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Prospectus: Exploring The Complexity of Rapidly Evolving Information in a bodybuilding, the

Challenges of Quality Assurance and Social Capital

Tasha

LSTUE-120

Assignment 4

April 28, 2015

I. Introduction

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Bodybuilding is a sporting event where both males and females engage in physical exercise in

an effort to develop defined muscles and physique to engage in competitive events. The

bodybuilding communities are a large network of local, state and international people who

connect through online forums. Forums assist in facilitating interactions among networks that

focus on topics beyond what is relevant to a geographically defined neighborhood (DiMaggio et

al 2001). Bodybuilding and fitness forums create intellectual and social capital as well as a set of

understandings used by people to make decisions that are important to their health and

businesses. The benefit of knowledge discovered in the forums is beneficial and the benefits

typically extend well beyond the initial benefit received by the initial poster. Additionally, the

growth and the complexity of bodybuilding and fitness forums is creating an expanding array of

athletes and business who are contributing to the online forums thereby challenging

credentialing.

Although the prosperity of the bodybuilding and fitness forums are surrounded by a strategic

source of knowledge, many websites must balance the contribution of rapidly revolving health

information and free speech with inaccurate and illegal contributions to the online communities.

The primary focus of this review will be on a critique of one of the most popular website forum

in the world for fitness and bodybuilding information (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ ). The

critique will explore how Bodybuilding.com allows free flowing of information, manages the

contribution of illegal content, and maintains social capital.

Bodybuilding.com has a continuum of educating athletes and challenging their ideas on

nutrition and legal supplementation while combating consistent threats to the quality of the

community interactions. The protection of members and intellectual property rights, forum

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cultural maintenance, and educational information must be prudent by identifying inaccurate

information and illegal information eroding the fitness forums.

II. Method of research

The data collection process will include an observation of the forums and a search strategy

using keywords specific to Bodybuilding.com. The data will be aggregated and analyzed. The

analysis will include a review of the interactions between forum participants and how forum

leaders moderate their communities when information provided is illegal by the community’s

guidelines. Additionally, data analysis will include reading forum messages and determining

how Bodybuilding.com protects their forums from content that impacts the quality of

contibutions and interactions. Furthermore, the data collection will provide additional insight on

how member contributions impact social capital. For the purpose of this research, social capital

is defined as, ‘the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular

society, enabling that society to function effectively’.1

III. Community Structure of Bodybuilding.com’s Forums

Bodybuilding.com is the world's largest online fitness community with over 1.7 million

unique site visitors a day. According to the website, Bodybuilding.com assists more than 29

million people every month by providing access to supplements, articles, videos and online

support through technology. Their online forum community is BodySpace Fitness Community

with more than 2.4 million active users. Bodybuilding.com’s vision statement is:

“"We are Bodybuilding.com. Your transformation is our passion. We are your personal trainer,

your nutritionist, your supplement expert, your lifting partner, your support group. We provide

1 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/social-capital?q=social+capital

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the technology, tools, and products you need to burn fat, build muscle, and become your best

self."2

As a highly active community, nearly one-quarter of Bodybuilding.com’s employees are

based in the information technology department. Technology and the internet has contributed to

the shift of a network that allows for people to make it easy for people to collaborate and

exchange ideas with a global community via online forums.( DiMaggio et al 2001) Being the

largest online fitness community, Bodybuilding.com has created guidelines addressing how their

forum communities communicate and function. In order to accomplish this, Bodybuilding.com

has fifty-five forum leaders whose function is to encourage healthy commnity engagement as it

pertains to fitness. In addition, moderators oversee specific forums and have the ability to edit

and delete posts, move threads, and perform other actions. Becoming a moderator for a specific

forum is usually rewarded to users who are particularly helpful and knowledgeable in the subject

of the forum they are moderating. According to Bodybuilding.com , the requirements to be a

moderator are as follows:

● Must be a member for more than one year.

● No bans.

● No multiple accounts.

● Must be over the age of 21.

● No trolls.

● Infractions will be looked upon on a case by case basis.

● No current employees or reps of supps companies.

● You must have only one account (no multis or second accounts).

● You must be able to be trusted with sensitive information.

2 http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbcomcareer.htm

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The position of a moderator can be viewed by participants as a way to enhance social capital due

to increased trust among peers that result in increased forum participation. (DiMaggio et al

2001).

However, some forum contributions border on the line of abuse and biases that members find

offensive. Therefore, a moderator's’ role is to evaluate each submission and decide whether to

allow the content to remain or to be removed.

