Steroid.com
JANUARY 3, 2008 A lack of steroid conversations is now apparent The dust is starting to settle on the largest steroid bust in United States history and now some very obvious trends are emerging. I can’t comment on all of them, but I can comment on one of them that I find most disturbing. That trend naturally has to do with the internet – which is both the primary source for steroid information as well as the primary source for steroid purchases. Although I typically think very poorly of most websites which feature forums where anabolic steroids are discussed (an obvious exception being steroid.com), I’m alarmed at the rate which they are closing up shop, or making their steroid information less accessible. Certainly many websites and their staff members have been targeted by Operation Raw Deal, and it’s a forgone conclusion that they were eventually going to be forced to shut down; in other cases sites have shut down as a safety or security measure. This is because most steroid related forums have at least one staff member who is actively using that site to solicit clientele to purchase steroids from them. In fact, I am unable to presently name a single steroid related site on the internet which has not either had a staff member busted for selling steroids, or who presently has one doing so. This is, of course, illegal; and sometimes (not always) done without the knowledge of the rest of the site’s staff or owner. The biggest bodybuilding website on the internet has recently hidden their steroid information in another forum, and made their steroid pages difficult to access without prior knowledge that they actually exist. I won’t lament this fact too much (mostly because the steroid information on that site is unimpressive – and that’s a generous assessment) other than to comment that bodybuilding as the entity it is known today would not exist at all without anabolic steroids. In fact, the record books of most sports would not exist in their present form without anabolic steroids. And now, unfortunately, information on how to properly use anabolic steroids is in short supply. In contrast, demand for that type of information, is at a premium. The major fallout of Operation Raw Deal is the overall reduction of reliable steroid information on the internet. Frankly, people are scared to talk about steroids, and that’s not a good thing. Knowledge is never bad, and adding to the collective wealth of information isn’t either. I frequently peruse the internet for a couple of hours each day, looking for trends in people’s experience with anabolic steroids, anecdotes, and general trends about them. This allows me to have a richer understanding of the practical use of the drugs. As a reference point, I typically use steroid.com for this type of information – consider the fact that the largest steroid user survey ever conducted and published had under 2,000 participants, and steroid.com averages about 2x that many people on the site at any given time of day. So from my point of view, Operation Raw Deal had one very detrimental effect, namely the reduction of knowledge and personal experience available on the internet regarding anabolic steroids. In short, people are scared to make use of their First Amendment rights. That Amendment, if I may provide a refresher course, happens to protect your right to discuss anabolic steroids. In fact, it’s the Amendment my whole career is based on. So please…if you’re not a member of steroid.com already, and involved in the dialogue on the forums, join up and start sharing your experiences. Other sites around the internet are going under, closing up shop, and hiding… Steroid.com isn’t.