1000 Members!!
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Last nite we got our 1000th member on FitConnect, which is a great milestone for us. I am excited at how the site has grown, but more importantly grateful for the type of people who have joined and made FitConnect what it is today.
In the next few months (probably around the new year) FitConnect will get a face-lift with a new design and the addition of the exercises/tracking section -- yeah I know, I talked about this section awhile ago, but delays happen :)...
Anyways, I wanted to personally thank a few people on the site for their consistant posting of quality content and interesting information.
Ray
Ray recently joined FitConnect and has been climbing the ladder in the rankings. His blog posts and tips have helped many people on the site. View his blog here and his profile here.
Ozzie Ocean
Ozzie is the #1 member on FitConnect. He's been blogging and adding tips like a mad man! And we love it. We're glad you finally passed Ryan on the rankings. Keep up the good work man. View his blog here and his profile here.
runningbear
runningbear is one of top ranked members of FitConnect. She has been a wealth of information and support for everyone on the site. She is especially welcoming to new members. View her blog here and her profile here.
OldeButGoode
OldeButGoode has been on FitConnect for awhile now and has reached the top ranks. His blog has been very informative and we love the addition of him to the site. View his blog here and his profile here.
LadyLisa
Lisa was one of the first members of FitConnect. She has been very active in her blogging and the groups she created. Check out her blog here and her profile here.
kettlebell27
kettlebell27 has provided tons of information on kettlebell trainin... read entire entry
by
tdotross3
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on 9/3/2008
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12.3
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Fitness Community Updates: Blog Editor, Google Ping, Personal Trainer Listing, and more
help, updates, rss, tags
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We’ve added more updates in the past few weeks, here’s a heads up on what they are.
1. Blog HTML Editor - You can edit your blogs to bold and italicize words, create text hyperlinks, and insert additional images.
2. Automatic Google Ping – Now when you submit your blog, we automatically ping google to let the crawler know you’ve made a post.
3. Tag FitConnect Content – Our newest feature allows you to tag relative content to your blogs, fitclips, and groups. For example, if you create a several low carb recipes and then write a blog about low carb diets, you can tag the recipes to your blog. Now readers will see more of your content.
4. Online / Offline Notification – At the top right corner of everyone’s profile is an icon letting you know whether the user is online or not. If it is blue, the user is online – if it is grey, the user is offline.
5. Browse Online Members - Find out who's online at the moment by sorting our people browse feature.
6. Printable Recipes – Now you can print out your favorite healthy recipes on a printer friendly formatted page.
7. RSS Feed for Groups – Subscribe to your Groups to has an RSS feed of newly created fitness groups.
8. Personal Trainer Listing for Gyms – Fitness Center Administrators may now list personal trainers and other staff members that work at their gym. A great way for members to get to know their staff and become more involved in their gym’s community.
by
ryan
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on 5/19/2008
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18
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FC Updates Mar 21
fitclips, updates
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Updates to the site since feb 27...
FitClips
- This is our newest addition to the site. It gives any member the ability to add videos from YouTube, MySpace Video, Google Video, and Yahoo Video to the site. You can browse videos by category, submit a video or search for videos that members have posted.
- You can comment on and save to your profile like the other sections of the site.
Profile
- Shifted the Add to Fitsters, Message, Sync, and Its Ok to Brag buttons down above the stats section to make room for new content (fitclips, exercises, routines) links
- Added 5 most recent blog entries
- Added FitClips block
Account
- Added profile layout options for Blogs and FitClips
- Added email notification options for FitClip comments
- Added personal sync options for Exercise Comments/Saves/Ratings (exercises section coming soon) and for FitClip Comment/Saves
Other
- Updated MySyncs with FitClips
- Updated MyPersonalSyncs with FitClips
- Blogs/Recipes/Groups/Tips titles can contain any character now -- the URL strips out any non letter character
What's Next
- Basic HTML for blogs
- Exercises, routines, tracking sections
- Diets
- Tagging FC content to to other FC content
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tdotross3
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on 3/21/2008
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11.8
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FitConnect featured as a Killer Startup!
