Open Letter to the Jedi Council Forums from a Former Moderator

To Whom It May Concern:

Many of you may not remember me, but I'm Mr. P. I am a Moderator Emeritus; I was a moderator of the Episode II (No Spoilers) forum, the FanFic forum, and also a general moderator, and also I was one of the founding editors of TFN's fan fiction archive. I was extremely active in the TFN community for a few years, and as I became more active in my real-world community, I became less and less active here.

Because this is a community that I was very active in, and have a lot of friends from, every once in a while, I come back to see how things are going. The JC, even though I don't post anymore, is often a source of good reading for me as I read the latest in Star Wars discussions and fanfics.

This time when I checked in, I found a very disconcerting message posted in the "ComMOONications" (as we used to call it) forum by none other than my old friend DLM. As an "old hand" from the forums I feel like it's my duty to step up to the plate at this time and try to help to smooth the problem, even if I'm no longer officialy a moderator at the boards.

I was a moderator at the beginning of the "security crisis" - many of you may remember DarthPsychotic and his war against the JC admins. If you don't, I'll recap: he somehow hacked the forums, and got into the mod squad's private forum. He saved a few of the more drama-creating threads, our private discussions, of the mods having a little fun or talking about other members - which is what we were supposed to do, as the moderators, to discuss punishment that certain members did or didn't deserve, how to deal with problems on the forums, etc. - and posted them on the internet for all to read. He also hacked into our private e-mail lists, and even a separate forum that we set up secretly in another place on the internet in which to have our discussions privately.

A number of us had the feeling that it might have been a mole - perhaps one of the admins who no longer really liked the JC for any number of reasons, and maybe was hanging around only for reasons of personal power. This was one of the reasons why I left, because I felt that many of the "old and powerful" admins were no longer here because they enjoyed it and liked meeting new people on the forums and discussing SW, but because they liked having power and prestige on a website for whatever reason, and fought over little bits and pieces of power here that has no meaning in the real world. Eventually I got fed up with this attitude and left. (I don't mean to say that all of the mod are like this, or were - just that enough of them were to disgust me)

We had our own issues with the management. For a period of a few years after the JC had been established in the summer of 1998 - wow, has it almost been 6 years? (and no, I wasn't around then ) - the management of TFN really didn't take part in the management of the forums, letting that get taken care of by volunteer "admins" who poured their precious time, blood, and tears into this community to make it into the best SW discussion forum - and eventually one of the premier communities, generally - on the internet. Most of the time they only got involved to the extent of dealing with copyright violations (people posting links to downloadable copies of the new SW movie, for example), and keeping this forum a "family friendly" place.

Towards the end of my time here, they got more and more active. Joshua Griffin posted more to the forums, Scott (a person who apparently is no longer involved with TFN, as far as I can tell, though I'm not sure why and how this guy Philip got involved) got more involved with the mods, and we had discussions about how, also, just as the TFN management was getting more involved with the JC, how the JC management could get more involved with the rest of TFN - being given @theforce.net e-mail addresses, helping out with the rest of the site, etc. It was a time where it was felt, or at least I felt, what effectively had been two sites - TFN and the JC - were coming more together and hopefully we were

 

Well I do agree that Darth Psychotic is the man, no two ways about it
Jedi Warrior and him will always be role models for a lot of younger users here.

 

I hope this thread does not get closed... Excellent post, former JC mod

TFN does not need to know if a moderator is Asian or Jewish or Black or Caucasion or a communist or a criminal or what. If they do their job, so what?

This is not just about the TFN management. If the management was not going to do background checks, good for them. Either way, having the mods' names, addresses, and phone numbers somewhere on the internet, associated with their handles here - even if it's in a private forum - is just plain stupid! If you are still having the security issue, how long will it be before those addresses are out in the open? That's VERY dangerous to the moderators.

I agree!!! Private info requirement = Stupid!

