts or 30,000 posts. If you give sound advice, show respect and have experience in the areas being talked about then that is all that matters. Anyone can sit on here and post their ass off and get a certain "title" but I'm sorry, in the grand scheme of things it just doesn't mean jack. What the hell is in a title...Proof is in the pudding.
"Our experience is composed rathery of illusions than that of wisdom acquired."
-Joseph Roux
*This brings me to my last topic. Avatars and the illusion they can sometimes create. The great thing about this site is that you can pretty much feel comfortable in the fact that you are not going to get flamed too badly around here. This is a good thing. You would think it would be incentive for members to actually post real pics of themselves. Not like you have to post a head shot or anything but I like anyone else like to see who I am talking too. Especially when it comes to discussing diet/AAS etc. You see my avatar. Yes, that is really me. My opinion, I look like crap and probably will never make it past winning a state level show. Regardless of that, I put it up there. You see my posts, you see my pic, so you have some pretty good info to go off of if I am out there giving advice. Somehow people will listen and give more respect to individuals with no avatar but some absurd number of posts. When it comes to bodybuilding, I'm sorry, but the proof is definitely in the pudding. This is an applied science folks. Before you start screaming about genetics/differing responses from AAS/Chad/Haney... you gotta agree... what it boils down to is what you look like because that is dictated from your personal experience and what you have done. Me personally, If I'm going to take advice it's going to be from someone that has competed, looks the part and has the knowledge to back it up. Not some 5K post count, no avatar, lackey that has never stepped on a stage to save there life.... I'll give some examples here and if you think I'm kissing ass or anything like that then you're definitely one of the flock and not the shepard. Horse, Sman and Bigmax all have their avatars up, have the experience, and give out sound advice. Sure, some people may catch the short end of the stick with some of their responses but those are the individuals that are too lazy to click on a link on this site and read a little before asking a remedial question. Before I end this little soap box rant I will give a parting story involving Bigmax so I hope he does not mind. A friend of mine that also competes had decided to do a show in 2004 6 weeks out from the contest. Not going to get into why he decided this late and the reasons because I've already written a book here so I am giving the cliff notes. This close to the show I honestly was at a loss of what advice I could offer and what direction I thought he should take. So I turned to Bigmax. I Over nighted him pics of my friend, his history, current diet, training etc. He agreed to help him and assured him he would have him in phenomenal shape. After many trips to the post office to send pics, long phone conversations my friend stepped on stage to compete in his 3rd show in the best shape of his life. He took second in his class and that was very debatable. He was a middleweight and placed ahead of 11 other competitors in that class. Thanks again for that one BM! In closing, I hope you take some of the items I've mentioned here and give consideration to those viewpoints.