media attention
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Today, FitConnect was featured on killerstartups.com, a site that reviews new web companies that they feel have potential to make it big. What did they think about our site? "If you are interested in getting fit, FitConnect.com is a great community to join. FitConnect.com caters to people in any type of shape, not just body builders or people that live at the gym" - Killerstartups.com
They went on to mention, "FitConnect.com has fitness advice for everyone and it is a great way to stay motivated about taking care of your body. You can join a fitness center by searching for one on the site and you can make friends that might even be able to train with you. Join a social community that will help you be as fit as you can be, join FitConnect.com."
Always nice to get some media attention. You can view the full article here
Be sure to vote for us!
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ryan
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on 3/4/2008
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22.6
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FC Updates Feb 27
updates
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Updates to the site since feb 13...
General
1. Pictures, comments, stats, fitsters are now viewable to nonmembers. Additional privacy settings were added to My Account.
2. Additional privacy settings were added for "More Info", "Region", "Fitsters", and "Chalkboard" of your profile.
3. Comment responding has been adding to all commenting throughout the site, including blogs, recipes, tips, etc.
4. Fitness Activities on your profile page are now checking them if you've selected them.
5. Profile views count is now increased even if the person viewing your profile is not a member.
Blogs
1. RSS Syndication Feed has been added to the blogs browse page and each users blog page.
2. On each users blog page, their blog picture is now shown in the upper right above the calendar.
3. You can now upload a larger image for your blog entries. They are now displayed with the text flowing around it.
4. Added "Create New Entry" to blogs home and blogs browse pages
5. You can sort blogs alphabetically on blogs browse page.
6. Tags are combined regardless of case, so "run" and "Run" are now grouped together.
Recipes
1. Top Rated and Top Ranked on recipes home were moved to the left side of the page.
2. Recipe Rated was added as a personal sync option.
3. Added new category images.
4. RSS Syndication Feed has been added to the recipes browse page and each users recipes page.
Tips
1. Added new category images.
2. RSS Syndication Feed has been added to the tips browse page and each users tips page.
Groups
1. Added new category images.
Supplements
1. Fixed the bug where similar supplements on view supplement were showing the same supplement as the one on the page.
2. Nutrition Facts/Ingredients are now shown on supplement pages (for the ones we've added so far... the rest will be added asap).
read entire entry
by
tdotross3
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on 2/27/2008
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36.1
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FC Updates Feb 13
updates
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Updates/changes on the site since the 1st of Feb...
General:
- Fixed the bug on browse people when you select a region to filter by and the server would hang
- On browse people, you can choose to see only members with a profile picture
- When adding a recipe, tip, group, or blog, you can use ! and ? in the title now. Max length of titles has also been increased.
Recipes:
- When creating/editing a recipe, it now lists previous tags you have used.
- Added "Nutrition Facts" to recipes.
- Score % is now listed on the recipes when browsing or looking at the rankings.
- You can now sync to someones recipes on the view recipe page.
- You can now flag a recipe as inappropriate.
- Recipes are now viewable to nonmembers.
Tips:
- The length of the featured tip on tips home was shortened b/c some of the tips were really long
- Line breaks are displayed in the featured tip on the tips home
- Font size for view tip is smaller (didn't anticipate such large tips)
- Page size is now 10 for tips due to average length of tips (page will load faster, etc)
- When creating/editing a tip, it now lists previous tags you have used.
- You can now flag a tip as inappropriate.
- Tips are now viewable to nonmembers.
- You can add an optional picture to your tips.
- You can now sync to someones tips on the view tip page.
Blogs:
- You can sort a members blog.
- When creating/editing a blog entry, it now lists previous tags you have used.
