# Are Moderaters Moderate? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033 "2003-03-21T05:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/22 "2003-03-21T19:48:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The thing I don’t understand is how UncleBeer can say that Machinehead’s compalint is valid, while also bleiveing he was just trolling. Because one can have the proper intentions… but an improper way of going about discussing those intentions. “The ends don’t justify the means.” ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/23 "2003-03-21T19:50:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Interesting observation from someone with all of three posts. Not quite. This particular sumbitch has thousands of posts, probably rivaling handy’s total. And has created, I’d guess, nearly 500 usernames. All by himself, he consumes probably 10% of the total time spent by the entire staff moderating this message board. We got him booted from one ISP and we’re working on another right now. We’re considering subpoenaing his real name from those ISP’s. I’ll leave it to you to speculate what we might do with that information. ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/24 "2003-03-21T19:59:38Z")
My GOD \*\* Uncle Beer\*\*…the trouble some people go through to cause trouble. I am one lazy assed person. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/25 "2003-03-21T20:11:13Z")
No kidding? A Grudge Report. Boy, that doesn’t make me a bit curious. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/26 "2003-03-21T20:39:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBeer \* > \*\*We’re considering subpoenaing his real name from those ISP’s. I’ll leave it to you to speculate what we might do with that information. \*\* Send him some muffins? ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/27 "2003-03-21T21:16:04Z")
**Aslan** , I don’t think **UB** ever said that his gripe was valid. He said that **MH** _had_ a gripe in another thread, not that it was a good one. He did use the word ‘legitimate,’ but I submit that that doesn’t mean that he was making good points, just that he had a right to make them, albeit badly. Huh. **UB** himself explained this in [the other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=171274) you asked this question in. Eh… never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/28 "2003-03-22T16:19:04Z")
No, the “piling on newbies because they’re newbies” complaint was valid. It was the way he handled the rest of that thread that looked like trolling. And the way he posted the same gripe in MPSIMS. And the way he started a Pit thread against Americans who support the war, then started a thread saying “there are too many threads on the war, don’t start any more”. And I just have to note how appropos the name **unclear on the concept** is. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/29 "2003-03-22T17:30:35Z")
Remember that Moderators are members, with the right to their own opinions and prejudices, and the right to be slammed for expressing them, here in the Pit, if you find them wrong. (Occasionally, one of them will even say, “You’re right; I was wrong” or words to that effect! :eek: ) Remember also that they’re volunteers who do this job because they love the boards and want to see them running smoothly, and that they need to read every new post in their assigned forum, whether or not it’s something that they’re interested in. It doesn’t take much attitude-jockeying by petulant posters to make that a truly annoying task instead of a pleasurable duty. And, being human and doing it for the love of it, that exasperation can show. Finally, let me quote something that’s been around for 39 years, which may have some bearing on the question of the moderateness of moderators: > [@](#): > > “Extremism in defence of liberty is no vice; moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” – Barry M. Goldwater, 1964) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/30 "2003-03-22T22:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\*Send him some muffins? \*\* Don’t you dare! ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033/31 "2003-03-23T01:47:40Z")
\<\< We don’t call them moderators because they are moderate (the noun), it’s because they moderate (the verb, meaning they keep the board on an even keel, not necessarily themselves).\>\> Actually, the word “moderator” was from two words “mode rater” and had nothing to do with moderation at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-moderaters-moderate/163033.md?page=1)