So what, in your opinion, SHOULD be happening here?
Keep in mind that while you may well love The Straight Dope (and thank you for your participation and affection) this is about a corporation running a business.
TubaDiva, thank you for the clear description of the history and current circumstances.
Do you mean the Creative Loafing that mismanaged themselves into having the assets taken away from them by their creditors? Or are you referring to some other Creative Loafing?
Board is maintained. It still works, doesn’t it? Maybe not to your liking but in the garage of websites TSD has always been more of a Chevy than a Ferrari. 
The upgrade situation … well, that’s another ball of wax. Again, return on investment: Is the cost of an upgrade worthwhile in a business sense? Keep in mind it’s not just the price of the software – that is often trivial – but the time and resources used by the admin who does the work, which can be more of an expense than you might think. You work in the business, right? So you know what I’m talking about.
Naw, it was a joke in response to my other joke in this thread, no insinuations here.
Oh I get it, all of what your saying. Let’s just call it different philosophies (on their end) in management styles then. 
It’s really difficult for me to say. But at face value, to learn that Jerry is being over-allocated due to whatever extenuating circumstances at STM, at the cost of the efficiency of running this board and the allure to its membership is disheartening.
That said, I thing true Admin powers need to be given back to those that are here day-to-day.
The difference is any backyard mechanic can fix a Chevy. You don’t need to book an appointment with the busy mechanic at the fancy import repair shop.
He has a point…
The person who owns the car decides who repairs it. 
Thank you for the response, and so we come back to one of my original questions.
I am probably showing my ignorance here, but I would have imagined that like many enterprises the admin of a website would be a pyramid structure. The guy at the top has complete access to everything, the guys on the next level can do a lot but don’t have access to everything, and access becomes even more limited as you go down the pyramid.
In this case Jerry is at the top of the admin pyramid, he has the access to do anything. Nobody else has that access.
So what happens if Jerry gets hit by a bus?
Are there people that have the login details and passwords that can allow a new tech guy access or would the board be dead in the water?
Jerry is a professional and I would think that all relevant information on how to manage a website is held in such a fashion that if someone else needed to take over that would happen. So far Jerry has managed to avoid such disasters, though I admit you never hear the bus that has your name on it.
There… uhh… something you want to tell us?
Not anymore. Life got in the way and my CM status lapsed. It happens.
I don’t frequent other message boards. This one works when I log in. It does what I need. I guess I don’t know what a Ferrari feels like. Other boards I’ve seen look like a complete mess so I suppose I’m ok with the Chevy.
I hear that, really. Still, I’m a guest on boards that have far fewer problems (performance, security, updates) and more useful features than this one. And still I’m paying to not see the ads and support this rust-bucket. It really makes me wonder where the money’s going.
I do frequent plenty of boards. Some have very useful features, and are still slick and attractive. But that’s beside the point. I’m simply not the kind of guy that likes to settle indefinitely for “well, it’s good enough for now.” YMMV.
To continue the automotive analogy, it’s true, he does have that right. It’s too bad he no longer trusts the people who did a very capable job for him in the past and chooses to take his Chevy to an overworked mechanic who can’t hire a few assistants to take some of the load off himself. It’s a reflection on the owner, not the mechanic, though.
To get serious again, I’m not slamming any of you mods. I know it’s beyond your control or your desires to do anything about it. I sympathize with you for the boat the owners put you in and it’s not your fault. I realize we have to deal with the situation we’re given. That doesn’t mean we can’t express our frustration with it.
The question is whether it does what the readership as a whole needs. When you regularly have the users asking for simple changes (e.g. some organizational fix for the fact that silly “game” threads are apparently chasing people out of the games forum) that can’t be done because there’s no administrator available, the “never change anything” philosophy starts to look a little shaky in terms of the long-term health of the site. If they want it to keep making money, they have to put a little administrative effort in or the users are gonna give up on it. They’ve either got to give administrator power to someone who’s actually going to participate in the site on a regular basis, or watch the user base slowly dwindle due to neglect (in my opinion, of course).
I dunno, I kind of like the site as it is. Sure, some small things can be changed and improved to my liking, such as more smileys, but I’ll live with it.
How does everyone know this Jerry person? I’ve never heard of him in my years here. And I must have missed the memo, but when did everyone decide to drop the whole “Cecil is a real person” thing? I just want to know so when people refer to Ed Zotti, I don’t reflexively ask why they don’t ask his boss Cecil
Ok, not sure how this is helping but I’ll give it a try:
:):):):):):):):):)
RaftPeople, you just acquired membership in the Random Silliness Thread. Kindly stop by and pick up your de-coder pin. (Not an actual prize)
He has a login and posts announcements here, usually concerning board maintenance. His username is jdavis.
Here’s his profile: