Should Winston Make Me a Moderator?

[Winston]

Ok done. @Pixel--Dude you have now been knighted. lol. I'm tapping the sword on both your shoulders in accord with English tradition. lol

Do you see your username is green now?

Do you know the moderator control panel? Go to the forum home page and look on the top right corner. You will see an icon that looks like a little hammer. Click on that and you will see the moderator control panel. You should be able to access the moderation queue too. From there it should be self explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions.

In each post, you will see buttons in the top right corner that will let you warn users, look up their IPs, or edit their posts, or delete their posts. Do you see it?

Btw, if some nasty bots spam the moderation queue with hundreds of posts, then don't bother with it. Just PM me about it and I will prune them from the admin panel, which will delete all their posts. It will take too long for you to disapprove all of them when that happens. Some bots from Russia/Ukraine are able to do that somehow, send tons of spam posts at once in the moderation queue. I hate that.

Also when you look up a profile, you should see a feature that allows you administer them and a banning panel link in the profile too. The banning panel is where you add names to be banned, temporarily or permanently.

I don't remember exactly where everything is. You just have to play around with it and find it. It may take a little learning curve. Let me know if you get lost on anything.

Thanks,
Winston

[WilliamSmith]

I would say that you MZ would make an effective moderator. Firstly you've been here a long time - since 2014. You're frequently here and if there is a quarrel or conflict I don't think I've ever seen you mudsling or insult anyone. So I cast my vote to @Winston that @MarcosZeitola be elected a forum moderator. I think that makes a lot more sense.

Thanks for the recommendation dude but I'll pass. I have a tendency to disappear for long stretches of time, so it'd be kinda pointless. It wouldn't solve the problem. For instance people are displeased with Winston's lack of activity but if you look at how many posts he has in total, it's clear that he's been much more active over a longer stretch of time (fifteen years).

I'd probably go for Pixeldude. He's active. I think among the old-timers, @gsjackson and @Yohan are both a bit older, both level-headed, calm and fairly active. They'd make good moderators too and would no doubt be fair about things. If what you aim for his strictly seniority in combination with "the right temperament" they'd be my go-to guys.

I agree with you. Pixel Dude seems like a great choice to be moderator. He seems level headed, is very intellectual, very smart and bright, and he is young so he has more energy and enthusiasm than most of us here do. Plus he has good motives and is not seeking any kind of power trip, so it's unlikely he would develop a power trip like others have. He doesn't seem like a guy with an ego either, and has good wholesome intentions. I also get good vibes from him too.

So YEAH we will make a moderator if he still wants to be. I'm sure he will do great. I'll set it up and let you all know when it's done.

Sorry it took me a long time to get to this thread.

Oh, !@#$ yeah, it happened! Winston made @Pixel--dude a moderator, LOL.
Damn, this makes me happy.

@Winston you're the f-ing greatest, LOL, thank you for creating this forum. I was all into expatriation and chasing tail before finding your site via some article you wrote about "best countries to get laid" or something along those lines, but I swear this place is the greatest.

Did anyone ever play that early-2000ish game "Gothic," by the way? The "Colony" that was full of a big bunch of oddball inmates from all over the place thrown onto one strange somewhat barbaric prison island, yet largely allowed to do whatever they wanted there, was the basic setup. That's what this forum reminds me of, and I like it a lot.

[Voyager1]

Please note that Pixel Dude has only been made a moderator. Moderator is not the same level as Site Admin.

[Winston]

@Pixel--Dude
Have you played around with the moderation panel yet? Does it look easy and self explanatory? Did you click on the hammer icon in the top right corner of the forum from the main page?

[Voyager1]

In each post, you will see buttons in the top right corner that will let you warn users, look up their IPs, or edit their posts, or delete their posts. Do you see it?

@Winston I would be very uncomfortable with him knowing my ip address. That is why I use a VPN and encourage everyone here to do so.

After all we know very little to nothing about him and after only a few months he was made a moderator (only because jamesbond and fschmidt were not doing a proper job IMO).

Winston, do you know if moderators can read users private messages and know their real email address? Thanks.