In summary, the Bodybuilding community is complex and has millions of members. While

freedom of speech is endorsed, information published on the website is not without internal

scrutiny or oversight to protect the rights of all.

IV. Reputation of Users

Forum users have the right to freedom of expression. Conversely, many may disagree with a

particular expression. For this reason, Bodybuilding has created a reputation system in an effort

to ensure all participants’ freedom of speech rights rights are protected. The system allows peer

ranking based on the quality of contributions to the community called reputations. An

individual’s reputations is a reference that primarily represents how peers moderate comments

and contributions of a peer. A green dot indicates positive reputation, a red dot indicates

negative reputation, and a grey dot indicates a neutral reputation. While the reputations system

allows users to recognize reputable contributions, moderators must ensure that content within

their community follows the forum guidelines.

While there is a belief that everyone has the right to free expression, an obstacle called trolls

can occur when putting theory into practice with online forums. According to Golbeck (2014),

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trolls are people with the intent to abuse their anonymity by disrupting conversation through

negative and venomous contributions. While the Bodybuilding.com forum has been a great

platform to share information, the anonymitiy has allowed everyone voice their opinions and

communicate information. Similarly, certain topics are know to generate passionate responses

but can also bring out incivility online. Notably, Duggan (2014) described users’ behavior

statistics as noted:

● 60% of internet users said they had witnessed someone being called offensive names

● 53% had seen efforts to purposefully embarrass someone

● 25% had seen someone being physically threatened

● 24% witnessed someone being harassed for a sustained period of time

● 19% said they witnessed someone being sexually harassed

● 18% said they had seen someone be stalked

While highly debatable subjects can be discussed in a forum, thoughtful and insightful

comments can improve a user’s reputation. Additionally, such practice can increase the

community’s knowledge of the reputable attributes a contributor can bring to the forums.

Bodybuilding.com’s forum users are allowed to distribute only five ranks to a peer per month in

an effort to minimize abuse of the system. Moreover, they must rank 40 different users before

being able to rank someone again. Those with high reputations enjoy greater privileges in the

forum community.

In summary, the sharing of knowledge online cannot be successful without the active

participation of forum members. Every component of the online forum play an important role in

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the development of a great online community and presents a challenge to the forum leaders as

they moderate the forums.

V. User behavior and Illegal Content

Bodybuilding.com’s forum users appreciate opportunities to engage and participate with

others in an online forum that may not be available in their residential community. During the

evaluation process, fragmentation and inaccuracy to superficial interaction have been identified

as disadvantages to online participation. (DiMaggio et al. 2001). For the purpose of this

research, Bodybuilding.com’s entire community guidelines, will not be outlined but will have a

primary focus on community behaviors and forum management as it pertains to the following

rules:

● Illegal, banned, or controlled substances. This includes but is not limited to: steroids,

FDA banned substances, pro-hormones, illegal drugs (United States laws apply), and

prescription drugs. If it isn’t a product currently sold on Bodybuilding.com take caution

in discussing it.

● Underage supplementation

● Illegal activities (United States laws apply). This includes theft, pedophilia, rape, incest,

murder, etc.

A. Steroids and Prohormones

One topic of conversations that users are not allowed to engage in in the forums is the use

of illegal substances. In the United States, the possession and distribution of anabolic steroids

is a felony offense unless prescribed by a physician for medical use. U.S. federal law

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classifies anabolic androgenic steroids as Schedule III controlled substances. Schedule III is

the same category as barbiturates and LSD precursors and are drugs that possess a medical

purpose but do carry with them the risk of dependency and physical damage but to a lesser

extent than compared to Schedule II drugs. There is a general perception that individuals,

especially athletes, should learn about the pros and cons of supplements, when they should be

taken, and the legal issues that guide their distribution. Many popular fitness sites dedicate a

board on their forum specifically to address such topics such as T-Nation3, However, such

topics are strictly prohibited on Bodybuilding.com. A significant guideline for

bodybuilding’s addresses the sole use of products that are only sold by Bodybuilding.com

may be discussed in the forums.

Prior to the The Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2014 being passed,

Bodybuilding.com allowed forums to speak freely about prohormones, which were

considered precursors to hormones. After the act was passed, all discussions were banned.

Similarly, in evaluating keyword searches of the forum, there was not any formal

announcement about the expectations or reiteration of the forum guidelines as it pertained to

prohormones. The forum leaders deleted threads without warning. In this particular thread4 ,

members discussed frustration in the moderation of the boards and the lack of

communication to members.

