Low Carb Friends Forum is shutting down. Here's where to go for support instead. |
If you are used to calling the Low Carb Friends Forum your little safe spot away from home, you're going to have to find a new social outlet for keeping yourself accountable.
Management has decided to close down the site, so it won't be available past June 1st.
Needless to say, a large majority of the active posters over there are shocked and upset. Even more so than when management wiped out their entire ketogenic recipe archive and deleted all posts prior to 2008 a couple of years ago.
The site has been active for decades, so for a lot of folks, it feels like their low-carb family is breaking up.
The bad news is that Low Carb Friends owns the copyright to all of the posts there. Unless they are personally yours, you can't copy and re-post them anywhere else on the web.
This means that all of the recipe posts and pictures that Kevinpa put up over there before his death are going to be lost except for your own personal use.
Where is the Low-Carb Friends Family Going?
When a forum closes, there's no way to keep the group from splintering, and that's what's happening right now.
Many ketogenic dieters have migrated over to the Low Carber forum. But Low Carber has a very different feel and personality than Low Carb Friends did.
Many being displaced by Low Carb Friends shutting down are going to need a new home that is more flexible and inclusive than Low Carber offers, which is why none of the existing low-carb forums are suitable to keep all of the Low Carb Friends family together.
However, one of the members of Low Carb Friends created a new low-carb forum called LCNeighborhood. This site is planned to be less strict than Lowcarber and will hopefully serve to keep most of the low-carb family together in one place -- at least, for now.
It's my current understanding that all diet choices are welcome there, even more moderate plans like JUDD.
Currently, you are unable to browse the forum as a guest. You have to register with ProBoards global forums, and then secure a LCNeighborhood account to see the forum sections and posts.
You sign up by clicking on the register link at LCNeighborhood, which will then take you to the ProBoards sign-up page. After that, you can return to LCNeighborhood and select a user name.
Another forum that several people are joining is called Low Carb Site. This site is easy to join, provided you know the answer to their bot question. It took me a while to remember the exact term they were looking for.
Additional Forums You Might Like
If you're on the Atkins Diet, the Atkins Diet Bulletin Board might be a more suitable choice for you.
They have an Activity Stream that gives you links to all the threads with the latest posting, across all sections, listed with the latest post first, as well as their more traditional forum style sections.
For those with Pre-Diabetes or Diabetes, you'll want to check out the Diabetes Daily forum. This forum separates all of the different types of diabetes into subsections, and offers sections on daily living, pregnancy, complications, and much more.
There's also Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes forum that you can join for those with Type 1, but don't expect the doctor himself to be hanging around there. I've never seen him post anything, but his followers have tons of useful information that you'll find helpful -- even if you're not a Type 1.
Forums are Not Dead
Just because the Low Carb Friends forum is dissolving, that doesn't mean that forums are dead. Despite the popularity of Facebook groups, there are a huge group of ketogenic dieters who prefer the closeness of an online forum to Facebook.
The originator of Low Carb Friends died several years ago, and his sister (and maybe other family members) has been trying to keep the forum going, but they have now decided to let the project go.
They are planning on keeping the Netrition.com site for those who want an economical place to purchase low-carb products that are not available at your local grocery store.
Forums offer a nice way to keep in touch with fellow dieters, get that pat on the back when you need one, and lots of encouragement to keep on going when times are rough.
While I'm always available for a personal one-on-one conversation (my email address is on our about page), the support you get at forums can often make the difference between success and failure.
Instead of just one hug, you get several.
Plus, when you have a dieting problem, you can receive lots of advice and experiential knowledge from a wide assortment of members, instead of just me.
Many times, if you have a problem, or odd experience, someone else is experiencing or has experienced the exact same thing. It can be akin to a good, solid brainstorming session.
When I lost over 100 pounds in 2007 and 2008, I hung out at Low Carb Friends every single day, so I know how important the social aspects of forums can be to help keep you motivated and your mind focused on your goal.
While this blog can provide you with the information you need to make wiser choices, sometimes a close group of online friends is exactly what you need to make your low-carb diet more sustainable.
So sorry to hear...been looking for a home and this site looked so perfect....only to find you are going away. I hate I missed you. ..New to keto with so much to learn.
ReplyDeleteI joined a couple of the sites I referred to in this post but haven't had time to check them out yet.
DeleteI really do miss the site and all the wonderful creative cooks who passed along their recipes. Especially miss all of KevinPa's recipes. I really should have painstakingly cut and paste every danggone thing, lol. Alas, I did not. :(
ReplyDeleteI didn't do that either, and I highly regret that now.
DeleteI have been a member since 2002, and I am going to miss that site! So many wonderful recipes wiped out! I learned how to cook all over again on there, and I met so many wonderful people! Kevinpa's recipes were stellar! I wish they would have at least looked at turning it over to someone else! I am sad. I am on facebook, but I prefer the forum over my many facebook groups. I especially enjoyed being able to see the different approaches and learn from them as well. Sigh....
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to get into facebook groups. Not the same as a forum.
DeleteI was there through the Kimkins saga! It was more entertaining than anything on TV! LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe Kim kind saga was unreal and very entertaining. I’m so sorry to see low carb friends go. I did Atkins and lost weight quickly. I was thinking of doing it again but wanted to go on low carb friends :-(
DeleteBoy, that is an unbelievable loss! That database has a world of information on recipes, etc., that should be made available to the public. That information does not just belong to Netrition, IMHO. Think of the many hours dedicated to the community by people like KevinPA and others. Should their sacrifices of huge slices of their lives be wasted? To allow all of that to be destroyed would be unforgivable. If Netrition allows that to happen, I will never again buy another item there - ever! I, for one, intend to go there and politely request that the database be made available in some way, or offered for sale to someone who will.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that. I hung out on the recipes and cooking sections more than the general low-carb stuff. So sad to see it close.
DeleteI was on that board for years. I will really miss the support and help, not to mention the great reviews. It was my go to place for recipes. If I'd known it was going away,I'd have copied a bunch of them.
ReplyDeleteLow Carb Friends was my go-to board, too. Some of the more popular members are at Low Carb Neighborhood now, but it's still not the same.
DeleteI wish I had a list of some of the recipe creators from LCF. I used to be on that site constantly looking for recipes. I lost track of it for several years, only to find out that it was gone. So sad. I wonder if folks who wrote down recipes from the site, could start a recipe sharing forum?
DeleteAnyone who thinks JUDDD is "moderate" hasn't done JUDDD.... (At least not in its original sense of 500 calories every other day)
ReplyDeleteI was talking about carbohydrates. Many members doing JUDDD were not doing low carb.
Delete