# Apparently I was a moderator for thirty seconds **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738 "2004-03-22T18:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/1 "2004-03-22T18:45:41Z")
And it was like being in a whole new world? For _my_ eyes only?! If only my adventure hadn’t been cut short so soon. The secrets I could share! ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/2 "2004-03-22T18:51:30Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > And it was like being in a whole new world? For _my_ eyes only?! If only my adventure hadn’t been cut short so soon. The secrets I could share! I stumbled in too through “new posts,” not realizing where I was going. There is a lot there that should not have been made public. I hope it wasn’t up for too long. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/3 "2004-03-22T18:53:05Z")
Now THERE"S a money making idea… $5 for 5 minutes of moderator privliges. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/4 "2004-03-22T19:00:57Z")
Yeah, I saw that and thought, “Hm, maybe they’re giving us a members-only board.” Then I realized it was the Top Secret Moderator Forum that people will and have killed for\*. To my knowledge, no one has really died trying to gain access to the Moderator forum. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/5 "2004-03-22T19:04:50Z")
I didn’t even know there was a moderator forum. I wonder how much they could raise if they just auctioned off the moderator role for each forum. (and yes I really posted so I could see my new status for the first time.) ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/6 "2004-03-22T19:25:32Z")
It seems they simply deleted all the threads in the mod forum. (Which is apparently called simply ‘Main.’) I have the permission to [go there](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=15), but it’s empty. I guess there was no quicker fix than deletion. I wonder if they backed them up? Even though I am (and everybody, I assume, is) allowed to go there, it says > [@](#): > > You may not post new threads > You may not post replies &c. That may not still be the mod forum, but I just remember a couple years ago, I was messing around, manually inputing forum numbers in URLs, and stumbled across forum 15. (That sounds a little suspicious, doesn’t it, the Forum Fifteen. Kinda like Area 51.) ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/7 "2004-03-22T19:43:44Z")
I, too, walked that Promised Land of the Mods. Now I anticipate the arrival of **Coldfire** and **Lynn Bodoni** who’ll drag me off, MiB style, and use the blinky thing to make me think it was swamp gas. REMEMBER MY STORY! ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/8 "2004-03-22T21:33:34Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > REMEMBER MY STORY! I hope you go off to a “The Prisoner” sort of scenario and not garden-variety torture and execution. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/9 "2004-03-22T21:41:20Z")
I posted there. 🆒 PHZP! \ 🙂 " " ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/10 "2004-03-22T21:41:35Z")
Gotcha all beat. I have a SDMB “STAFF” mug that was sent to me when I ordered my SDMB coffee mug! …Or do they all say “STAFF”? ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/11 "2004-03-22T21:42:01Z")
I had 2 extra forums up for a while too. “For my eyes only” and I can’t remember what the other one was called. I also thought they were “member only” forums until I went it. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/12 "2004-03-22T21:44:29Z")
M > [@Lobsang](#): > > I posted there. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/13 "2004-03-22T21:47:15Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#): > > and I can’t remember what the other one was called. It was named ‘moderation’ and contained mostly threads by the grapist OG knows why. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/14 "2004-03-22T21:57:12Z")
I, too, saw the forbidden forums. I just have to wonder now about what they say about us where we can’t see. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/15 "2004-03-22T22:01:53Z")
OH bugger. I just thought. All that inside info and all I could think to do was post a stupid post and not read a single thread! I POSTED, yet I was too scared to READ the secret forums!? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/16 "2004-03-22T22:02:08Z")
_GASP_ You _crossed over_?!!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/17 "2004-03-22T22:24:34Z")
I am _so_ jealous! Oooooh, if only I didn’t have to wait until I get home tonight to pay up!!! :mad: 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/18 "2004-03-22T23:57:31Z")
You guys are so wrong. There was no moderator forum. It was swamp gas reflecting off a weather balloon. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/19 "2004-03-23T00:07:54Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > _GASP_ You _crossed over_?!!? :eek: I’m getting a post that starts with an ‘A’? Does that mean anything to you? Does ‘A’ mean anything? ‘E’? ‘O’? Any other vowel at all? You lost a thread called “I Pit All Mods”? Yes, that’s what I meant. It wasn’t a happy thread was it? I sense you were angry in it. Did you ever use the word ‘fascist’ in it? No? Any words at all that started with ‘F’? Yes, I see that. It wants you to know that it’s in a happy forum now, where no threads are ever locked, and it forgives you. Does that make any sense to you? But wait, I sense it has a message for you, its… “Oh my god, it’s full of stars!” Does that mean anything to you? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738/20 "2004-03-23T04:49:57Z")
Most vBulletin-based bulletin boards are set up by their administrators to include moderator-only subforums. If it’s anything like my board, it’s where spam and inappropriate posts are redirected, and moderators discuss board administration issues; user warnings, possible threads about to burst into flames, and the like. Kinda’ boring, actually. One time, one of the administrators on my site created a new “banned by moderator” group, on top of the usual "banned’ group, but didn’t set the forums permission mask for the new group. The new “banned by mdoerator” group could still read groups, but not post to them. A particularly obnoxious user was banned by a mod, and placed in the “banned by moderator” group – where they could now see the previously invisible moderator subforum, and all the warnings and moderator discussion about him. Things got real ugly for a while, as the user sockpuppeted a new name, posting messages from the admin forum into the regular forums; apparently, he had two different browsers open, one logged in with each name. We shut down the board about ten minutes later, changed the permission mask, cleaned up the forums, purged the user and his alias in a mnanner that would make Stalin proud, and reopened an hour later. The creator of the “banned by moderator” group got a very sound thrashing, and a new policy was born - leave major changes, like usergroup creation, to the board owner. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-was-a-moderator-for-thirty-seconds/235738.md?page=2)