3 http://tnation.t-nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_training_performance_bodybuilding_gear?s=forumIndexCat4 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=164513731&highlight=prohormone

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Exhibit 1.1

Another important point by Chiu et al (2006), supports there is a correlation between how

social interaction, reciprocity of information, and how someone identifies with a community

increased a user’s quantity of knowledge that is being shared but not necessarily the quality

of the knowledge. Additionally, social interaction greatly affects trust within an online

community and reciprocity of information builds trust, which is the key to online social

relationships.

B. Supplement Use: Underage

As one of the leaders in online supplements, Bodybuilding carries over 15,000 dietary

supplements. It is a multi-billion dollar industry with children and teenagers use of

supplements increasing. Unfortunately, supplement use by young athletes is very complex

and many make very ill- informed decisions about usage. Moreover, higher use of

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supplements in youth creates a grave concern because many parents are not aware of their

potential risks. Bodybuilding.com created a thread specifically for those under the age of 185

to assist them with healthy supplementation. According to Duggan (2014), while 92% of

internet users can be critical, 68% agree that it can create a very supportive environment, as

demonstrated by a thread6 where a 14 year old who wants to use supplements. In evaluating

the quality of the thread, it is very interesting to see the 14 year old who initiated the thread

have a low reputation ranking by peers, which indicates their perception of his contribution

of knowledge.

Exhibit 1.2

According to Chiu et al (2006), the knowledge sharing in an online community

demonstrates an exchange of receiving knowledge by reading and giving knowledge by

posting information to the community. This relationship of reciprocity shows that users

are willing to balance between what they are receiving and their contributions. The

National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA) is an excellent example of an

5 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=1568845136 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=160236131&page=1

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organization whose members have high peer reputations since 2012.: Banned Substance

Thread’7. Very knowledgable members have keep the thread active by updating the

banned substance list as it continues to grow due to substances not being labeled in the

ingredients. The on-going dialogue assists with answering questions about the

appropriate supplements for athlete. use.

Exhibit 1.3

C. Discussion of Illegal Activities

After a comprehensive literature research, discussion threads that directly spoke about

engaging in illegal activity were difficult to locate. This could imply that the moderators are

doing an excellent job keeping the threads clean. It is my belief that forums should not be

regulated that it dissolves normal dialogue and people are not able to learn from

7 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=140994321

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inappropriate behaviors. Depending on the severity of the thread, many fitness communities

will lock a thread, which does not allow for additional contributions but only allows for

viewing . The lack of opportunity to view such threads may be a missed educational

opportunity.

Along with deletion of threads, it is customary for Bodybuilding.com’s moderators to

temporary or indefinite ban a member who engages in conversations promoting illegal

activity. While there are broad guidelines about why and how a person is banned, there were

many instances where the banning was questionable. In a particular thread, a member

discusses by he was banned and it was due to him asking if a bodybuilder was natural (i.e.

free of illegal substance use). While the thread was a little bit antagonistic, the thread did not

contain content that promoted steroid use; but still received a ban8. In looking at how social

capital is gained in online communities, the moderators should be very consistent in how

bans are administered. The unjustified depletion of communication within the constructs of

the community decreases capital.

In summary, Bodybuilding.com has no tolerance for the use or discussion of illegal

substances. The forums are monitored closely by moderators who take immediate action to

insure participants adhere to the guidelines.

8 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=167231021&page=1

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VI. Conclusion

In the past few years, Bodybuilding.com has been under federal investigation and scrutiny for

introducing misbranded products into commerce9. In reviewing the online community of

Bodybuilding.com, the members of the community are very different from most communities in

that they are bonded together in shared goals, interests and fitness practices; Above all,

Bodybuilding.com has very strict guidelines on illegal forum topics. Additionally, the attributes

of the organization may influence the creation and accumulation of social capital. Moreover,

communication and empowerment are key indicators in the social capital. In considering the

interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act10, Bodybuilding.com could

not be considered a publisher and therefore not liable for members of the forum who would

choose to contribute to the education of other athletes. Inasmuch, Bodybuilding.com publishes

articles surrounding illegal content11, allows a platform for those who have a high reputation

ranking in the community that creates increased connections and interactions. Social capital

creates value for the forum members who are connected and validated through the reputation

system. The value of engaging in the Bobybuilding.com community is not just based on the

individual in the forums, but on the way they are connected and disconnected.

9 http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/CriminalInvestigations/ucm305494.htm10 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/23011 http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson196.htm

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