# Ask the Mod **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106 "2008-05-21T14:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/61 "2008-05-22T00:35:59Z")
So are you enjoying your new Moderator Job? How much time a day do you find it using up? Are you watching the game, we’re finally winning one? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/62 "2008-05-22T01:12:36Z")
Is the Mod coven like the Supreme Court when it comes to making decisions? That is, do you typically split into the usual factions with a few of you playing swing voter? How do you know quickly know if a new member is a spammer, even before they post? Do they really pick such stupid names? Do you find yourself especially influenced by any other Mods? Any one you’d like to emulate? ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/63 "2008-05-22T02:06:15Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’ve banned about 100 spammers in my two months here, so that’s about two per day on average - usually we get them before they post. I’m not the only one doing it, of course. **Czarcasm** seems to the most, I’ve noticed, but whoever sees them nails them. Most of the time we don’t bother banning spambots because they can’t get through our registration, but once in a while I’ll do it for a laugh: I couldn’t resist banning **Purchase Generic Viagra** or **Payday Loan Default**. [/QUOTE] How do you know they’re bots, let alone spammers even before they post? I admit that **Payday Loan Default** is probably spam, but I could totally see someone joining up under **Purchase Generic Viagra**. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/64 "2008-05-22T02:10:54Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] So are you enjoying your new Moderator Job? How much time a day do you find it using up? [/quote] I’m having a great time with it. I’m spending more time on it than I expected, but it’s not required - I’m just being overly vigilant at this point. > [@](#): > > Are you watching the game, we’re finally winning one? Yes, and it’s about damn time. Now if they can score another six tomorrow instead of spreading it across the next three games, they’ll be getting somewhere. > [@Pleonast](#): > > Is the Mod coven like the Supreme Court when it comes to making decisions? That is, do you typically split into the usual factions with a few of you playing swing voter? I like the analogy, but it’s not quite like that. The differences of opinion aren’t quite that ideological and the decision makers are more varied: we definitely have more than nine people and there’s no guarantee of which ones are going to weigh in on any given situation. But maybe I just haven’t been doing this long enough to notice patterns yet. > [@](#): > > How do you know quickly know if a new member is a spammer, even before they post? Do they really pick such stupid names? It really is almost always that easy. For a lot of them, you can just Google those gibberish names and find that they’ve joined a dozen other message boards in the same day without posting. Kaboom, they get banned before they can annoy us. Spammers are stupid. > [@](#): > > Do you find yourself especially influenced by any other Mods? Any one you’d like to emulate? I’m cribbing from an observation **Gfactor** made- but I think **tomndebb** is very good at alternating being a poster and moderator in a single thread when it’s called for. **Gfactor** , **Giraffe** , **Colibri** and several of the others put an impressive amount of thought into the rules, as I’ve said elsewhere. You may have noticed that we recently changed the forum descriptions for ATMB and (to a lesser degree) the Pit. That was discussed for at least a week while we went over the finer points of the wording and the implications of wording things in various ways. We didn’t want to only allow praise and not criticism in either forum, for example. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/65 "2008-05-22T02:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] But I think application through **Tuba** is the usual way. Once it’s decided that another mod is needed, there’s discussion about who seems to have the right disposition for the job. Then it either gets forgotten or someone (not me) makes a command decision – we’re not exactly the most organized group. [/QUOTE] This is how I ended up a mod as well. I had been a long-time member - though not a terribly prolific one - and I decided to send in an application. It takes awhile - in my case over two months - but it depends on our staff at the time. I’ve also been around long enough to see a lot of applications come through. Tuba sends them out to the group for feedback if they’re being considered, and the whole admin/mod staff has a chance to speak up. > [@Pleonast](#): > > Is the Mod coven like the Supreme Court when it comes to making decisions? That is, do you typically split into the usual factions with a few of you playing swing voter? Heh… not really. There are occasional heated discussions, but