[Voyager1]

@Winston can you open the poll again? I'd like to change my vote.

[Voyager1]

-

[Voyager1]

You flatter yourself too much. Why would I invest time and energy into you to that degree? Stop being so paranoid

That still doesn't answer the question whether you can read our private messages or not and know our email address.

I encourage everyone to go to their inbox and sent items and delete everything if privacy is important to you.

[Voyager1]

In each post, you will see buttons in the top right corner that will let you warn users, look up their IPs, or edit their posts, or delete their posts. Do you see it?

@Winston I would be very uncomfortable with him knowing my ip address. That is why I use a VPN and encourage everyone here to do so.

After all we know very little to nothing about him and after only a few months he was made a moderator (only because jamesbond and fschmidt were not doing a proper job IMO).

Winston, do you know if moderators can read users private messages and know their real email address? Thanks.

[Winston]

In each post, you will see buttons in the top right corner that will let you warn users, look up their IPs, or edit their posts, or delete their posts. Do you see it?

@Winston I would be very uncomfortable with him knowing my ip address. That is why I use a VPN and encourage everyone here to do so.

After all we know very little to nothing about him and after only a few months he was made a moderator (only because jamesbond and fschmidt were not doing a proper job IMO).

Winston, do you know if moderators can read users private messages and know their real email address? Thanks.

No they cannot read your private messages and neither can I. The forum software doesn't allow that. You can ask the developers at www.phpbb.com to confirm if you want. Moderators may see your email and IP but so what? They aren't doing anything bad to you and have nothing against you. The government can see your email and IP too. Don't be so paranoid.

He is not a stranger. I have spoken to him on the phone and on social media and I trust him and would vouch for him and vet him. He is like a kindred spirit too and on the same wavelength as me. So don't worry man.

[Voyager1]

No they cannot read your private messages and neither can I. The forum software doesn't allow that. You can ask the developers at www.phpbb.com to confirm if you want. Moderators may see your email and IP but so what? They aren't doing anything bad to you and have nothing against you. The government can see your email and IP too. Don't be so paranoid.

He is not a stranger. I have spoken to him on the phone and on social media and I trust him and would vouch for him and vet him. He is like a kindred spirit too and on the same wavelength as me. So don't worry man.

Winston, is there any reason moderators need to have all the users email addresses? Can you give me one valid reason? I can understand that admin needs to validate the email account but there's no valid reason why moderators need the users email addresses. Is there a setting that only admin can see the email?

You write "They aren't doing anything bad to you and have nothing against you" but how do you know that. PD is hostile to me on the forum and friends with Tsar. I am not comfortable with him having my email address. I never consented to that when I signed up. I feel you have betrayed myself and others on the forum by granting a relatively unknown access to private information.

How do we know this Pixel--Dude isn't really Tsar? Have you spoken to him by video or only by voice?

[Voyager1]

I give criticism where criticism is due. There is no valid reason why moderators need access to the emails. Only admin. If there's a simple setting that can be changed it should be changed.

What if a moderator comes along and they want to start their own competing Happier Abroad company? They have all the emails and they can contact all the members and invite them to join. You gotta think about these things @Winston.

[Voyager1]

Ha ha that's funny. A newbie telling a long time member to leave.

Why don't you get lost? This forum was much better without you.

[Winston]

@Voyager1

You sound paranoid. There is no basis to your complaint. ALL forums have admins and moderators who can see your email if they want to. It's nothing unusual. It's standard procedure in all forums. Why would anyone want to email you? Why do you think you are that special? Geez. Of course I don't pick random people to be moderators. I pick only those I trust and can vet for. Can you stop arguing please and only debate if you have a valid legitimate point? This discussion is a waste of time and has no basis. Please stop creating unnecessary arguments and friction for nothing.

[Voyager1]

@Winston here is some discussion on how administrators can set permissions so that moderators do not see users email addresses:

https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2145215

So you may need to look around in your control panel to check or uncheck the appropriate boxes.

Again, there is no valid reason for a moderator to have each user's personal email address. It's not as you say "standard procedure on all forums". It differs from forum to forum. Some allow mods to see user's email, some only the admin can see.