Issue #6
Surfin' the Boards with Bigwhammy

First off I'd like to explain the idea behind this column and how it came into being. As my friends know I've been stuck indoors from a record snow fall in the southeast. During this time I spent most of it "surfin' the boards" with you guys. I began to see the various message boards in a new light. Each has it's own characteristics and flaws. I thought if I'm going to spend so much time on here, driving my girlfriend crazy, I should define why I like doing it so much. I love seeing improvements in my training through learning new information, and the message boards are a powerful tool for doing just that.

I've been a big fan of AE since I first discovered it. Finally an honest body building publication, that makes no bones about steroid use and hard-core training techniques. Jason Meuller's article in the January issue pretty much sums up the other publications, glorified supplement catalogs. I've always enjoyed writing but haven't had an outlet for it lately, until I started posting on the boards. Then one morning while surfin' AE, I had a revelation. My college english professors always told me "write about something you have a passion for and it will be good." I approached Jason with the idea that his readers were mostly "board surfers" and they would probably be interested in a feature about the various boards, ways of conducting yourself on them, and posting questions to your maximum benefit.

Since there are so many boards, we are going to try at a monthly feature that will consist of two sections. The first will cover topics such as choosing a home board, establishing an identity, and how to ask effective questions without getting flamed. Next month I will cover finding sources and security issues. The second section will be an overview of a particular board and interviews with the monitors or operators. I think we will stick with monitored boards because the unmonitored boards have far too many games and flames. If you would like your board profiled here have a monitor contact me. Wax up those keyboards lets go board surfin'.

When I first discovered the Anabolic discussion message boards over a year ago, I didn't even have a home computer. I was using my internet access at the public library to purchase mail order steroids! So what if the feds trace my IP addy I thought, that'll lead them to me and about a thousand other people without a computer. To this day, I can't walk into the library without thinking of juice. In hindsight this was an advantage in another way as well, it forced me to make the most of my limited time on line. I could ill afford to ask a question that would be shot down in flames.

Here was my solution, I went out and bought all the books on steroids I could, so I had the basic facts straight first. Most of the questions that don't get answered are lazy ones. Stuff anyone could easily find out if they just looked for it. Also, make it a simple question, no one wants to look at some insanely complicated cycle and write a thesis on it. If you're doing those types of cycles you should be answering questions anyway. Be clear and take the time to spell things correctly, how many times have you seen a serious question get laughed at because of sloppy spelling or typing? I have seen plenty, some pretty hilarious flames too. Bottom line, if you want a serious answer, ask a serious question in a clear concise manner.

I also think it's a good idea to have a "home board" where you spend most of your time. Somewhere where you feel comfortable, develop a name for yourself (be honest) and you can get to know the cast of characters there. You'll also learn who knows what and who has what... get it? Developing friendships on a particular board can be your greatest asset if your character is attacked, as I have recently discovered. It is important to be honest and forthright because online no one can see you, stats are bullshit, reputation is everything. No one cares if you weigh 300 lbs shredded if your a rude obnoxious asshole. I visit many boards at times (there are so many now!) but I mainly stick to two now, I'm sure you've probably seen me around. Well I'm writing this article series for Jason Meuller, so this months profile will be Anabolic Extreme. Next month will be the new improved Anabolex.com.

Anabolic Extreme Interview With Jason Meuller

BW: Well the topic is anabolic discussion forums. You're the owner and operator of Anabolic Extreme, what do you see as the purpose of the Extreme Forum?

JM: Well I created that message board simply to provide an uncensored forum for people to discuss topics related to bodybuilding. Anabolic Extreme is a bit different from the other message boards in that there is an associated magazine with it, and also the fact that there are only two monitors on the site. I think one of problems that you see with some of the other message boards is that number one, the monitors exert a lot of control over the discussions, and number two, you have a lot of the monitors endorsing sources that aren't necessarily legitimate but they arrange a situation where they say, "Front me some gear and I'll allow you to post to the board, and endorse you as a source." That goes on all the time. It's something that doesn't happen on AE because I think ordering from a mail order source is insane and is not something I would ever do. So, I don't have any desire to endorse anybody in exchange for any kind of steroid compensation because I would never accept an order through the mail anyway.