- Increased max blog length
Commenting:
- On user profiles, you can respond to a comment. An option, in My Account, under Email Notifications, for "Comment Responses", has been added. Also, in My Account, under Personal Syncs, "Comment Responses" has been added. So, if you have the email notification enabled, and someone posts a response to one of your comments on any u... read entire entry
by
tdotross3
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on 2/13/2008
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11.6
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FC Updates Feb 1st
updates
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Hey everyone. Just wanted to give an update on some of the changes that have occurred on the site in the past week. Alot of them are small, and you might not notice, but regardless, here they are.
1. Increased max length for tips and blogs
2. Groups are now viewable by nonmembers
3. Supplements section
4. Changed some of the introductory text on the homepage
5. You can now flag inappropriate blog posts
6. You can use commas in your blog post titles, recipe titles, group titles, and tip titles
7. Fixed bug on blog browse where tags would navigate to the search page, instead of filtering the users blogs for the selected tag
8. You can now flag inappropriate groups
9. Blogs are now visible to nonmembers
10. Added privacy settings for blogs under My Account
11. When you join FitConnect, and have not set your privacy settings yet, your birthday and email address are defaulted to private to ensure your information is kept private.
12. Added sync button to view group pages
13. Added discussion as a new category for groups
14. Fixed bug in browse tips where it wasn't displaying any line breaks
15. Added "Quick Links" to MyHome for easy access to creating recipes, tips, groups, and blogs
16. Added a small description to "Fitness Center Pet Peeves" in profile... apparently some people are not familiar with that phrase
17. Fixed the problem with the user rankings page giving errors
18. Added popular supplements to home page
19. Home page now shows top 10 members
20. Featured tips on home page are now only shown up to a certain length. Some of the tips were really long and took up too much of the page.
Got some exciting stuff coming next week...
by
tdotross3
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on 2/1/2008
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11.2
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It's ok to Brag
brags
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One of the primary themes of our site is that it's ok to brag. No... Our goal is not to have everyone on our site become cocky and obnoxious, but instead we want to create an environment where people can be proud of their weight loss / muscle gaining accomplishments. We created the Brag feature as a tool for motivation and encouragement, and hope it will support our positive atmosphere.
How do you send a brag?
You can tell someone "it's ok to brag" about their Profile, Pictures, and Blog, by clicking the button that's located at the top of the respective page that says, "It's ok to brag!"
Who Deserves a brag?
1. Anyone who you notice is dedicated toward achieving their goal
2. A friend (fitster) who needs some encouragement
3. Anyone that you believe deserves bragging rights for their accomplishments
Why send a brag?
By sending a brag, you're making the other person feel better about themselves. Many people struggle while trying to get in shape and every little bit of encouragement helps. It's also a good way to meet people.
by
ryan
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on 1/29/2008
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34.8
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Privacy Settings Added
privacy, updates, help
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Since we are now allowing non-members to view member profiles, we have incorporated new privacy settings which you can edit under, 'My Account' on your left nav bar. Now you will be able to select from several privacy settings, or even customize your own viewable content. Things such as height, weight, age, name, phone, email, and more can be made viewable to only you, only your fitsters, only FitConnect members, and you can even regulate which content is viewable to same / opposite sex.
To change your settings, go to 'My Account' and then select the privacy tab. There, you can select from our 3 standard settings:
Public: Entire profile viewable to all internet users, including non-FitConnect members
Semi-Private: Only FitConnect members can see your profile
Private: No one can see your profile except for you
And we also have a 'Custom' setting, where you can modify who sees particular content on your profile.
Here's an Example: Jane, wants to post her weight in order to track her progress, but she only wants her female friends to be able to view it because she doesn't want strangers or her guy friends to know her weight. She can choose custom setting, and make weight viewable to only fitsters of the same sex.
by
tdotross3
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on 1/18/2008
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9.2
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FitConnect Points and Ranking System
points, ranking, help
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On the top right of every user's profile, you will notice a "Stats Section", which includes your FitConnect Point Total and corresponding User Rank.
