I’m unclear on this …
Are the Admins born (work for the Chicago Leader … “When I grow up I want to be an SDMB Administrator”) or bred (souped-up Mods who take on the extra duties voluntarily for the sheer fun :dubious: of it!)?
Julie
Solly … make that Chicago Reader … :smack:
Julie
Actually, I hear they were all created in a lab after a horrible experiment with radioactive hamsters and coffee-drinking goats…
Naw, that was just Coldfire. The rest were pulled from alien spacecraft wreckage in Roswell, NM.
Seriously, most are volunteered, promoted moderators.
Of course Ed is a CR staff member, and JDavis is the CR computer administrator. The rest are just members in good standing who became moderators, and eventually through need were given the extra privileges/burdens of administratorship.
But before you volunteer, realize what happens to the ones that fail is not pretty. They’re kept (or what’s left of them) in a box, mostly to serve as an object lesson for the hamsters. 
I heard that they spring forth from Cecil’s head, and the fates have said that when it is time, they will rebel against him in a clash of the titans.
Is this true, SDMB mods?
They are born and bled.
Thanks for the straight answer, Irishman.
I’m seriously impressed that the good people here who keep us in check are doing it as a labour of love. I think the quality of “modding” and “adminning” here is second to none - I’ve left a coupla boards, equally as beloved and busy as this one, simply because the damned trolls were allowed to gain the upper hand, making those boards an unpleasant place to visit … thanks guys, much appreciated! 
Julie
Before I was able to get online, I bought and read a Straight Dope book. I noticed that it said that the SD column and website was on AOL. I had been on “closed” computer online services before (Quantumlink and US Videotel), and knew that I could not risk signing up for metered online service. When AOL went all-you-can-surf for a monthly fee, I signed up. I quickly found the SD site on AOL (it was proprietary AOL content then). I lurked for a while, and read the archives. Then I started posting. And I posted, and posted, and posted. My total posts to all incarnations of the SDMB might rival or exceed handy’s. Mind you, though, generally I only posted when I had something relevant or funny to say. I became a moderator on the AOL SD board, and when we went on the web, I came over here as a moderator as well. I eventually became an administrator because TubaDiva and C. K. Dexter Haven needed another admin who could moderate all forums. Under the old UBBS system moderators could only use mod tools in their own forums. I suspect that another reason I was promoted to admin is because I am quite willing to bite people if I feel it’s necessary for the well-being of the board.
Thanks for giving us the “straight dope” on your rise to the top, Lynn!
I’d love to know how much of your day your adminning duties take up … but if this is too personal a question, please ignore!
Julie