I was just wondering that the 8-12 stickies at the top of this forum could be a bit overwhelming to someone who is brand new to this site and to fitness. It's no wonder so many people come on here and ask lots of basic questions all of which are covered in them. I'm not knocking any of them, I have read them all and they are all great and very helpful. I was just wondering if they would be more helpful if spread out across the site a bit? Maybe move Nutrition for weightloss to the nutrition forum etc.

Would wonder what other people think. I just think it maybe a lot simpler if there were 2-3 topics that were stickied in the beginner forum which covered most of what you need to get started in the right direction. Don't forget how confusing all this new information was to you when you first started! :bang:

I like it as it is to be honest, there is alot of information there, and everyone see's it straight away, but that's the point. It's there to be seen. You don't need to read all of them either, you can pick which ones are suited to your goals.

Moving them away from this area wouldn't be smart, as this is the EXACT kind of advice which beginners are going to need! Members will probably only visit this section of the forum for a period of around 6months while they are learning (others will obviously come here to give advice though).

I think they should go to their respective places. I was looking for nutrition help and I instinctively went to the nutrition section.

Also, while it's not that bad, the large list of stickies is rather... hmmm... Well, they take up a lot of space.

Tons of info and I like the stickies, but yes, I always thought they were a bit mixed up sometimes.

I know there are a lot of stickies, but the aim was to cover most of the subjects a beginner would find useful, and to group them into one place. The logic behind putting them in the beginner's forum should be clear, but perhaps there is some pruning and/or moving I can do.

I'm interested in hearing more comments on this subject...

I know there are a lot of stickies, but the aim was to cover most of the subjects a beginner would find useful, and to group them into one place. The logic behind putting them in the beginner's forum should be clear, but perhaps there is some pruning and/or moving I can do.

I'm interested in hearing more comments on this subject...

The more knowledge you have in this industry, the more ammunition you'll acquire in your arsenal, and have a better grasp on both "old school" and "cutting edge" techniques and methods. I spend at least an hour per day reading/researching Pubmed, studies regarding motor function, amino acid metabolism, neural response to exercise, kinesiology, etc., etc., I can't get enough. My thoughts are, once you stop learning, you stop progressing. This has been my routine for as long as I can remember. Even before I began competing back in 1984.

Yet with all the info out there and different branches and avenues of thought, I still consider myself a beginner and newbie in MANY different respects.

I don't like the look of a lot of stickies. They make it very awkward to navigate. Fortunately, I always use the "New Posts" link, so I never have to see them.

However, they're really important, and I can't really see a logical way to prune them.

On the other hand, they're not interactive in the same way that a normal thread is interactive; they're written more like articles, and could stand as well on their own, instead of integrated with the other threads.

You could create a forum called Stickies or "Start Here" or "The Most Important Tools You'll Need", and put them all in there. Then at the top of each forum, put ONE sticky, with a pointer to the titles for the stickies that are relevant to that particular forum.

You could create a forum called Stickies or "Start Here" or "The Most Important Tools You'll Need", and put them all in there. Then at the top of each forum, put ONE sticky, with a pointer to the titles for the stickies that are relevant to that particular forum.

I like the second part of your suggestion (which I bolded) a lot--very simple and elegant. Putting all those stickies in their own forum seems redundant if we're already going to have an easy way to access those threads from a single sticky. In fact, I see no reason to keep these threads as "stickies" if we're going to have a single thread that points to them. That way those threads will rise and fall like any other thread, but would continue to be quickly accessible from the single thread stuck to the top.

Of course this would only be applicable to the Beginner's form. The rest of the forums have far fewer stickies.

Putting all those stickies in their own forum seems redundant if we're already going to have an easy way to access those threads from a single sticky. In fact, I see no reason to keep these threads as "stickies" if we're going to have a single thread that points to them. Right. :cool:

It could almost work as a wiki. :confused: However, there are so many varying opinions on various things (HIIT vs LISS, macros, etc) that you would have to have various pages for the different opinions. But if it developed, it could be a much easier tool to use and less the opinion of the original author.

But since a lot of this stuff varies from person to person based on biology, starting state, goals, etc, it's not like a straight fact based wiki and it might have difficulties being intelligible. :confused"

It could almost work as a wiki. :confused: However, there are so many varying opinions on various things (HIIT vs LISS, macros, etc) that you would have to have various pages for the different opinions. But if it developed, it could be a much easier tool to use and less the opinion of the original author.

But since a lot of this stuff varies from person to person based on biology, starting state, goals, etc, it's not like a straight fact based wiki and it might have difficulties being intelligible. :confused"Yeah, I don't think the wiki would work. I think it would just get too confusing, because you'd have to say stuff like "Most people have had the greatest success with... but others have experienced the opposite." That's why I suggested to Foley that we together create separate stickies to add to what marcus had been recommending in his. Stricter rules and more precise counting seems to work much better for some people, and looser structure with room for a lot of variation works much better for others. You also need to allow for different goals (strength vs. size vs. speed or health vs bikini body vs longevity etc.)

i like guava's idea of splitting them up to their various subforums (i.e. nutrition stuff in the nutrition subforum, etc etc) and then having the one big sticky in the beginner forum that points out where to find nutrition info, etc. kind of like an index or a table of contents in a way. it would clean up the page for sure.

then within each of the subforums you could sticky the beginner topics, provided it doesn't overload the top of the page.

IMO, the big sticky list on the Intro forum seems fine to me. If anything needs improvement, it might be a few of the articles themselves, at least cosmetically, but maybe that's part of their charm. :dreamy:

Yeah, I don't think the wiki would work. I think it would just get too confusing, because you'd have to say stuff like "Most people have had the greatest success with... but others have experienced the opposite."
I'm suddenly having nightmares of zenpharaoh-like exceptions to every generalization. :cry: :lol:

OK, I slept on it and when I woke up this morning I decided that cleaning up the beginner's forum stickies was the right move. A master list will be easier to maintain, and the information can be grouped into categories. This will probably make it easier for beginners to locate the information they are looking for.

Here's the new master beginner's thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=45975).

Comments and suggestions, as always, are welcome. :)

I like the layout of the master sticky. So all of the threads linked to in there are no longer stickied?

So all of the threads linked to in there are no longer stickied?
Yeah, there didn't seem to be any point in leaving them stuck since they are all, in effect, still stuck via the master thread. The threads have all been moved to the "appropriate" forums, and will now rise and fall like any other thread.

The only exception is that I moved and stuck the JSF Glossary and Search guide to the technical forum since these are not necessarily just for beginners.

I really like that, and I think it was a very good move John. You now have, imo, one of the best collection of resources for health and fitness on the net under one click in the beginners section.

I hope you don't think I was picky, the stickies helped me a lot arranged as they were before

I hope you don't think I was picky, the stickies helped me a lot arranged as they were before
On the contrary, I thought it was an excellent suggestion. Thanks! :)

MUCH better. :)

Here's the new master beginner's thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=45975).

Comments and suggestions, as always, are welcome. :)

I think it is a big improvement. Having almost the whole screen filled with stickies looked odd and probably was a little overwhelming.

Nice improvement, I like it. Tidy. :)