This is is a very interesting website. I'm a newbie and have read a lot of posts and threads and seen absolutely no rash advice, or anything less than cautious and supportive. That's great, but I am curious -- how much of that is due to the community and how much is due to the moderators? Do the moderators change or delete member responses to posts if they think that a member gave bad advice?
For example, I saw a post from someone considering a diet that was limited to a couple healthy food sources that would cover the food groups and many nutritional requirements, but was not much over 1000 calories. BTW -- This was a middle aged adult asking, not a teenaged girl with a higher risk for EDs. So I was surprised that unenequivocally the response from the community was not to do it. That really surprised me. I thought at least a few members might say something like, "Yeah, that's a good kick-start -- you might be successful doing that for 7-10 days to get started and make a break from past eating habits and lose a few pounds quickly to get motivated and excited, but then you need to switch to a more sustainable plan you can live with and that won't jeopardize your metabolism." No one said anything remotely like that -- all said it was crazy.
That's great that the community seems to be so measured and careful, but I'm surprised that a site with 700,000+ members could be so uniformly so. Just curious -- has anyone ever had a post edited or removed, or seen one that seemed to have been? Or do people just get kicked out if they say something the moderators think is less than cautious? I know -- a weird question, but I'm curious. Thanks! Great community!
Hello steph_a ... welcome to CC! 
As you know, this site has a number of dedicated Volunteer Moderators, who do their best to assist people with healthy and sustainable weight management. When CC members see a post that causes them concern (or which they believe violates the posting guidelines of Calorie-Count.com or About.com), they hit the "Report" button and bring it to the attention of the Moderators. Since the Volunteer Moderators can't possibly be everywhere and read every post, we rely in many ways on CC members to assist us with the primary goal of the site -- helping people manage their weight in healthy ways. The Volunteer Moderators also spend a lot of time reading posts, too! (After all, we're all on our own journeys of healthy weight loss or maintenance!)
As our guidelines state, "all posts are subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules."
But, to answer your question as to whether or not "people just get kicked out if they say something the moderators think is less than catious," the answer is no. Our role as Moderators is to enforce the posting guidelines, to provide support, assistance and encouragement, and to provide helpful education (when we can.) If a post violates the posting guidelines, it is subject to being edited or deleted. But if a post merely contains less-than-accurate or less-than-ideal dieting advice, usually the community -- as well as the Volunteer Moderators -- will post more accurate, healthy information.
=^..^= MOLLY
Hello, hello.. I'm a convert from the much more rough-and-tumble Oxygen fitness forum where things quickly degenerate into name-calling and other annoying behaviour. There isn't anyone around there to help people get the info they need, or to ask people to 'play nice'. I was so glad to find the calmer, saner world of Calorie-Count and I was honoured to be asked to be a volunteer moderator.
I, too, was curious when I started using this site because everyone seemed so nice, and the moderators were always nearby, offering help or redirecting people to useful information. I figured that people were working hard behind the scenes to keep at bay the inevitable onslaught of weirdness that usually pervades forums, and that turned out to be true. Because it's so constructive, this site has attracted many smart, fun, helpful people. Glad you stopped by.
I just wanted you to know that the mods aren't steering people's discussions or editing posts without consultation, and they try to be as judicious as possible. People post some whacky stuff sometimes, which is totally fine. If members seem to be encouraging disordered eating, or are verbally abusing each other, mods might intervene, but this happens very, very rarely.
I have had posts deleted but only when I go against the posting guidelines:
Posting GuidelinesCalorie Count Plus's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.
- We can only at this time accept postings in English.
- Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
- Advertisements, product announcements, and self-promotional posts are prohibited. Links to personal sites, pages, and blogs should be placed on users' profile pages.
- Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.
- Copyrighted works including newspaper or online articles, web pages, press releases, or book excerpts are not allowed.
- Please avoid threatening other members, making inflammatory comments or posts, or using foul language.
- Basic HTML formatting tags (<b>,<i>,<ul>,<ol>) and links can be used in the message body.
I haven't had any problems. I would say most people gave the advice they did because they are educated on how many calories a body needs before it enters starvation mode. This site has plenty of tools, and if you read it you would see that (maybe you did, maybe you didn't). The advice they gave was helpful because they didn't want that poster to sabotage herself/himself. Everyone here is in the same boat mostly, and most everyone tries to help.
I think it's a combination of things. The site's tools give sensible calorie recommendations and the guidance on the site is sensible, too. Most of us have already been down the disastrous roads of starvation and yo-yo diets, and many of us have had our best success with losing and maintaining through sticking to more moderate goals, and want to spare others of the heartaches of EDs or the whole starvation/rebound weight-gain nightmare.
There are some differences of opinion - the omnivores vs. veggies/vegans, the low-carbers vs. the "good carbers", etc., but I think even where those differences are concerned most of us realize that different things work for different people and that folks should be left to choose the details of what will mesh with their personality, but the fact that starvation diets are a road to misery is a universal truth that few would argue with.
everybody here is really supportive, smart, and genuinely concerned for the health of their other members. health is the most important factor in weight loss, and i think most people here know that, and are trying to lose weight the healthy way. and when they can help others do that, or try to prevent them from potentially hurting themselves, they speak up as loudly and quickly as possible.
Figure out what type of eater you are and you might just find the answer to permanent weight loss.
Take the Diet Profile Test and learn to avoid the pitfalls and self-sabotage that often come with your personal profile.