BW: On many of the boards posts are approved quicker during certain hours. What hours is the Extreme Forum monitored and is monitor approval necessary or do posts go right up?

JM: Well, let's look at AE for example. We only have two monitors, myself and another individual who's on the board constantly. He's got a job where he works with computers so I know while he's at work he's constantly monitoring the board, and while he's at home he's constantly on from there as well. That's one of the reasons why I asked that individual to become a monitor, I could tell from his posting habits that he was online all the time. I could also tell by the way he wrote that he was a fairly intelligent guy, he wasn't flaming people unnecessarily, and he is constantly on the board. I'm on there all the time too, I'll check it probably every two hours throughout the day, up until late at night, I only sleep 4 or 5 hours a night anyway. That board is constantly monitored. I know that the other boards, the UG and Anabolex, are pretty much monitored around the clock, they have so many monitors. I think the UG has something like 8 and Anabolex has a similar number. They're all pretty much monitored all the time.

BW: Since we're talking about monitoring, what sort of posts are automatically deleted?

JM: What kind of posts are automatically deleted? Well, in the case of AE, anytime you have a post from a source that we don't know, we'll delete it and contact the source directly and ask them to provide references from people that are fairly well known by either myself of the other monitor. There is only so much we can do to confirm someone's legitimacy, but we try to do as much as possible without jeopardizing the integrity of the board. Like I said, I never ask sources to front me anything, and I don't ever ask sources to send me samples to prove that they're legit, but at the same time, I try and do verify that they are not scammers, doing as much as I possibly can without breaking the law. That doesn't mean if someone makes it to the board they are not a scammer, it just means they've made it through a few simple checks. There are several other things that get deleted. I'm not opposed to people flaming other people, but there's a point where it becomes counterproductive to the continuity of the discussion. When you have people flaming because they're immature or whatever, those things get deleted. Any kind of racism gets deleted. A lot of the boards have a lot of sex stuff on there, I delete that too. I have to read all the posts and I'm on that thing every two hours, so I don't necessarily want to get on the board, and every time I get on there, have to look at a bunch of idiotic pornography. Stuff like that on AE gets deleted. For the most part, anything else that is topical to bodybuilding does not. We've been lucky in that a lot of the boards have problems with miscreants like Java who was posting all over the UG. He tried to do that a couple times to AE and we were on top of it so quickly that all of his posts were deleted before they ever became a problem. I think he saw that and decided to concentrate his efforts on boards like the Underground and Anabolex which were not monitored as quickly. He was able to get his posts all over those things and ruin all of the threads. We've been fortunate in that we haven't had problems of that nature. I would imagine as traffic picks up and we get more users that we'll experience a problem like this at some point. One of the advantages of Cold Fusion Forums, which is the message board that use, is that you're able to quickly modify it in various ways to prevent problems like this from occurring. You'll notice some of the boards have gone to a format where messages have to be monitor approved before they appear. With Cold Fusion Forums it takes about two seconds to change the way it's ran from a format where messages appear immediately to the format where they have to be monitor approved. That's why all the boards use the same forum software, simply because that's the best one available.

BW: I know that at the Underground you don't have a choice about your handle, it automatically prints the handle that you signed in with and you can't change it. That goes a long way in preventing people from impostering well known vets. Can you change your handle on your posts at AE?

JM: Yes, you can. To be honest with you, there are times that I've posted to boards under different identities myself, and there are a variety of different reasons why someone might need to do this. The UG has decided that the drawbacks of allowing someone to do this outweigh the advantages, and I can certainly understand their position. Unfortunately, there are always going to be people that try and ruin the continuity of the boards, but that's one of the great things about Cold Fusion. It's a great forum board in that you can go in and modify the actual program and change the way the security system is set up, just as the UG has done. Cold Fusion is the best message board system out there simply because it is so versatile. However, it's biggest strengths can be exploited as weaknesses as well. Because the message system allows for simple HTML and Javascripts to be entered, you get idiots like this Java character that is able to manipulate the software to his advantage in order to screw up the system. There's only so much you can do via the software end, that's why you need monitors.

