Hey guys! I'll be the moderator around here. I watched the first season of "The Biggest Loser," but then stopped (because I hated the voting out thing; I felt like it should be more about how well they were doing than popularity), but I'll be watching this new season to make the moderation here easier -- for me, and for all of you.

If you have any questions about the forums, you can ask them here (or, if you're not comfortable asking in the public eye, PM or e-mail me).

I'm going to open threads for the trainers, but feel free to open contestant threads or other threads we need. (Also, please propose subtitles for the trainer threads, as I'm just going with names since I'm not familiar enough with these folks to come up with something clever.)

I'm noticing a bit of conversation about Caroline in the Alison thread, so I wanted to let you guys know that opening a Caroline thread would be fine -- and even, encouraged. She's obviously a part of the show, so if you want to talk about why you liked her or hated her -- or why she's no longer with us -- go ahead and open a thread for her.

I started a thread about Wylie from last year's show, but I accidentally mispelled his name in the title. Could you please fix it for me? Thanks!

Done, katisha66. It now says: Wylie

I was wondering about that TWOP Mars! Thanks!

ETA never mind! I see one was already made. How I missed that thread I don't know.

You guys can also open contestant threads if there's someone you'd like to talk about more generally -- now that we have "met" them.

If you open a contestants/trainers subforum I just wanted to suggest "Big Fat Fatties and The People They Sweat On" for the title. That's all.

ThatPoshGirl, individual contestant threads or a general contestants thread would be fine. Feel free to open that and name it what you like. I meant to tell you that long ago. Sorry.

Also, I think a numbers thread might be in order for such discussions as how much weight has been lost, adding up caloric intake, calories burned and the like. It's sort of off-topic in any other thread, but would be great it in its own thread. People have been doing math stuff in the latest episode thread, so if anyone thinks that would be a good thread, it's your call to create it or not.

A couple rules I want to make sure everyone is aware of:

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY

This means that your posts should add to the discussion. Not only does this mean that you shouldn't just post to say, "Word," "I agree," or "I disagree," but also don't post just to say "Thanks" to someone for their post. If everyone did this we'd have pages filled with "Thanks." It's fine to thank someone -- or to say "Word," etc. -- if you do it in the context of a larger post that also has substance.

JILLIAN'S BLOG

Because you have to pay to read Jillian's blog at her website, I don't want people bringing over full blog posts from it. Snippets are OK in the spoiler thread or the Jillian thread if they're relevant to the ongoing conversation, but please attribute them to her site (preferably with a link). It's a possibly copyright violation if we don't follow these rules, so please don't just bring over full posts. If people here want to read them, they can subscribe to her site, too.

Otherwise, everything is great in this forum. You all are well-behaved posters, and I really appreciate that.

I don't understand your logic. If you feel that copying the whole blog is a copyright infringement, why wouldn't you consider a section of the blog to also be a copyright infringement? The way I'm seeing it is this way.....10 people could get together and copy a tenth of the blog and post it here and you wouldn't have an issue with it, however, 1 guy copies it and that would be wrong in your book. But hasn't the same thing been done? And is any portion of the blog less valuable than the whole blog?

Putting on my IP lawyer hat to point out that it's actually a legitimate use of the copyrighted material under the Copyright Act to quote small parts of a work in the context of discussion or a review. Small sections are generally considered a "fair use." There's no bright line, but whole posts or chapters would probably not be considered "fair use."

As to posters colluding to bring over the whole blog in pieces, yeah, that would pretty much be a copyright violation. But I somehow don't see that happening.

Yeah, what Hawkwild said. (Thanks for that, Hawkwild!)

As I said, quote it in context, with attribution (preferably a link), and it's not a violation. This is the same thing as quoting articles, which is detailed in the FAQ.

Hey Mars,

Can we have a contest to name a thread after Neil?
Such as: "Neil: I have no integrity" or "Neil: Phil was a real man, I'm not"

:)

If so, I was thinking Neil: "It wasn't supposed to be that obvious."

Go ahead and start a thread for Neil, and discuss possible names for it there and then we'll choose one. Thanks.

I have a small suggestion--that posters not go back to edit a post in order to reply to a comment that came after the post that is to be edited. When I see quoted material, I expect the quotation to be from a post I have already read, and when it's not, I find myself wondering if I've missed something.

It's not my favorite method of responding either, katje, but it's not against the rules so I can't really do anything to change that. Maybe some people will see your suggestion, though, and take heed. Thanks.

