Best Of

👋 If y'all haven't already noticed things look a bit different around here. The community team has been hard at work over the past several months working on a redesign of our Community. These changes not only update the look and feel of the community, but they improve the overall stability of our forums and allow us to offer new features that were not previously available. We know change can sometimes be difficult, but we are so excited about the new features and design that will enable us to provide the best community experience possible.

A big THANK YOU to the community members who participated in surveys and voted on some the new features we have released. Our community is nothing without its members.

So what's New?

Design and UI improvements:

• We’ve updated the look and feel of the community to reflect a more modern design for both mobile and web (i.e. new font, colors, style, etc.). *please note: We have sadly said goodbye to BBCode formatting. While we know many of you loved being able to customize your posts with colors it just was not a sustainable formatting option for the future of our forums.
• Our new Home page now includes Featured Categories, important Announcements, and Recent Discussions, as well as updates to the Sidebar.
• The Sidebar now includes a New Post button (to create a New Discussion, Poll, Question or Idea), a Quick Links Menu, a list of all Categories, and Popular Tags.
• The Quick Links Menu (in the sidebar on web/below the list of content on a page on mobile) has some of the links we think you will use most like My Bookmarks, My Groups, Community Guidelines and so on.

New and Updated Categories:

• Updated Category Names - We've update the names of a few categories to hopefully make it a bit more clear about what should be posted in a specific category. Please always take a look at the category description if you are unsure if you have chosen the correct category for your new discussion.
• New Categories - We've created a few new categories for members to participate in.
  • Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness - A place to discuss broader wellness themes like sleep, meditation, mindfulness and overall wellness.
  • Feature Suggestions and Ideas - Have a great idea? Share your feature suggestions and app improvement ideas here.
  • MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions - Having trouble with MyFitnessPal? Get help from other members here. *PLEASE NOTE: This is not a monitored tech support channel. For troubleshooting, please reach out to our Customer Happiness team at https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

New Features:

• Polls 📊: Polls adds a new Discussion option: “New Poll.” Members can poll the community for their opinion, or thoughts on a certain topic. i.e. What’s the greatest sitcom of all time : Friends, Cheers, Wings, HIMYM and then other community members can make their pick and comment on the poll.
• Tagging 🏷️: Tagging is a feature that allows members to add keywords to new discussions. Tags help label specific content for improved search-ability. New tags can only be created by staff members.
• Questions and Answers❓(Only Available in select Categories): Q&A adds a new Discussion option: “Ask a Question.” When a member asks a question, other community members are invited to answer that question. For example, have a question about how to use the app or about a technical issue you are having? Ask a Question in our MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions category.
• Ideas💡(Only Available in Feature Suggestions and Ideas Category): Ideas adds a new Discussion option : "New Idea". Members are able to create a new Feature Idea that can be upvoted by other members. Please check out our Feature Suggestions and Ideas Guidelines to learn about how to post a Feature Idea.

What's Still in Progress:

• User Cards: When you click on another users image next to their post it will open the user card much like it used to. This element is still a work in process. We have made some changes like adding clickable links for Discussions and Comments so you can easily find more content from that user. However, currently the View Profile link in the user card links back to the user's forum profile vs. their main MyFitnessPal profile like it used to. We are still working on this feature and hope to find a better solution to direct users to the MyFitnessPal profile page so users can easily add each other as friends and send each other messages. Please stay tuned for future updates. **Please note in the meantime, Web users can look up another user by using the Find Members link to search a username. App users can Navigate to the More menu in the App, then Friends or Messages, and then click the "+" icon to start a new friend request or private message using another user's username.
• Category Images and Banners: We are excited to bring unique imagery to each category in the future.

**While we hope everything will go smoothly, please be patient with us while we work out any kinks and address bugs that may arise with a big change like this. If you run into any technical issues with using the Community forums please write in to our support team so we can further assist.**

How do I report someone's post?

We are a community that relies on users to report content that is a guideline violation, so if you see something that violates a guideline, please report the post using the tools on the bottom left of each post. Select Flag, then Report. We have a team of staff and volunteer moderators who review reports and issue warnings if the posts violate a guideline. Our team does not review every post made on the site.

What happens when a post enters moderation?

Once a post enters moderation, a moderator or staff member will determine whether there is a violation based on the report that has been submitted. If we determine that the post deserves a warning, we then select the severity of the violation along with information about why the post is a warnable offense. The warning is selected based on the frequency and severity of prior warning history.

We attempt to work with users when it is clear that there are issues between that person and another user or group of users, rather than just handing out warnings. Please don't try to handle the situation yourself or reciprocate an attack; come to mods or staff if there is a problem.

What happens when a user abuses the flag feature?

Users who flag content that does not meet the criteria for a flag will be subject to warnings and points. This includes users who are flagging content due to past events gone sour, a dislike of the user, and those who are trying to incite drama, flame-bait or are flagging to attack another user in a thread due to disagreement.

• Warnings and Point System for Reported Posts:Notice = 0 Warning Points: This type of warning is used to let a member know they have violated a guideline and request they review our guidelines to avoid future warnings. This type of warning is appropriate for new members and for notifying members of posts removed that don’t warrant disciplinary action.
• Minor Warning = 2 Warning Points: This type of warning is to let a member know they have violated a guideline and have received 2 points. Minor warnings remain in place for 1 week.* This type of warning is appropriate for members who have received previous notifications to review our guidelines.
• Major Warning = 3 Warning Points: This type of warning is to let a member know they have significantly violated a guideline and have received 3 points. Examples include hate speech, blatant personal attacks, or posting images containing nudity; as well as repeated violations of the same guidelines. Major warnings remain in place for 2 weeks.*
• Banning = 5 Warning Points: A member who accumulates a total of 5 active points will be banned and lose posting privileges.

add info about 10 warnings in a calendar year here

*When a user’s warnings expire, their warning level will be reset to zero and the user will no longer have any active warning points. If we warn a user who has already been warned, then the points from the new warning will be added to their warning level and their warning’s expiry will be extended. When a user reaches certain warning levels they will have forum restrictions placed on their account.

*We feel strongly that posts or actions disregarding these guidelines jeopardize the supportive atmosphere of MyFitnessPal. Such posts may lead to consequences including warning, suspension of posting privileges, or, in extreme cases, removal of a user from the site. As a general practice, anyone who receives 10 warnings in a calendar year for any of the above reasons, will be permanently banned from all of the Main Forums and Groups.

Important Notes:

• If your posts are flagged for spam, abuse, or reported posts; the only points that count are warning points given by a staff or volunteer moderator after the actual content has been reviewed. If your content is reported and its not a problem, then the report won't have any impact on your account. If it is a problem, you will get a notification with additional details including which guideline was violated, whether its a notice, minor, or major warning, and whether the content was removed.
• We are testing out new approaches to flagged content and warning users. We have made these changes based on a great deal of member feedback, but are in a process of experimentation and encourage folks to both keep an open mind and let us know your thoughts. We are monitoring a bunch of discussion on forum feedback and in the next few weeks will re-introduce the forum survey to continue gathering feedback on a large scale about the forum experience.