BW: There seems to be a disturbing trend of imposters or scammers adopting a well-known vets' handle such as warpig from the UG and warpig2000. As a monitor what do you look for to prevent this?

JM: 99% of the time, it's fairly obvious when someone is doing this, the whole purpose of doing this is to post or endorse something the real person wouldn't do anyway. After a while, you get to know the characters of the various regulars and can spot fake threads. This is not a very serious issue, at least on the Extreme Forum.

BW: Why does the "Phantom Monitor" choose to remain anonymous?

JM: I really don't know. I've discussed this with him in the past and he feels more comfortable this way. He's doing an unbelievable job, I'm just happy to have him on the board! It's freed up time for me to concentrate more on the webzine

BW: Is there any way someone like that could steal a monitor code and take control of the board?

JM: No, because the way Cold Fusion is set up, everyone is put into groups that have been assigned different system access. On AE for example, everyone is put into a group called simply, "Everyone". My monitor is in a group called "Monitors", and he has been upgraded to have the power to edit and delete threads. I am an administrator, and have total control over every function of the board, from how it works to how it looks. There's no way someone could ever take over the board unless they had my password. Technically I guess someone could find out my IP address, then hack into my computer and watch me type in my password.

BW: That would be a lot of work.

JM: That would be a lot of work and it would take someone who was very technically proficient who's bent on destroying the boards. Now there's people like that. There's a few individuals that I know of that are basically off their rocker, they are fat pieces of shit who sit at home on their computers and hate bodybuilders, probably because it's something they could never do themselves. I know of one guy in particular who is able to get bodybuilders or "gurus" to do interviews with him because he's able to hack information on these people and blackmail them by threatening to release it to the general public. He's done interviews with Dan Duchaine and several others and he does this by calling them up and saying, "Hey, I've got this, this, and this so you're going to cooperate with me or I'm going to release it to the public."

BW: That's certainly a way to inspire a good interview, blackmail!

JM: No kidding. You know what, bodybuilding is a great sport, but there are also a lot of sick fucks involved in it. Being involved in the level that I'm at, I hear a lot of the horror stories about bodybuilding, its got its gossip and ugly rumors just like any other sport.

BW: I guess that's a part of life.

JM: Sure. I can't comment on any sport because I'm not involved in any other sport like I am in bodybuilding. However, I'm sure if you reach the upper echelons of football or basketball, it's probably the same thing. I'm sure that you've got the same kind of stories about the sexual escapades of the top athletes, who's doing this, what drugs this person is on, and yadda, yadda, yadda.

BW: Well sure, we've all heard about Wilt Chamberlin and Magic Johnson.

JM: That's exactly right. I'm not privy to the gossip that takes place in other sports, a lot of the things I hear about bodybuilding is kind of shocking. I'm sure some of it's true and some of it's not, at the same time, you've got to be able to accept bodybuilding for what it is.

BW: Well, it certainly is interesting.

JM: Sure it is.

BW: On a more positive note, what kind of topics or questions would you like to see more of on the boards?

JM: You know, there are a few individuals, people like MMX2, people like yourself and Dr. Conan, that are really intelligent, they are able to put posts on the board that inspire a really good discourse and discussion on a variety of topics. Those are the kind of posts that I like. I don't particularly like, and I know nobody else does either, the kind of posts like, "I've got one bottle of T-200 and 30 tabs of d-ball, how should I cycle this and what kind of gains should I expect?"

BW: I bet you get thousands of those.

