Disclaimer: Though you will find wonderful advice posted in this Forum, you should never use that advice as a substitute for professional medical, fitness, or nutritional counsel. The content of the postings reflects the opinions of the author, not of Video Fitness or Wendy Niemi Kremer. Most postings are written by consumers, not by fitness experts. Use of our Forum constitutes agreement to abide by these terms, and user accounts may be terminated at any time at the discretion of the Community Manager.
Mission Statement:
Video Fitness is a community of home exercise enthusiasts, and our goal is to provide a place where exercisers of all levels can come for support, advice, and information about improving their health and fitness with videos. The subject of this Forum is fitness videos and their use as part of a well-rounded exercise program, but you may also discuss other fitness related topics that have clear interest to video exercisers.
Video Fitness prefers to focus on exercise for health and improved self esteem. Though many VF readers are trying to lose weight, we feel that keeping the focus on exercise and performance goals, rather than on diet or weight loss goals, is the best way to help our community members achieve success and stick to their workout programs.
Though VFers discuss every aspect of their videos and video instructors, we ask that posters stay away from criticism of a particular instructor's (or cast member's) physique or other qualities that have no bearing on the quality of the workout. Everyone has their own definition of physical beauty, and fit women and men come in all shapes and sizes. Such criticism undermines the inclusiveness of this Forum.
Above all, please treat every Forum poster with the same respect you'd want yourself. His or her opinion of a video is every bit as valuable as your own or anyone else's. That is true whether a post is written by a longtime VF community member, a newcomer, or a beginning exerciser. Whatever your opinion of an instructor or tape, no matter how unpopular you perceive your opinion to be, we guarantee you are not the only one here who holds that opinion, and you should feel free to express it. If we all liked the same tapes, there would be no point in having a review section at VF--in fact, VF wouldn't exist at all if not for differences in opinion. Also remember that only your words will be transmitted via a post, so take care which words you choose--facial expressions, tone of voice, sarcasm, and other cues that would contextualize your words in a face to face conversation will be absent in this medium.
What we expect from members:
You must use only one name and user account in our community. Though you are not obligated to do so, most of us use our real names or at least our real first names.
If you are having trouble accessing an existing user account or have created a new account and want the old one to be deleted, please email wendy@videofitness.com.
You must not impersonate any other person or entity, real or fictitious, in our community. You may not represent yourself as having professional credentials, such as fitness certifications, that you have not earned. You may not post untrue or fictitious accounts of yourself or anyone else, or misrepresent yourself in words or photographs to our community members on the Forum or via private email.
Respectful disagreements
We encourage a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a member's post, you are certainly free to challenge the opinion. However, please do so while while showing respect for those who are of a different mind. We are here to better understand each other's opinions, not to attack others and convince them that you're right. Name calling, insults, "flaming" and personal attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. Agree to disagree respectfully.
PLEASE do not respond to rude or offensive postings.
Ignoring them is the absolute best strategy for maintaining the Forum's supportive atmosphere. It has been our experience that if a rude post is ignored, the rude poster usually goes away or ceases being rude, whereas if people reply to a rude post, the subsequent replies tend to degenerate into name calling and profanity, and undermine the quality of the Forum.
When a poster uses profanity or posts something deemed offensive, the moderators reserve the right to delete that post and replies to that post (or even entire threads, if necessary) if their efforts to restore civility are ignored. Any user who creates undue chaos at the forum may have their account removed at the moderators' discretion.
Commercial postings and advertisements are not permitted and will be deleted.
You may not promote or post a link to any product or commercial Web site in which you have a financial interest in any post or in your user name or signature block. If you see a commercial posting that has not yet been deleted, please email wendy@videofitness.com with a copy of the post and the thread title. It is also inappropriate to use community members' email addresses, our Forum's email form, or the private messaging feature for commercial purposes. Vendors should not contact our members directly. Email links are attached to most posts so that other consumers may contact a poster with a question or comment about her post, not for solicitation purposes. Please note that posting to promote your own auctions on eBay, half.com or other auction sites is also considered an advertisement. Thanks!
If you are a video instructors, are in the fitness video/product industry, or are the friend or colleague of a video instructor, please read this page. If you have a personal or professional relationship with an instructor or vendor, please read our disclosure policy.
Video Fitness is a "diet-free zone"
Yes, diet is a fundamental part of a healthy lifestyle, but every health and fitness site, as well as every women-oriented site on the Web, seems to focus on diet. Most Video Fitness readers enjoy having a haven from diet talk--a place they can go to focus exclusively on exercise and personal goal-setting.
We believe that our position on diet-related postings is partially responsible for the strength and supportive nature of our community. Discussions of diet, though they may not start out this way, tend focus on diet and exercise for weight loss, rather than diet and exercise for health and self esteem. Video Fitness wishes to promote the latter.
We also do not want to see "flame wars" erupt over differences in opinion about what constitutes a healthy diet. Many threads in VF history that have turned truly ugly have been in some way related to diet or eating habits.
In sum, please refrain from discussion of diet except in very general terms. Exercise as it relates to recovery from eating disorders may be discussed, so can strategies and tips for eating healthier and healthy substitutions for unhealthy foods (see our Healthy Recipes conference for healthy ideas). Stay away from making specific dietary recommendations to others, discussion of specific diets, and discussion of what constitutes a healthy diet.
Please refrain from discussing dietary supplements
We do not feel that discussion of supplements, especially those used for more rapid weight loss or muscle gain, is consistent with our mission statement. Discussion of other supplements is not allowed, either, due to both the unregulated nature of the products and the fact that many people selling dietary supplements use internet discussion boards to tout a product they themselves are selling. We have allowed discussion of glucosamine supplements, however, because they have been used by some VF readers (with mixed results) as a form of alternative medicine to treat recurring or chronic knee pain that affects their ability to exercise.
Please don't correct people's grammar or spelling. The threat of being corrected may impede discourse, and we want people to feel comfortable here.
Off Topic threads:
Exercise, fitness and wellness issues are ON topic, even if they do not specifically relate to videos. However, many times VFers discuss topics that are completely unrelated to our mission here. We do not like to police off-topic threads, but we strongly discourage them. We reserve the right to remove off-topic posts or threads that we deem to be controversial or inappropriate. Politics, religion, and plastic surgery are examples of volatile topics unrelated to fitness that are inappropriate here. On the other hand, we recognize that even on-topic threads frequently diverge into off-topic tangents, and that is a normal and appropriate circumstance in an active community. However, if you are thinking of starting a thread with OT in the title (or which should have OT in the title), please think twice, and remember that bandwidth is not free--VF has to pay for all those page views. In order to save space in our already very large forum database, OT threads may be removed once they are no longer active.
User names, Signatures and Avatars:
Please do not include business names/logos/products/URLs in your user name, forum signature, or avatar image, as that constitutes a commercial posting. The signature block, avatar, or user name should also not be used to promote a cause (political, personal, religious, etc.). The moderators reserve the right to remove avatars or to edit signatures that are deemed to be offensive or contrary to guidelines.
Do not post copyrighted material, personal or promotional emails without permission
If you want to post about an article of interest or some other content you found on another Web site (or in print), please DO NOT copy and paste another site's content, which is almost certainly copyrighted, into our forum. Provide a link to the original whenever possible, or summarize the content in your own words. If you want to post about a promotional email or personal email you have received from a fitness product vendor, please summarize it in your post rather than cutting and pasting it, or ask for explicit permission to post the information on VF. For example, if a vendor is offering a sale, please summarize the details of the discount in your own words rather than cutting and pasting the vendor's email. Thank you!
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