We have setup a hidden point system that gives users points each time they do something on the site. Points vary based on the activity and how well your posted content is reviewed by others.
Posting quality tips, recipes, blogs, etc., can drastically improve your ranking as users save, review, and sync to your posted content. A blog entry that becomes popular, or a tip or recipe that receives positive reviews will accumulate more points than posting many, less popular items.
Keep in mind that you don't have to be a fitness expert to improve your ranking. Points are also awarded for things such as acquiring friends, rating tips and recipes, posting comments, sending/receiving brags, creating groups, and basically anything else that you do on FitConnect. Example: Members are awarded 15 points when they join their local fitness center's FitCommunity.
Points and Ranking are updated at 9:00 PM, EST.
by
ryan
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on 1/16/2008
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54.3
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Welcome to FitConnect
help
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Welcome to FitConnect, an online social medium with a core focus on health & fitness. We started this site in order to provide a one-stop answer to all of your fitness needs, including the ability to share your own knowledge and advice. People with varying interest levels in fitness can benefit from using our site. While a personal trainer may want to build credibility and exposure by posting various tips, recipes, blog entries, and more, beginners may choose to browse this information and submit their feedback. Some will simply use our site to connect with their local fitness center, or perhaps join a different community that seems more appealing. In order to make the best of your FitConnect experience, we recommend you add your friends to your network.
Currently, we are in beta mode, which means that our site is a work in progress. In the near future we will be adding many features in order to enhance your FitConnect experience. If you'd like to learn more about FitConnect, click here. If you have any feedback, ideas, or find a bug in the site, please let us know.
by
ryan
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on 1/14/2008
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15.7
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Global Mode vs Sync Mode
sync, global, help
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When browsing FitConnect, you will have the choice of using Global Mode or Sync Mode. By default, you are in Global Mode, but you can switch back and forth on any of the section home pages. You can also change your default mode in your account settings.
Global Mode: This mode will show you content (i.e. tips, recipes, blogs) from ALL FitConnect members
Sync Mode: This mode will only show you content (ie: tips, recipes, blogs, etc) from users you have "Synced" to.
A "Sync" is similar to a subscription, allowing you to receive updates on another user's Blogs, Pictures, Recipes, Tips, and Groups. When you add some as a "Fitster" (friend), you are, by default, automatically synced to that user. This is also something you can change in your account settings. The best thing about Syncs is that it's anonymous, so you can sync to someone's content and they won't even know.
To sum it all up, Sync mode allows you to filter out all the content on FitConnect that you don't feel like seeing.
Please post any questions, comments, ideas about Sync mode below.
by
ryan
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on 1/14/2008
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20.4
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What are 'Syncs'
sync, personal syncs, help
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One of the unique features of FitConnect are "syncs". A sync is sort of like a notification. Syncs can be a picture upload, a new recipe added, a tip submitted, and more. They provide you a way of seeing the new content throughout the site quickly. When you add a new fitster (friend), you are, by default synced to that user. You can change this setting in your "My Account" page.
When you click the "My Syncs" page, you can use the filters to show you notifications for anyone you are synced to. You can also sync to members who are not your friend. For example, I like Joe Smith's recipes, but I don't really wanna be his friend. I can click the sync icon on his profile and sync to his recipes. Syncs give you a lot of freedom of controlling what type of content you see on the site. Syncs are also anonymous -- members won't know that you are synced to them.
Personal Syncs are notifications related to your content on the site. There are options for what type of notifications you will see in your "My Account" page as well. There is a link on your "My Syncs" page for "My Personal Syncs". For example, I like to know when people post a comment on my chalkboard, but I don't really care if someone joins my fitness center. I can select what to show by using the filters or by setting my default values in my account page.
Any questions, comments concerns related to syncs -- please post a comment below. Back to programming :\
by
tdotross3
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on 1/14/2008
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31.3
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