Elite has a niche. They are one of the oldest steroid boards on the net. Their archives are definitely a MUST READ for people interested in real results, real research, and innovative experiments. This was back before internet boards decided to be PC and protect a few fragile egos from their own insecurities. It was like the Wild West out there. While in today's steroid fitness board market, all the info is pretty much the same and regurgitated, the old days back there were something else when people were just beginning to try new things like fore runner to the PGCL peptide out today. When paperbolics first came about and everyone was waiting to see actual feedback on whether or not they actually worked or were a complete scam. (This was before the days when you could mail off a sample and $75 to RSCL to have it lab tested and the results mailed to you). When people were experimenting with tren delivery methods of oral comsumption or crushing and snorting the pellets. Back when DNP was first being brought back into the spotlight, I can remember a board full of people sitting around most of the night or waking up early to see if the 3 guys that decided to make the leap and try it would be alive the next morning.
You basically pay for the search engine feature. And enhanced posting ability. That's about it. But nowday's there are no new compounds being experimented with, no new designer products on the market, and all the old research - whether it turned out good or bad - is available on other boards for free.
And really you don't even have to join to search the old archives. Browsing the google cache is a bit more time consuming due to the indirect search nature, but it accomplishes the exact same thing.
And nearly every board out there is going to shill for their sponsors. EF, AF, sology, Promuscle, MD, etc.. that is just the nature of the beast when running a business like this. And that is what it is today. A business. The days of the boards that started off as simply a casual hobby and something residing on a person's 4 year old out dated server are gone. Paul made everyone sit up and take notice about it with the success he had marketing his andro popper product way back then. And can you blame him? If the money is there and available, why not take it? He did very well for himself. Obviously. Do you think he sits on Elite all day? No, he has a core staff to run the site and perform the IT, Administrative, Financial duties, and he then selects the mods that the members vote for to run the boards so it keeps his paid staff free from having to do it. Though some of the mods are paid staff as well. A lot of the bodybuilding businesses existing today with their "cutting edge" products pretty much have Elite to thank for their start. While they might not have directly researched the archives or such, many of the products out today are a result from someone at Elite attempting it first, transdermal delivery products, r-ALA, creatine EE, even the ancillary business have to thank the dudes on elite that researched and tried out many of the ancillaries first that they are selling. A lot of new things entered the market from the guys behind AF although they did all the research, debate, trials, etc.. on Elite first. I am surprised that Ron hasn't installed an aggressive sponsorship system here or an online supplement store. He certainly has the web traffic for it.
In short, if you are new to the world of bodybuilding fitness boards, steroids, supplements, training, etc.. the paying money at Elite really makes no sense. I wouldn't advise anyone to do that. That is just a complete and total waste. In the past, the steroid board, the training board, diet board and the women's training board were the best on the net. Now, not so much anymore. The steroid board there is deeper and has more info than the one here. But I come here for contest results, the humor of the G&O and to bullshit on the political forum. AF has the best women's training board. But only because the women that make that board what it is left Elite to go there. Bodybuilding.com has a better supp board - from a user input stand point, EFs sucks because it is usually going to benefit whatever current sponsor is being promoted. TSC has a better source related board. EF's and other boards home chemistry forum sucks ass and there are 1 or 2 others out there that put it to shame. So basically not a single board is going to be better in all aspects than any other out there. You just find which board is the best that is relative to what you are searching for. Training, AAS, women's issues, supps, etc... whatever. Try each one and see what is the best fit for you.
Also, another tidbit here is that the truth of the matter is that only a very very small percentage of the people that are Plat members or COTB members on Elite actually paid for that.
