You should be ashamed of yourself ! These matters are not to be pondered upon by us lowly Guests, Members and Charter Members. These decisions are reserved to Mods, Admins and (gasp !) maybe even only Cecil Adams (blessed be his name) !
Welcome to the madhouse, Tom!
Veb
Wait! This is a TERRIBLE choice!
We may lose some of Tom’s excellent posts because of his increase in workload. 
Oh well, the good of the many and all that.
Seriously, while we have a large group of the best posters in the world around here, Tom stands out even in this tough crowd. I know he’ll be a great moderator.
And just when will us rank and file members get to watch the initiation ceremony anyway? I’d bring whips.
Good to have you on board. Welcome.
Stop stealing our best posters! Oh, and I hope to hear from ~debb about this.
Congrats, Tom! Best of luck in GQ!
Let’s get the important stuff out of the way first. I do enjoy chocolate and I do really like single malt Scotch. However, Lynn and TubaDiva seem to have those concessions covered, so all bribes should be offered in cash.
Thank you all for the welcome.
And since the issue seems to come up periodically, even making it into this thread, I’ll repeat the explanation of the username:
When I first started posting on AOl/SDMB, I was pretty much limited to my AOL username (that we used for our original joint account). The name is Tom ‘n’ Deb B.
Deb is not a message board type person and has never posted. In the ensuing years (that was September, 1997), as I joined other MBs and Newsgroups, I simply hung onto my original handle so that there would not be any continuity questions regarding who I was. Never is a long time, but I will be really surprised if Deb ever signs up to post, here.
(There used to be a “tomndebbie” on MSN–we are not that couple.)
And I’ve already cross-posted this from the GQ thread.
Tom,
I have one question. What made you sell your soul?
Well, I was going to use my 2000th post to create a pit thread on Rumsfeld, but I think using it for a note of congratulations to a great Doper is the best:
Congrats tomndebb!!!
Congratulations, Tom!
So, is this Ed & Company’s Christmas gift to Tom, or to us? 
I can share.
your humble TubaDiva
No sacrifice is too great for our staffers.
This is good news. I’ve often felt that various new moderators were good picks. tomndebb is a good pickup.
I’m pleased to hear that tomndebb is a mod. I’m sure he’ll do well, but, as mentioned above, I hope it doesn’t interfere with his regular posting.
tomndebb is an excellent addition to the Mod line up.
Just let be known that I want to bypass the Mod stuff and be named an Admin.
Hey, I like chocolate.
Nuff said.
I have to ask…was it the talent or swimsuit competition that cinched your victory?
Congrats!
[sub]The way I heard it, superdude, there were flaming batons involved – you do the math.[/sub]
Congratulations Tom, I couldn’t imagine a more fitting choice. You’ve always been a measured and moderating voice as well as an informed one. I welcome you as one of our overlords and wish you a long and successful run.
[toad]Tom, know that I have always supported your policies.[/toad]
You can pick your moderators, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick a moderator’s nose.
Not mine, anyway.