Message Board Guidelines

Why is this board here? This board was created so that people on a weight loss journey would have a place to come together, support each other, and share ideas, in a friendly atmosphere.

If someone wishes to live in a civilized society, then he is going to have to give up his freedom to act in uncivilized ways. If we are going to have a friendly, supportive board, we will have to bite the bullet and keep our unfriendly, unsupportive comments to ourselves. The Internet is a big place and there is plenty of room in it for every person who wants to be there. Every point of view has the right to be expressed, if freedom of speech is to be a reality, but every view does not have the right to be expressed everywhere. In order to have a quiet place, noise must be absent. In order to have an ordered place, chaos must be banished from it. More specifically, in order to have a friendly and supportive board, we must all refrain from posting things which will make it a hostile, and destructive place.

To help us make this a better board, the following guidelines will now be followed at the DWLZ Message Board and chat room.

1. This is not a debating club.

Discussing ideas is encouraged of course, but not in a confrontational manner. It is impossible to find any topic that all people will agree upon. So, don't get angry if someone posts something that you disagree with. You can express your opinion, even if it is completely different, or mutually exclusive of other views posted. Just express yourself in a friendly and non-hostile manner.

Persons who post confrontational posts will be warned once, and if it happens again, they will be asked to leave the board.

2. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

We are not here to make everyone else to be as we would like them to be. You may think that only a moron would hold a view that you just saw expressed in a post. Just remember that other people probably feel the same way about some of your most treasured ideas. This is not a mold and stamp factory where we will create identically thinking people. It is a support board, and a friendly place to get together, socialize, and get support.

Persons who engage in personal attacks in their posts will be warned once, and if it happens again, they will be asked to leave the board.

3. Politics and religion are not to be debated.

Seriously, when was the last time you heard someone say, "Oh, that is a wonderful argument that you just presented. Now, because I heard that, I have changed my view to match yours"? In the area of religion and politics, it just doesn't happen that way. The reason for this is that for most people, their upbringing has more to do with their religion and political point of view, than having been exposed to well-constructed series of arguments. If you attack someone else's religion or political view, you are attacking their parent's credibility, and perhaps their entire cultural frame of reference. Nothing will draw out the unassailable mental defenses in someone as that will. Even if someone has "left the fold" of their parent's religion or political point of view, they almost certainly went through a dramatic and life altering process to do it, thereby creating a new mental structure that is just as precious to them as the old one was, maybe even more so. Debating religion or politics will create anger, hurt feelings, and possibly life-long enemies between people who otherwise would have been dear and supportive friends. And remember, there are numerous religious and political boards out there on the web if you want to join in a blood and guts discussion on those topics. At DWLZ, weight loss is the topic, and the goal. Support is why this board is here, and we want to keep it that way.

Persons who make posts intended to generate debate, or to continue debate, on the topics of religion or politics will be warned once, and if it happens again, they will be asked to leave the board. Signature files or opening/closing expressions of faith that are non-confrontational are not meant to be excluded from the Board by this guideline.

4. Treat the DWLZ “staff” with respect.

Common courtesy is all that we ask. This is a volunteer operation. The administrators and moderators are giving of their time to make this a better board. They deserve our thanks and appreciation, and to be treated civilly. It is possible that one of the staff may make a decision that you disagree with. Alas, it is an imperfect world in which we live. If you feel an error was made, you can certainly email or Personal Message your opinion or question to an administrator or moderator, as long as you do it in a non-confrontational manner.

However, if you disagree, you will NOT publicly confront a moderator or administrator with a post on the message board. Such action is highly disruptive to the board and other posters, and therefore, shows a complete disregard for the board and those posting here, as well as the staff at the DWLZ message board.

You may feel that your feelings were hurt, or that a decision was unfair. Keep in mind that we have to make decisions based upon the needs of the majority of our visitors, and that sometimes requires us to act in ways that may appear unfair to a particular individual.

An individual may have goals or attitudes that will disrupt and destroy the benefits being received by others. That individual may even think that he is doing the right thing. And when he is banned, he may feel that the decision was not "fair." Very few decisions are fair from every perspective. The criminal thinks it is unfair that he has to go to jail at all, while many in society may think the sentence is not for a sufficiently long period of time. Of course, the sentenced “criminal” may be innocent, and then fairness really comes into question. However, most people would agree that you cannot do away with courts and jails, even if some innocent people are occasionally locked up. The majority of people realize that society itself would collapse without a legal system, and far more innocent people would suffer under those conditions. While balancing between fairness for the individual, and fairness for the group, we try to be understanding, and we try to be evenhanded, but we have to do what we think is right.

With that in mind, if any person writes anything rude, confrontational, and/or hostile to the staff, if it is done in a private correspondence, he will receive a warning for the first offense, but he will be asked to leave the board (banned) for the second offense. On the other hand, if this is done on the open message board, he will be banned the first time it happens.

5. Where to post.

This is a procedural guideline only. Please read through the listing on the main page, of various forums available on this message board. There is a description of what each forum is about. If you post in the appropriate forum, you will be more likely to get a response that is quick and useful than if you put the post somewhere else. There are areas, such as the Daily Forum, that fill up quickly with posts if we do not prune out posts that are not on topic. So, if you put a post in the incorrect forum, one of the staff may relocate it to the appropriate forum. This is never done maliciously, or with intent to punish anyone. It is only a bit of housekeeping. "A place for everything, and everything in its place." Thank you for your cooperation.

6. Posting Etiquette.

While it is okay to edit your posts for spelling errors and such, please do not delete your entire post. An exception to this would be if you have a double post, but beyond that, there really isn't a reason to delete your post in its entirety. This confuses the rest of the people on the board and takes a little bit away from the trust that we have built up within our DWLZ community.