JM: Someone posting something like that is just going to get flamed, and deservedly so. We live in a society where people want instant gratification and instant knowledge. You get a lot of these young kids on the board who don't want to take the time to do a little research on their own. There are so many free resources available on the Internet where you can learn about bodybuilding that there is not really any need to be asking questions of that nature. If you do a little research, spend a little time on the computer, buy a couple of books and you'll have the same basic knowledge as someone who's been in the sport for a few years.

BW: That's the thing that amazes me. Just the general laziness of people posting, they are just begging to be flamed.

JM: Bodybuilding is not rocket science. If you look at the people who are successful in the sport, the professional athletes, most of them are particularly bright. Take Ronnie Coleman for example. As nice of a guy as he is, as great of a human being he is, Ronnie Coleman is without a doubt, one of the stupidest people I have ever talked to. I've met him on several different occasions, I know people who pay him to do guest appearances and they've been able to put me into intimate contact with him without the scores of people that are normally around. Speaking to this guy is like, "Are you for real? Are you really this stupid?" A lot of guys at the top of the sport are like this. Now, I don't believe that bodybuilders are stupider than the rest of society. I think if you look at the top athletes in any sport, whether it be football, basketball, whatever, it takes so much drive and determination to make it that these people are one-dimensional. They are solely focused on the task at hand, which is whatever athletic endeavor they are involved in. They don't really take the time to become educated because they are so focused on their sport. So, I don't think bodybuilders are stupider than the rest of the population, it just comes down to the fact that a lot of top athletes are just not smart people.

BW: It does take a high degree of obsession to become a pro bodybuilder.

JM: To be a pro bodybuilder, or to succeed in any professional sport for that matter, you do have to be somewhat obsessed. Bodybuilding may be one of the tougher sports to make it in. In a lot of sports, it comes down to genetic gifts and practice. In bodybuilding, you've got a situation where you have to go to the gym on a daily basis year round, you've got to eat 8 times a day for years at time, the drug use, and everything else that goes along with the sport. Let's face it, people look at bodybuilders as freaks and bodybuilding will always be an underground sport. At the same time, I love it, it's something I do for recreation, it's how I make my living, and hopefully someday I'll be competing professionally and I'll be making a living from it in that aspect as well. Imagine a situation where Ronnie Coleman was very articulate and very intelligent with an ability to write, and was not in a position where he had to whore himself out to some supplement company and repeat the party line. He's autonomous and self-supporting so he can tell the truth and cover the sport in an unbiased fashion. That would certainly be an amazing situation. I don't know if it would help promote the sport of bodybuilding at all, but it would certainly be refreshing to the current fan base to see someone whose reached that level be honest and cover the sport with an insiders perspective. There's never been anybody in that position.

BW: What about Frank Zane? He was pretty intellectual.

JM: Sure.

BW: I can't really think of a modern day bodybuilder that would be on that level.

JM: The only guy that comes to mind is Palumbo. He's a very smart guy who's honest and has an ability to write fairly well. To be honest with you, telling the truth in bodybuilding is almost an all or nothing proposition. You have to accept the fact that if you're honest, you become less marketable and attractive to the powers that be. You're almost in a situation where as an athlete, if you choose to be honest, you'd better be damn sure you can make a living off of being honest, because if you choose to go that route no supplement company is going to want to hire you, I doubt if Weider is going to offer you a lucrative contract. I doubt if David Palumbo were to turn pro tomorrow he would have whole lot of supplement companies knocking at his door. Unless of course he changed his act and starting espousing the, "supplements got me where I am today" party line. Then again, he could have a contract right now and I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. You get my point.

BW: 300 lbs with andro!

JM: Exactly.

BW: Well, we sort of ventured off the topic of message boards, but it's hard not to when you're discussing bodybuilding. What's on the horizon for Anabolic Extreme, not only the Extreme Forum but the webzine in general

JM: Well, I've discussed this before on the site, but the next step for AE is going to a print format. Sort of in the mold of Muscle Media 2000 when it first came out, kind of in the mold of Peak Training Journal for the few issues that were ever produced of that publication. I think you basically saw two publications, and I have to stress that I'm referring to Muscle Media 2000 when it first came out, now it's just some gay homo-erotic piece of shit fluff, that were totally impartial, they covered the sport in an unbiased fashion, they told the truth about what was going on, and they were magazines that you could look forward to reading on a monthly basis. I think Anabolic Extreme could be that again. I don't even know if it's possible today, given the current state of affairs with supplement companies exerting so much control over the content of the various publications, to have a hardcore bodybuilding magazine that isn't a supplement catalog be financially viable. I certainly would like to try and see if it is.

