# I have felt the power of being a board administrator...and I LIKE it! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995 "2001-01-14T15:21:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/1 "2001-01-14T15:21:27Z")
A few weeks ago, I licensed my own version of vBulletin for a private online community that I tend to. Sure, this little community is about 1/5000th the size of the SDMB, but I dig it anyway. I am the moderator for all forums. I get to approve all registrations. I get to see everyone’s passwords. I think I’m getting drunk with power. If my own board gets its own version of Jack Dean Tyler or concrete, the responsibility for banning him falls to me (and me only). I can move and delete threads at will. I can even generate those announcements you see at the top of every forum. Best of all, every time I post, my “administrator” title appears next to my name, striking fear into the hearts of the “registered members” and “junior members” who post to my board. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I can arbitrarily grant power to those I like on my board. Let’s say that there’s this cute girl I like - I can create a new title for her, say “Queen of All She Surveys” and give her permissions to do whatever I feel like letting her do - ban users, nuke threads, turn the smilies on and off - whatever. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/2 "2001-01-14T15:41:37Z")
yes, but did you sign up Christina-Aguilera-waitress? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/3 "2001-01-14T17:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurkernomore \* > \*\*yes, but did you sign up Christina-Aguilera-waitress? \*\* Oooh, good point. But keep out the Management Nazis. They’re hella lame. . . Trip ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/4 "2001-01-14T17:57:44Z")
Yeah? Well here you’re still just a _piss-ant_! Now go sit down. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/5 "2001-01-14T20:02:35Z")
So where’s your board? ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/6 "2001-01-14T20:46:22Z")
I’m an admin on one of the UBB boards run by the magazine I work for, but the title itself is pretty much the biggest thrill. The board is only moderately trafficked and generally well-behaved. Which is lovely, but no fun at all from the Administrator/Hammer of the Gods standpoint. I do get to bounce the spammers, though 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wanderlust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc29f/32.png) [@Wanderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wanderlust)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/7 "2001-01-14T20:59:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by THespos \* > **I can create a new title for her, say “Queen of All She Surveys” and give her permissions to do whatever I feel like letting her do** Have you been to **OpalCat** ’s site? **[The Fabulous Forums](http://fff.fathom.org/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro)** Lots of SDMB people are over there. Some of the titles are (in no real order) \*\*Fledgeling \*\* \*\*Fancy Pants \*\* \*\*Fancy Bloomers \*\* \*\*Fanatic \*\* \*\*überfanatic \*\* \*\*Welcome Wagoneer \*\* \*\*Moderator Extraordinaire \*\* And, best for last \*\*OpalCat Godlike Administrator \*\* ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/8 "2001-01-14T21:36:31Z")
Haven’t been to Opal’s site - maybe when I can get a few spare moments, I’ll check it out. Great titles she thought up. That’s funny as hell. BTW, vBulletin can assign different titles to people based on post count. The default is to have everyone starting out as a junior member. When you get to 30 posts, you become a member, and there are senior members too (I think at 100 posts). Talk about incentivizing someone to get their post count up… If the admin wants to, he can customize the titles and add new ones. Probably wouldn’t work on the SDMB, though. It would make everyone try to chase Handy, which would be a bad thing for the database. IJGrieve - My boards are at [http://www.oldtimerslist.com/mb](http://www.oldtimerslist.com/mb), but it’s a closed board. The site is for people who have been in the Internet marketing and advertising industry for several years. ---
**Author:** ![Wanderlust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc29f/32.png) [@Wanderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wanderlust)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/9 "2001-01-14T22:09:38Z")
Well, **I’ve just hit 100 here** , so perhaps you can give ME a title 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/10 "2001-01-14T22:13:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by THespos \* > **It would make everyone try to chase Handy, . . .** This is, as we all know, my sole purpose in life. ---
**Author:** ![beakerxf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc79bd/32.png) [@beakerxf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beakerxf)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/11 "2001-01-15T00:19:35Z")
You should take a look at the [Snopes message board](http://www.snopes2.com/cgi-bin/ultimate.cgi). They give really amusing seasonal titles over there. Right now, they are new year’s resolutions. For newbies it’s “Resolve to read before I post”. It made me chuckle. They also have a plethora of smilies for use, which I enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/12 "2001-01-15T01:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by THespos \* > **BTW, vBulletin can assign different titles to people based on post count** Yeah UBB does that too… that is what Fledgling \> Fancy Bloomers \> Fancy Pants \> Fanatic \> uberfanatic are… 0-12, 21-50, 51-1000, 1001-3000, 3001 + It’s cool 🙂 On the board I set up for the Tucson St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival I use newcomers and oldtimers, and the moderators are “Magical Leprechauns” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-felt-the-power-of-being-a-board-administrator-and-i-like-it/49995/13 "2001-01-15T02:11:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by THespos \* > \*\* It would make everyone try to chase Handy \*\* ``` That's like trying to chase Roadrunner. ```