Hello Everyone! It is your mod team here, and we’d like to take a minute of your time to discuss a few things. We are looking to make some quality-of-life changes and improvements in the sub, especially as the New Year is right around the corner (along with its influx of new users).
First, you may have noticed that the Loseit Challenge has been unstickied. It has been replaced with the daily Q&A thread, which is now stickied to the top of the subreddit. We are trialling this throughout the month of December. This post, describing the changes (and asking for your feedback) will replace the second stickied post, the "Daily Directory." Reddit's layout rules only allow us to have two posts stickied at a time.
Second, we have noticed an increase in a few behaviors we would like to address – the first being an increased number of people looking to validate disordered eating habits, and secondly an increased number of people calling out perceived disordered habits.
To be unequivocally clear: loseit is not a proED space. This can’t be said with enough emphasis. It never has been, and it never will be. We understand that there are many types of eating disorders, certainly not just restrictive in nature. We understand that people can need to lose weight even when dealing with a history of disordered behavior. The presence of an eating disorder diagnosis does not disqualify you from being a member of this community. However, we must recognize that certain environments are not heathy for some individuals when in certain stages of their disorder.
If you are here to get validation for over restrictive habits - prolonged fasting, water fasting, or calorie goals consistently below medical guidelines – we can’t allow this community to have a part in furthering your disorder. As our guidelines state we support healthy and sustainable weight loss. If your situation does not meet this criteria, we reserve the right to issue bans. This is not limited to over-restrictive behavior; inappropriate posts will be met with bans (at the mod's discretion).
In addition, we have seen an increased number of people calling out others for having disordered behaviors. We would ask the following – please report issues that violate our policies, and that includes unsafe advice or anything that would be unsafe/unhealthy behavior. For example, if you see someone who is already underweight saying they are going to starve themselves to be thinner, please report it. Don’t comment on the post about ‘how can the mods allow this stuff’. Don’t diagnose the OP. Don’t take the post to another sub and talk about how disordered the behavior is.
The truth is that we can’t read every single post and comment, but we do review and act on every single report. Commenting about how something shouldn’t be allowed and then not reporting it is only perpetuating the thing you are claiming to take issue with. Report it. Let us handle it. That doesn’t mean you can’t comment about your concern. Different perspectives are an important part of learning, and we encourage all perspectives so long as they are constructive and on topic. Just remember that concern for OP is not diagnosing them, nor is it about how the mods are not doing their job. Concern is demonstrated by kindly, and without condemnation, explaining to OP in what issues they should be considering and why. If you have an issue with the way we as mods are handling something you can always send us a modmail to discuss it.
We would also respectfully like to ask that those members with a history of disordered eating, particularly restrictive eating consider that there is a natural overlap in habits of people losing weight in a healthy and sustainable manner, and those with active eating disorders. Our ask is not to make anyone with a history of an ED feel like their perspective isn’t welcomed or doesn’t matter – it absolutely does and is. But when giving advice please first consider if you have a particularly strong bias that might lead you to believe there is no way to safely manage a specific behavior or habit. Please understand that we realize behaviors when taken to an extreme are not healthy. We are asking that people also realize many of those same behaviors when practiced with moderation can be and are done safely. I will also reiterate here that we do not condone and will not normalize the idea that excessive restriction (fasting, water fasting, or unsupervised VLCD) are safe or healthy.
Now on to sub related items:
We want to encourage the use of the Daily Threads – like the Daily Q&A and NSV/SV threads. The only way we are going to be successful is if people head over there and help those people who need a quick answer, or a little bit of encouragement. We all need a little help from time to time, no matter how long we’ve been here. So, ask some questions, and get some answers. Help each other out. Make this a community, not just a place to scream into the internet void about breaking down and eating the cookie. Please upvote the Daily NSV/SV thread, as it will make the thread more visible.
Repetitive posts clog up the subreddit, and make it unreadable. Additionally, we have noticed that some of our weekly re-occurring posts (Tantrum Tuesday, Free-Talk Friday) are not being used at all. Therefore, we want to trial having "community captains" to volunteer to lead a weekly thread, and help build community back up. Therefore, one of the things we are looking for is active members of the community to commit to posting a dedicated thread for other users to use/interact with.
Our ideas for daily re-occuring threads for Community Captains to post (based on what gets used) are as follows (NB: Bold denotes a 'community captain' already has responsibility for a given thread):
Maintainance Monday
Track With Me Tuesday (to find accountability buddies/connect with people on other platforms)
Weigh-In Wednesday
Century Club Thursday (for people who have lost, or need to lose 100 pounds or more)
Fitness Fridays
If you are interested in becoming a Community Captain, or have a great idea for a weekly thread idea, applications will open in 2 weeks (please check this space).
We recognize that our mobile design is a more than a bit weak. We are actively working on redesigning it and just ask for your patience while we do. We have a larger mobile audience than ever and understand fully how frustrating it can be to current navigate the sidebar or locate various threads. One of our biggest issues is our "daily directory" post - we have temporarily removed it this month (to make room for this post), but we know it's frustrating to see so much information be completely non-functional on mobile apps. We are working on it. We promise! But, we could always use help!
To that end, we are accepting applications for new moderators. While not required, if you have some design experience and want to flex those UI muscles this would be a great place to do it! The design is CSS based and Automod is YAML. If it sounds like fun to make some backend improvements to this place for the hourly wage of nothing but supporting the community, you love we’ve got the job for you! A few things to note upfront – you need to:
- Currently be an active member of the community.
- Be ready to be on the receiving end of verbal abuse regularly. If you are especially sensitive to being called a ‘fat loser’ or anything similar (and much worse), this is not the job for you.
- Not care about karma. If you do, this is not the role for you. Your mod comments will get downvoted, no matter if you are right or how well-intentioned you are.
- Be willing to answer the same questions in modmail over, and over, and over again. It gets repetitive, but it needs to be done.
- Moderate our sister sub r/progresspics, which deals with more than just weight loss. It includes all forms of progress by a human including by not limited to gender transitions, cancer recovery, skin improvements and much more. If you are not comfortable supporting all forms of progress, please do not apply.
If you are interested in applying, please note that applications will open in 2 weeks (please check this space for a link to the application).
Thank you to everyone for making r/loseit a welcoming, supportive, and inspiring place. We hope to keep improving and help people achieve their goals in a healthy and sustainable way.
Yours Truly,
The r/loseit Moderators
