IRON ONLINE (IOL)
EMAIL GROUP FAQS

IOL History
We started the IronOnline group mid-June 1999, and were fortunate enough to get off to a good and active start with a couple hundred people within a week or two. Very early on we went thru our required HIT/high volume debate and our superset/singles tirades and I think we all saw how quickly we were moved to anger. Since we all enjoyed the camaraderie of our training-based email, we didn't want that to happen and taught ourselves to be more open minded about the theories and workouts of others. Through it all, and through the variety of messages that we enjoy here, we've come to know and like each other more than we anticipated which has also inspired and educated us in our workouts.

Today as I write this (June 2003) there are 1,350 participants in the IOL group. The vast majority are silent Stealth Bombers who write in with a question or comment from time to time, with perhaps 50 who write often.

Is IOL the same as Dave's newsletter?
Dave's weekly newsletter comes separately from the IOL group email. There are 9,000+ people getting Dave's mail each week, so the email addresses are kept apart. If you aren't receiving Dave's "Draper here..." email and would like to, click here to enter your email address.

How do I post?
When you reply to a message using your email program's reply function, your response will be sent directly to the group's mailstop. Your mail will be going out to all members of the list, not just the original message writer. The address for mailing to the IOL group is [email protected].

What can I post?
Pretty much any solid sharing of information, questions or comments loosely based on the fitness activities of bodybuilding, nutrition, weight lifting, powerlifting—at all levels—will fly. Fun comments and nostalgic memories seem to be extremely popular. Addresses of writers of personal attacks and foul language will be deleted without explanation; borderline writers will get a caution request asking you to tone it down next time.

How will the members know who I am?
You're welcome to just begin posting after you've read some of our messages in order to gain an idea of the nature of the group. The new members who type a brief introduction seem to receive a greater reception response, however.

What's off limits?
So far we haven't had many how-to steroid questions (which won't fly; there's enough of that out there already... you probably guessed this anyway). There are a few topics that have the potential of getting heated (pro/con andro debates, HIT vs high volume, low carb vs. low fat diets) which I expect will come and go through time.

What's "snipping"?
Some guidance in "snipping" is appropriate I think — especially after reviewing the digest. If you're responding to a previous post, here's an example of how to do it:

>>> Relevant portion of previous post goes here .>>>

Your response goes here.

... everything else gets deleted, especially the tag lines at the end as they will get added back automatically. This will really help make your message more readable—with 50+ messages daily, the easy-to-read ones get read, others often deleted.

What's the group's mail volume stance?
Mail volume for the IOL group is generally in the 75-message-per-day range. We generate a lot of mail without controls, so for the most part, single word "thanks" and "me too's" are considered complimentary but unnecessary. If you have something to add, by all means, please write. Otherwise, the more mail we get, the less time we have to write, so we're striving for a nice balance.

What's IOL Bash mean?
Click here for more information on our Bash 01 in Santa Cruz, California, Bash 02 in Las Vegas, or for our Bash 03 reports from St. Petersburg, Florida, or our plans for Bash 04 in New York City.

What's an email filter?
Highly recommended, that's what it is! Your email program comes with a filtering tool that sorts your mail by sender, subject line or other criteria that you define. We use email program filters to sort the IOL mail into a separate email inbox in order to read them when we have time; the filter instructions link is also at the end of each email message, as well as here if you click right here.

What's a digest version?
Twice a month you'll receive an automatic message with a list of email addresses that you can use to change your mail settings. Many of us use these to switch between individual email messages to a digest version which compiles all the messages into 25 posts in a single email. The digest comes out every 24 hours, or every 25 messages, whichever occurs first. This means that the digest readers will usually be a bit behind the email readers in their response times. It's a very convenient way to get the IOL mail, particularly if your time is limited and your email full, however it's a bit less personal. Some feel less involved with the group when using the digest version, others find the digest the only way to go.

How do I sign up to try this out?
Simple. Enter your email address in the box below and press the "join yahoogroups" box.

More later, surely, as thoughts arise. Meanwhile, hope to see you in the Group! Laree