Andrea Ayvazian
A reporter interviewing A.J. Muste, who during the Vietnam War stood in front of the White House night after night with a candle, one rainy night asked,”Mr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?” Muste replied, “Oh, I don’t do it to change the country, I do it so the country won’t change me.
As Many of you know this morning the NTBM site was yet again the victim of a hacker attack. Everything from the store to the forums had to be shut down in order to prevent access to any of it to the hackers who were trying to get in and cause problems. Personally I am not so concerned with the hacker attacks. I see it as just part of the industry now. After all it happens to just about every site nowadays.
It was the hackers who caused the shut down of my site though and because of that something else was brought to light for me. In the past when my forums or store has gone down I would get a few pm’s, a email or two and maybe a phone call from a friend. People closest to me would always contact me just to make sure everything was alright. I thank you if you are one of these persons who always cares enough to ask.
This morning however it was a totally different story. I walk up this afternoon and my wife explained to me what had happen. How the site was shut down by my site techs to protect the servers from another hacker attack. As always I fully expected just a few of the regular contacts from friends about the site being down.
However this time the site shut down was for more reaching then just a few contacts from friends. My support email was packed with hundreds of emails from people all over the internet. I have gotten pm’s on every site from elitefitness.com to bodybuildingdungeon.com and every site between. Much to my surprise Threads about the site being down popped up on many different sites and more then just my own forum of elite.
I was excited to see so many people come to the ntbm forums and site, but what touched me more then the numbers of people contacting me. Was the kind of Msg I was getting sent. Everything from members who thought they got banned and were begging for a second chance. To men and woman expressing how much the site means to them and they hope that it is not offline for ever.
A such man talked about how he was about to start a cycle soon and with out the support of his friends on my forum he was just going to scratch the whole thing. A few more expressed how they had been a member of the forums from day one, and would hate to think about having to go back to there old forum or start looking for a new home.
All of this had me thinking this morning. Many years ago I made some changes in my life. I made the choice to be a better person and to start giving back to all the people who had been giving to me for so long. To stop being a jerk to others and no matter how many times I got attacked to never attack back.
I have been doing all I can to change my life and the lives of others around me since then.
I have seen so many angry,hate filled,hurtful,spiteful,attacking, and down right uncaring people cluttering up the forums and sites we all try to call home. For a time I was one of them and prob one of the worst of them. It has been a great challenge to find a forum/site that dose not think that on some level these kinds of actions are needed. Every site I have been a part of I have tried to urge the leadership to change the atmosphere of the site to a more helpful caring one but yet even on sites that I have a lot of control over have met my pleads with resentment and the same old excuses.
People need to get thinker skin!
I am only keeping it real!
People need to know so I am doing them a favor by being a jerk and attack this other person
Its not real its only the internet
Its only for fun
With out some drama a site is boring
And on and on and on the excuses pile up.
Its been said over and over again that a site can not be drama free or 100% respectful. That a site would never become anything big with out some tension and drama. Still I have always pressed on and new in my heart that it can be done. That a forum and grow and become just as big as all the other sites like it yet all across the board in every forum a standard of respect can be met. That a whole forum centered around people helping people can become larger then life. It can grow and reach to the far ends of the internet.
Maybe Needtobuildmuscle.com is nothing big to others. Maybe its just a tiny site, a speckle in the eyes of the other giants in this industry. But for me and growing number of others its a lot bigger then we ever dreamed it could be, and its getting bigger everyday. I know more people then others would believe want what I want and its showing more now then ever.
More people are standing up and demanding better. More people are getting behind Myself and the NTBM team and helping to push this new Msg to the rest of the industry. Being kind all the time is not for pussies. Helping others and always having something positive to say is not for the weak. A site can grow with out the dram. A forum can become something big with out the flame wars and dram. It can and it is!!!!!!!
So to all my friends and supporters I want you to know we are doing it. We are making a difference. We who have stood with a candle in the rain for so long now are setting thing on fire. Keep spreading the word and keep up all the hard work you have been putting in. NTBM is growing and its spread its wings to almost every other fitness site on the net. Thank you
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