Its seems to me that there are more guys joining 3fcs and I'd love to be able to point them to a place where they might feel more comfortable. I'm not criticizing anyone, but there are LOTS of posts where people start off with "hey ladies" or similiar things and it isn't very welcoming to new guys.

With the first of the year and the influx of new people who will be flocking here, is it possible to bring back the men's forum? When I joined here a long time ago, this was where I felt most at home. I got to be friends with Howie and Simon (but of whom don't post here anymore, but I'm still in contact with). There are issues regarding weight loss that are specific to guys and I think we deserve our own space!

At the very least, could there be a "men's thread" sticky in the support forum room?

I'm not a guy, but I think it's a great idea! I hope we get one--I bet my DH would join if there was one.

This is not 'the official' answer as I think we need to discuss.

Forums are developed because of overwhelming interests and we do try to minimize the amount of forums we have. We do encourage users who want to discuss a common theme to create a thread. If certain groups show a lot of interest, then we may create a forum.

At certain times, there have been various men's threads that have fizzled out over time. I think it is a great idea to start a thread in Weight Loss Support to discuss weight loss for men.

Threads can fizzle out because you can't create new topics. It gets confusing if there isn't an actual room. At one time, the men's room was fairly active and even if it isn't active, at least there is a place to go so that people will feel welcomed. Its a scary thing joining an online forum, especially for a guy who may feel like he is the only male around.

3fcs is great because there are rooms for all kinds of age ranges, weight ranges, regions, social and religious views, and program types. With all this inclusiveness, I'm just asking to include the one segment that is half of the US population!

Matt - I've seen a men's thread start up about once a year, get a few posts, then dwindle.

If you think the time is right, let's just use this thread (or you can start a new one with a different title) and see what male traffic we get.

I agree that we're 50% of the population, but it doesn't seem that we type 50% of the words.

Honestly, I think is we have a sticky (just a thread) it will dwindle and people will lose interest. It is hard to follow and there isn't a way to organize topics or create new topics.

We will most likely always be a small group here, but I do feel strongly like we need a room of our own. Even a room that is pretty inactive.

I think it will be no time before you see women posting on your men's thread as most posters feel free to post wherever they find something that interests them.

That would be great!

Women can post in the men's forum to get information from guys or perhaps they have some insight on a particular issue.

Oh ! We have plenty of insight !

Matt, 3FC has a longstanding policy of creating new forums once a thread or several threads for a topic have had a lot of activity. That's how we ended up, for example, with the Ideal Protein forum most recently...there were a LOT of IP threads in the Carb Counters forum, enough that it was hard to follow them, so the IP subforum was created.

In my experience, if there is enough interest to sustain a forum, there will be enough posts in two or three related threads (even if they are a bit harder to follow) to support the idea of a new forum to the board administrators.

So start a thread! Support Groups forum might be a good place to start it. You might also consider browsing the Introductions and other forums and looking for men to point them toward that thread, which will increase thread traffic.

Edited to add: I've also seen "small" or "inactive" forums actually become discouraging to new members, which is I think part of the reason 3FC tries to have forums only for active groups. People join, post in the slow forum, don't get a response, and leave forever. If there is no small forum, those people tend to post in the other forum areas, get more responses, and stick around longer...long enough for someone to point them to a men's thread, if you started one.

Go for it Matt....but Bill is right the men's threads usually fizzle out...but you never know what and when threads/forums will stick.

Several years back I started a do your own 5K and report back, I got well over 200 for the first one....then continued to do well for several more...then they dwindled down in interest too much that it wasn't worth my effort after a while.

Good luck ~ Gary

Hey Gary, one of those 5Ks of yours was the first one I ever did - on the treadmill in my basement. So thank you!!

So here's a guy thought:

In working with the Global Positioning System (GPS), one currently observes strong leaders both male and female, but the original system was designed by some old U. S. Air Force guys and their favorite contractors back in the 1970's.

GPS precisely defines Time-of-Day (TOD) to the nanosecond so that it's possible to align with the incoming signal.

GPS precisely defines Time-of-Week (TOW) also to the nanosecond to help decode the ephemeris message.

GPS similarly defines Time-of-Year (TOY) so that receivers can regularly work in a sane and predictable manner.

Nowhere, is there any attempt to define Time-of-Month (TOM).

You are free to assign any reason for this that suits your world view.

BILL oh Bill....are you ever asking for it! lol X 2!

You are welcome SPORTMOM

Gosh, Bill, I don't quite get that... I think it must be a joke... could you explain it to me?

Jay