7. New Weight Watcher Program Changes

We DO NOT discuss any future Weight Watchers plans or program changes until they have officially released the information to the public. Therefore, until it is released and available online or at Weight Watchers meetings nationwide, there should be no discussions and/or questions on the boards regarding any new plan.

8. Advertising/Selling.

This board is NOT to be used for advertising and/or selling of any products, services, supplements, etc. (See Exceptions below). It is acceptable to mention certain products we have tried and found useful as long as we have no affiliation in any way with the company supplying the product(s). Any advertising and/or SPAM (whether in a post or a signature) WILL be removed immediately by an Administrator or Forum Moderator.

Exceptions to the Rule

Personal Sites/Business
You may have a simple link with no promotion to your business (e.g. Mary Kay, Avon, etc). There will be no gimmicks, hawking or advertising of your business either in your posts or your signature.

Marathons/Walks for a Cause
You may post about your marathons/walks for a cause (e.g. Breast Cancer, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, etc) with a link to your Official Page on their Official Site in both your posts and/or your signature. You may not solicit funds through any other means.

Specific Non-Exceptions to the Rule

Soliciting Funds for Any Other Reason
Our Message Board is not the place to solicit funds for any other cause. This is a supportive home that has been created for all of us who wish to be part of it, and to help maintain this atmosphere, posters are not allowed to solicit money from our friends here.

9. Signature Policy.

Due to the increasing numbers of very large, busy, and wide signatures (lots of graphics, tickers, blinkies, etc.), the administrators find it necessary to expand the guidelines of the signature policy for our board. This will help ensure that pages are loading quickly and without readers having to scroll back and forth just to read the posts.

Due to overwhelming amount of images that are beyond our Message Board guidelines, we have had to take another course of action to get them under control. We have many users that are still on dialup and the large graphics take an extremely long time to load.

As of May 15th, 2007, all users with images more than 200 pixels high by 425 pixels wide and more than 100k file size will be notified by email or pm to change the image size to fit into our guidelines or remove it. If the user does not adhere to this notification within 10 days we will have no choice but to remove the signature. You will still be able to post and create a new signature within the guidelines. If a second "out of compliance" signature is created then the user will lose the ability to use a signature.

Here are the guidelines that are in place:

* Any individual graphic included in your signature must be no more than 200 pixels high by 425 pixels wide (see 1st image below for reference) and should be no more than 100k for the file size.

* There will be a limit of no more than 1 ticker per signature.

* There will be a limit of no more than 3 blinkies which should be placed side-by-side, horizontally, within the signature and not vertically.

200 x 425 pixels:

425 x 200 graphic

All completed signatures (including any and all text, tickers, blinkies, and graphics) must be limited to no more than 200 high x 700 pixels wide.

200 x 700 pixels:

700 x 200 graphic

An easy way to measure the size of your signature is to line up a piece of paper on the computer screen with the top of the box. Make a mark on the side edge of the paper at the bottom of the box. Label as 200 pixels, if needed. Repeat for the width of the boxes above. This gives you a "ruler", if you will, that can be held up to your signature to check the sizes as you preview your codes during the editing process.

If you need help with your signature please post in the Practice Forum where we will be able to help you.

Some sites that create the glitter graphics and signatures also contain code that causes strange behavior in posts on the board. While these sites may be appropriate for creating MySpace and Facebook layouts, etc., we do not feel they are appropriate for use in signatures on our message board.

We ask you to refrain from using code generated from:

http://www.pimpmyspace.com/
http://webfetti.smileycentral.com/

If additional issues arise, we will add other sites to this list as necessary.

10. Challenges.

We welcome challenges on the DWLZ message board. Having a goal to strive for is a great way to help motivate us to succeed. That is why we have a Challenge Forum (http://www.dwlz2.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=15), and why any forum can have its own challenges running if it is desired.

At the same time, on the DWLZ Message Board, we do not allow the promotion of, nor the use of the DWLZ name in, challenges that are located on other web sites. The former is another type of SPAM, using DWLZ for advertising, and unsolicited attempts to launch or otherwise promote other sites or products. People come to this site for support, not SPAM. The latter is protecting our name and what gets associated with it.

If people want to send goodies, cards, etc. to one another as encouragement, they are free to do so on a personal level. However, there are to be NO gifts or cards associated with any challenges.

Also, threads will never call attention to another's failure to reach the goal set by the challenge. Only positive statements, and supportive comments will be acceptable. You can be sure that anyone who has missed a goal will know it, without your having to point it out.

A final word on challenges: if you wish to have a challenge of your own outside of these guidelines, do it by email, off of the message board. Make sure you do not SPAM members of this board using Private Messages, canvassing for this or any other project you might have.

11. 2011 PointsPlus Program.

Emails are flooding in concerning the new 2011 PointsPlus Program and whether or not DWLZ will be updating the website and the Mobile Apps to accommodate the new program. YES. After much consideration I have decided to add the PP values to our restaurants and food items. They will be listed under Score Plus for the Apps. This is a very long process. We have a lot of volunteers ready to get to work on this project. We will be providing the PP values, along with the previous program values.

On the Message Board, you may post your food items with the PointsPlus value. If you are still using the old plan and post those values, please state they are values from the old program. Please try and post the nutritional values for any recipes you share, if you have them available. That will be helpful to everyone, no matter what plan they are using.

For a long time we have been able to get along without any formal guidelines. Unfortunately, as we have grown, like any community, we have acquired some difficulties. We hope that by posting these guidelines, we will help everybody have a better feel for what is expected for each of our visitors. For most of you, these guidelines will not even be noticed because that is exactly how you have been conducting yourself all along. For all of you, thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The Administrators

Welcome to our Message Board Guidelines

These Guidelines also apply to the Chat Room