Before 2001, VF had been, in some way, part of another site--the name of which I've now forgotten, heh, but which I'd recognize if I saw it. I'd reached that site through a link from some index page that's probably defunct by now, and I wouldn't be surprised if that site, too, is also defunct.
The site was otherwise mostly fitness articles, without any other forum that I could see. In one corner of the main navigation page, I noticed the reference to Video Fitness.
The button wasn't working, though. There was a note that VF was going through some type of transition that seemed to last for at least a few months. (So it is that I never saw VF as an active forum prior to the current version.) In late 2001, the various pages and forum were working as its own site.