BW: I think with the base of people you have on the website, you could sell a lot of subscriptions. Maybe it is possible. I hope so.

JM: I hope so too. We'll see. I'm hoping that by later on this year we'll be able to have a magazine printed up and see how it sells. I've always told everyone that if I had to go in the hole to produce the first couple of issue, I'd do it because I really believe that the magazine would ultimately be financially successful. I think people are waiting for something like that to come out. Then again, maybe I'll just go broke doing it! (laughing)

BW: Well, I know I'm certainly looking forward to it!

JM: One of the unfortunate things about a webzine, and I've discussed this with Millard Baker over at Mesomorphosis on many different occasions, is that you're not able to recoup a lot of your expenditures if you want to hire the really well known, respected writers. I've been in contact with Bill Roberts, Pat Arnold, Will Brink, pretty much all the guys in the business that are good writers and know their shit, guys like Bryan Haycock. They've all seen Anabolic Extreme, they're all willing to write for the magazine which I think is great because these are all individuals whose work I really respect, but at the same time, I can't afford to pay Bill Roberts $1000 for an article on a monthly basis because I have no way of recouping that with a webzine. With a printed publication, I could. So, until AE reaches print, it's never going to be all that it could be because of the financial limitations you have on the web. That's the route I'm hoping to go in the future.

BW: Here's my last question. You've told me that Jason Meuller is a pseudonym and you've chosen to remain somewhat anonymous. Can you explain to the readers and board members why you've chosen to do this?

JM: This month I'll be printing a very basic bio on the site explaining some of my history and experiences in the sport. To sum things up, I have no other choice to do this because I'm a felon on probation for anabolic steroids. Anabolic Extreme covers every facet of bodybuilding, and for better or worse, one of the things that we have to discuss is steroid use. I don't advocate the use of steroids, but the fact that I even discuss their use could get me into hot water. Once you've fallen afoul of the legal system, you're civil rights are put on hold. For the time being, Freedom of Speech is something I can only dream about. Dan Duchaine was a perfect example of this. His continued defiance of the court's wishes made him a target and he spent a number of years in prison for very minor infractions. As I've stated on many different occasions, I now take anabolic steroids. I have a prescription from a doctor that allows me to do so. It took me several months for this to happen and I submitted blood work before I was given the medications. If I didn't have the ability to legally use steroids, I would remain forever natural. One of the things I want people to understand is that losing your freedom is probably the worst thing that can ever happen to you. There have been many situations, both publicly and privately, that I've attempted to dissuade someone from using steroids. Having been in trouble, I can appreciate the full ramifications of a criminal record much more so than all of these people that act like taking steroids is no big deal. Quite frankly, when I'm in the gym and I hear people openly discussing their steroid use or see people posting very openly on the net about illegal activities, it makes me cringe. I don't think steroids should be illegal, I find it ironic that anyone with money can have any kind of plastic surgery done with no questions asked, but it's impossible to get a doctor to work with you in order to improve your physique through the safe and sensible use of anabolics. However, for the time being, steroids are illegal for the purposes of physique enhancement and it's important that everyone respects that fact. I can't decide for a person whether or not steroid use is right for them, but I do know that there are a lot of people running around that are way too open and cavalier with their steroid use.

BW: Well, I really appreciate the interview and I thank you for your time.

JM: No problem at all, I enjoyed it myself.

Copyright 1999 Jason Meuller and Anabolic Extreme. This material may not be copied, reproduced, or transmitted without the express written permission of the copyright owners.

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