for the most part we’re on the same page. Very few issues within the scope of moderation don’t reach a general consensus. > [@](#): > > Do you find yourself especially influenced by any other Mods? Any one you’d like to emulate? I find that I seldom err if I follow WWGD (What would **Giraffe** do?). I also have to thank **TubaDiva**. She gets the brunt of a lot of the nastiness, and is in my opinion unjustly villified by various unsavory elements, but she’s truly a great person, and has always been very supportive and approachable during my entire tenure as moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/66 "2008-05-22T02:28:44Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] How do you know they’re bots, let alone spammers even before they post? I admit that **Payday Loan Default** is probably spam, but I could totally see someone joining up under **Purchase Generic Viagra**. [/QUOTE] There are a few ways to check and I don’t know for sure which one I used on that one, since it was almost a month ago. But here’s the thing: when you register here you get sent a confirmation email and aren’t officially a member (or guest) until you click on the link in that email. Spambots don’t respond to those, so they are Registered Users and not members or guests. They remain in limbo and there is no actual need to ban them, since they can’t post. A real person generally gets that email and completes registration almost immediately. As I mentioned in my last post, spammers usually register at a bunch of forums are the same time. So you can Google their names and see what other sites they’re spamming and cut them off before they soil the Dope. That works for bots, too, but it’s not necessary to ban them. I just ban the ones with funny names if the mood strikes me. The spammers are really getting on my nerves today. I must’ve jinxed myself earlier when I said they come and go in bunches or when I called them names, because I’ve had to kill 16 of them today. Let me show you how easy it is to recognize these names: **spoillMisekly** **peptplonlidge** **Trilsinfify** **Monimpoma** **Tamexania** **sibeteelili** **Kayalehellvax** **WeancePem** **kankuslo** **Ffeghyj** **Moumporip** **SmooneeBous** **Mugemitteeber** **lauffGoobby** **lorreowsBet** **Gertgromo** Now, I confirmed all of these - I don’t ban them based on the names alone; there’s no need. But I think you can see where it’s really easy to recognize most of these guys. The gibberish is just as noticeable as **Payday Loan Default**. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/67 "2008-05-22T14:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] . . . but I could totally see someone joining up under **Purchase Generic Viagra**. [/QUOTE] Now that it’s out there, it would be a classic user name. If anyone has a friend about to join, recommend it! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/68 "2008-05-22T14:38:38Z")
On the board I moderate there is a lot of banter between the managers about “look what that idiot has posted now- do they have a brain?” (that is being very moderate). I assume the same sort of thing goes on behind closed doors in this forum? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/69 "2008-05-22T15:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Now that it’s out there, it would be a classic user name. If anyone has a friend about to join, recommend it! [/QUOTE] It’s actually NOT out there. Somebody could join with something similar, but that name is taken by the bannee. > [@Cicero](#): > > On the board I moderate there is a lot of banter between the managers about “look what that idiot has posted now- do they have a brain?” (that is being very moderate). I assume the same sort of thing goes on behind closed doors in this forum? Well, there is that _one_ poster we all rag on. You know. But no, really, for the most part we talk about actual board issues. We kid around sometimes, and **samclem** will pick on me for the Super Moderator thing or whatever else I’m doing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/70 "2008-05-22T16:41:39Z")
Did you feel you should run the idea for this thread by the other mods? I’ve always wondered if any of the mods secretly don’t get along with one another or actively dislike one another. I’m guessing you’re not going to answer this though, which is fair enough. Much as I would secretly relish some mod dramas ( 😉 ), from non-moderation posts you all seem like pretty reasonable folks, so I’d guess you get along fine. Maybe too fine? Any hot mod-on-mod action? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/71 "2008-05-22T16:50:03Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] **spoillMisekly** **peptplonlidge** **Trilsinfify** **Monimpoma** **Tamexania** **sibeteelili** **Kayalehellvax** **WeancePem** **kankuslo** **Ffeghyj** **Moumporip** **SmooneeBous** **Mugemitteeber** **lauffGoobby** **lorreowsBet** **Gertgromo** [/QUOTE] You need to put us together a game thread … Spammer or Doper? I bet you could bury 5 or so real Doper names in that list and make a decent quiz. Party game for the next Dopefest! ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/72 "2008-05-23T12:35:27Z")