There was a case a while ago, when I was an admin, when a particular troll, who had a grudge against a particular mod, got their email address from their profile, and signed them up for all sorts of junk e-mail lists and stuff. If that particular troll could get ahold of their name, address, and phone number, to what end is the damage that they could do? We're talking about obsessive people, who might commit crimes against them in person, who might send bombs to their house, sign them up for real junk lists, even, GD forbid, try to murder them. It's just not safe!

And Dangerous!!

 

Mr.P, i seem to remember you vaguely from the year or two when i was browsing around TFN before i signed up. It looks like you have come back making a good and direct point here, and i applaud you for it.

 

Oh yeah, I didn't knew you were only 14, thought you were older, but the thing is [HanSolo]"Great kid, don't get cocky!"[/HanSolo]

Anyway. Yes 15-years old JC Mod, impressive. Most impressive! Your mom has taught you well

 

Um...what?

 

Dont be alarmed. JM22 rarely if ever makes sense.

 

Great post. It pretty accurately sums up my opinion on the matter.

 

Very good post, Mr P. I remember you, from when I first used to browse the boards

 

Fabulous post. Articulates all the problems I had with giving out my personal information and all the reasons I didn't.

 

>Dont be alarmed. JM22 rarely if ever makes sense.<

Well, it appears I can't joke

Anyways, don't worry about it, stay focused on the topic... I don't want to derail.

Since we don't have a general thread on this issue anymore, perhaps this should become it?

 

I agree with the letter. There is really no reason for the addresses being gathered and it could bring more harm to the JC in the future than good.

I work for my student newspaper on my college campus. I'm not required to do it, I'm not paid at all, I can leave at any time and I don't have to do the things they ask me to, but I do it anyways. They have not asked me for my address. One of my editor asked for my phone number, but that's it.

 

Just out of curiosity, has a crazed user ever attacked a mod or anything before.
I thought I remembered a story of someone stalking one of the old mods?

 

You mean physically?

 

Very well thought out post Mr. P and I do remember you

I agree with everything you said

 

Excellent post... I hope Mr. Wise reads it.


Or some of the other moderators that stuck around or are coming back. Well, whatever.

 

Excellent points, Mr. P!

Hackers are getting more sophisticated every day. I am behind a firewall on my home computer and junk e-mails still get thru.

You have brought up some serious security issues. I applaud the mods who gave out their info anyway, because they want to continue to improve this site.

 

Had they followed my advice and made the minimum requirements for being a moderator 22 years of age and male, I think all of this could've been avoided.

 

Mr.P pretty much sums up what I think the Mods were concerned about.

Good post.

 

A great recap for new readers to the situation and further indication that this is more than mere drama; hopefully, Wise and Josh will remove the curtain and tell us something for a change. But if, after how many hundreds of posts, they haven't already, I don't know how many eloquent speeches by ex-mods, current mods, VIPs, regular users, CRs - anyone - will make them see the light and salvage what little good reputation they have left.

 

You assume a lot in thinking Phil or Josh will actually read this, but hopefully they will as it was eloquntly expressed.

I think Phil's reasoning lies more with keeping his new company, Collecting Headquarters (because TFN and the JC have so much to do with collecting), in business, his stubborn refusal to publicly admit he handled the situation poorly, and his dictator-esque tendancies than sticking liability on moderators (because that wouldn't fly in the context of real laws).

 

Hackers are getting more sophisticated every day. I am behind a firewall on my home computer and junk e-mails still get thru.



.............................

 

shut up, jim.
(plz don't ban me for saying that. jim knows i lub him)


Mr. P - that's a great letter. I think it sums up a lot of people's opinions quite nicely.

 

Hackers are getting more sophisticated every day. I am behind a firewall on my home computer and junk e-mails still get thru.


I think that sums up this situation fairly well.


shut up, jim.

Is that because I thought you were a 22 year-old male?

 

"Hackers are getting more sophisticated every day. I am behind a firewall on my home computer and junk e-mails still get thru."

I'm behind a firewall, but my grandfather still has prostate cancer. Cancer is getting more and more sophisticated every day.

AYBABTU?