The NBC page has been updated to show the bios for the contestants from Season 5. Could the Season 5 thread that was previously locked be opened back up now?

Thanks.

I apologize in advance if I am not following correct procedure here, but I have a question for the Biggest Loser Forum moderator. Post #153 was blacked out because it contained a spoiler. I thought spoilers were allowed as long as they were labeled as such. At any rate, is there any way those of us who want to know what the poster had written can find out what it was? Or at least, can you explain why it was blacked out? Thanks

I am not a mod and apologize in advance if I am over stepping my bounds, but the answer to this question is hold down your left mouse button and run your pointer over the black out areas and what is posted will become visible.

Dittohead, I don't know what topic you're talking about, but spoilers are allowed as long as they are barred (the blacking out you're referring to, which you can see if you do what Pointe3579 explains). The only place where they don't need to have black bars is in the spoiler thread. This is all explained in the FAQ.

I didn't know that trick! Thanks for sharing. I always was curious as to what was said, but blocked out. Thanks for sharing! :)

Would it be OK to start a thread that's just for stats? It would be great to have all the figures compiled in one easy place to reference, and also there is a whole line of discussion that probably more appropriate there than in the individual episode threads.

That's fine with me, AgreeGal, but it will have to include discussion and not just be a list of numbers. But it's a great idea, so go right ahead.

*whine* Why is the episode thread locked until 11 (EST) when the show went off at 10 (EST)? I'm tired and I want to go to bed. *end whine*

It's because the forum clock is off by an hour; the thread is set to open at 10, but the forum thinks it's only 9:50 right now. I've reported it in the Tech Issues thread, so hopefully they'll fix it soon.

Thanks ForeverToday! Seemed strange to me since daylight savings time was a couple of weeks ago.

That's my bad. I'm sorry, guys! And I wasn't around to check in until now, so I hope everyone survived the extra hour. I miscalculated my hours with the time zone change.

In the future, please just open a new thread and I'll merge the two of them later, once I finally do check in. That way you don't have to wait for me. If the episode is over on the East Coast and the thread is locked, do feel free to open one.

In case you don't read the announcements area of the forum (and you should; changes are afoot), you will notice some color changes in this forum soon (if you haven't already).

Strega announced it a few days ago, if you want more information.

Is there a place to comment on the new colors? I don't want to be critical, since the changes are exciting but I do find the page numbers and quoted material difficult to read in the current blue on blue scheme. I know this is a work in progress, I was just curious if there was a place for user feedback.

jen222, if you have comments, you can post in the Ye Olde Suggestion Box in the announcements area I linked to above. Just make sure you've read the thread first, like any other forum on TWoP, in case it's been addressed.

Mars - I can't access the weecap - the link keeps taking me back to the TWOP homepage. I wasn't sure where to put that, so I figured I'd let you know.

Glory, that should actually be reported in the Tech Issues area, but it already has been, so hopefully it's fixed by now.

Just want to let you all know I'm heading off to a wedding (mine!) and honeymoon, so I won't be around here for the next four weeks. Other mods will be filling in, though; so be nice to them, and have fun.

Hey guys, I'll be covering for Mars here for the next week, so if you have any problems feel free to PM me or post here. Thanks!

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to bring this up, but I wanted to point out that in the "How to Post" FAQ, there is this:
I definitely find this practice confusing, as I expect quoted material to come from a post I have already seen.

This is actually the place to ask the moderator questions, so ... are you asking something?

TWoP_Mars, when I brought up this issue upthread, I was told editing to reply to a later post was not against the rules. Subsequently, I discovered it actually is--I guess I'm asking whether mods could enforce this? Sorry if I'm being a pain or if this is not an appropriate request.

We can enforce it if you report it, but otherwise it's hard to spot.

I've deleted a couple recent posts in here pertaining to recap issues, so I figured some of you need a reminder about this. This thread is for moderating questions/concerns specific to this forum.

For editorial issues, your best bet is to check out the contact page or post in the Tech Issues, Questions, and Information thread.

Hey, guys -- effective soon (not sure when the official torch will be passed), I'll be taking over for Mars for The Biggest Loser forums. If you have questions, please feel free to ask them here.

Effective sometime this weekend, by the way. We've finalized that now (you know, because "sometime this weekend" is so final), so I thought I'd drop in bid you all a fond farewell.

I stopped watching the show a couple seasons ago, but I've still kept up with Potes's awesome weecaps, so this has still been a fun place to moderate. I'm sure to still check in with you all on occasion.

Be nice to Gadget!