I was just thinking how quite a few of those aren’t a million miles away from dope names that I’ve seen (or I could believe that they are dope names). To the game room! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/73 "2008-05-23T12:44:31Z")
It actually does sound like a fun game. We’d just need to track down some unusual Doper names. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/74 "2008-05-23T14:15:17Z")
My username probably look like spammy gibberish. I’ve been thinking of changing it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/75 "2008-05-23T14:37:09Z")
How about **spammy gibberish**? ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/76 "2008-05-23T14:43:39Z")
Heh, no, I would go with the username I use everywhere else. **cbawlmer** is left over from the late '90s, and this is the only place I use it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/77 "2008-05-23T15:05:59Z")
I hesitated to do this for some reason, but if you people want to know What Mods Really Talk About… [Gfactor said he was thinking about moving this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=469058) because it wasn’t quite GQ material. I said he could put it in Cafe Society, but it’d turn into a list of every time Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert or anyone else has ever made a “Hey you kids, get off my lawn” joke - and then someone will find the original joke three months later. “Samclem will find the first newspaper reference, from the antebellum South,” Gfactor replied. “And someone will claim that a Roman historian wrote about it. How do you say it in Latin anyway?” So then I tried to hash out “Hey, you kids, get off my lawn” in Latin. I couldn’t get any further than “Salve, Pueres!” and substituting “atrium” for “lawn.” “Don’t touch my statue of Jupiter,” he said. Thing is, it’s not even the nerdiest conversation we’ve ever had. When that Austrian incest dungeon thing was in the news a while back, we actually tried to stay on topic, but… “It never ceases to amaze me,” G said. “Our neighbor builds a shed in the wrong place and the city is all over him. These people can build cells in their basements and keep hostages for years.” “Without so much as a permit,” I said. “I agree, it’s an outrage.” “I suppose the permit would be tough to obtain,” quoth he. “Subteranean cell, huh? I can’t find specs for one of those in the building officials and code administration. I’m gonna have to talk to my supervisor.” But then, my dawg really struck gold. “Imagine the compliance work you’d need to do to build a BatCave! He’s got an atomic power plant in the damn basement.” “You know, I understand why some people don’t write for TV,” I said. But I couldn’t resist. “But yeah, I mean, with the vaults in there - endangered species of bats, the vehicle permits, the ethernet or whathaveyou.” “True ethernet back then,” he pointed out. “The thing is pretty clearly underventilated. And there’s not an apparent fire exit.” I suggested that Batman could escape through the manor if there was a fire in the BatCave, but nothing could dull the diamond bore of **Gfactor** ’s mind. “Fortunately it’s not a public accommodation,” he said. “Otherwise the slide down the pole entrance is right out.” “Oh,” I said, feeling rather like Dr. Watson. “An attractive nuisance?” “It’s not wheelchair accessible,” he said. “They’d need a ramp or an elevator.” And that’s what we do when you guys aren’t keeping us busy. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/78 "2008-05-23T15:14:55Z")
Okay Mr. Mod, impress me: 1. Which mod has the best base of knowledge about Hollywood actresses posing nude on film? 2. Who can eat the most Fluffernutters in one sitting? (And finally…) 1. Who has met Cecil the most number of times? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/79 "2008-05-23T15:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] Okay Mr. Mod, impress me: 1. Which mod has the best base of knowledge about Hollywood actresses posing nude on film? [/QUOTE] **fluiddruid** , but she’ll deny it. > [@](#): > > 1. Who can eat the most Fluffernutters in one sitting? Tie between \*\*Giraffe \*\* and **Rico**. We ran out. You don’t want to see the video of them fighting over the last one. :eek: > [@](#): > > 1. Who has met Cecil the most number of times? C’mon now. I’m still trying to figure out who puked in my sock drawer at the last meeting. You think I’ve got the apparatus to track their Cecil contacts. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106/80 "2008-05-23T15:36:34Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] **fluiddruid** , but she’ll deny it. [/QUOTE] Lies! Scandal! Also, come to think of it, I’m not sure if I’ve _ever_ eaten a Fluffernutter… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-mod/450106.md?page=5)