Moderators

[ThePenguin]

As some of you old, shrewd Ledgies already know, there is a glitch in the software system that puts the "Moderator" moniker under a person's name, after administrative action has been taken. The "moderator" label stays there briefly, until corrected.

The only actual moderators of this bulletin board are Jannie, Louie and I. When that changes, I will make an official announcement and let you know when a new moderator comes aboard, just like I let you know about Louie.

If a person has been a hard combatant in a contentious, name-calling thread and suddenly, apropos to nothing, you see the word "moderator" appear under her name, that person has not been made a moderator. That person has been censured in some fashion and a software malfunction gave them a false "moderator" label (although with no accompanying moderator authority or permissions).

I was told that there was confusion about this occurrence and wanted to explain.

[ryguy2010]

Originally Posted by ThePenguin

As some of you old, shrewd Ledgies already know, there is a glitch in the software system that puts the "Moderator" moniker under a person's name, after administrative action has been taken. The "moderator" label stays there briefly, until corrected.

The only actual moderators of this bulletin board are Jannie, Louie and I. When that changes, I will make an official announcement and let you know when a new moderator comes aboard, just like I let you know about Louie.

If a person has been a hard combatant in a contentious, name-calling thread and suddenly, apropos to nothing, you see the word "moderator" appear under her name, that person has not been made a moderator. That person has been censured in some fashion and a software malfunction gave them a false "moderator" label (although with no accompanying moderator authority or permissions).

I was told that there was confusion about this occurrence and wanted to explain.

Thanks Michele. Also I apologize for the album leak link but still have some confusion as to why (last time I checked that thread wasn't locked?) Would probably help others to not accidentally post a link in the future. Just a suggestion. I realized (later) that a warning was put in there but sometimes as we sift through posts things can be overlooked.

[jannieC]

The thread is not locked because we don't mind if people talk about it.

[ryguy2010]

Originally Posted by jannieC

The thread is not locked because we don't mind if people talk about it.

Well I was referring to the one that I started titled album leak(false alarm) because if someone else misses the warning as I did it could be misconstrued as being allowed. I've seen threads locked for a lot less. But just my two cents...

[ThePenguin]

Originally Posted by ryguy2010

Well I was referring to the one that I started titled album leak(false alarm) because if someone else misses the warning as I did it could be misconstrued as being allowed. I've seen threads locked for a lot less. But just my two cents...

The warning was not just contained in that thread. It's part of the FAQ for the entire Bulletin Board and has always been part of the FAQ. You don't post links to commercially available material or material that is soon to be commercially available. I see no need to lock threads to keep people from breaking that rule.

We have many reasons for locking threads and didn't care to do so in this instance. I don't think there's anything confusing about it.

[SteveMacD]

Look, I understand why people's usernames can't just be changed. If somebody chose a Stevie/Mac song for their username, they have to live with it.

When I chose my username years ago, I had no idea about my birth parents or their family. I didn't until about two years ago, and when I met them, I finally felt at peace with almost everything in my world.

Having to go by "SteveMacD" is actually VERY insulting to me. I haven't seen another MacDougall since Grandmother MacDougall's funeral in 2004, and I don't think I'll see anybody in the near future. I've since adopted the last name of my birth father, and that's Hopkins.

I KNOW names can be changed on forums like this (I've seen it done many times), and I understand your concerns about people changing their names. However, I was some variant of Steve MacDougall (Smacdoug or SteveMacD) since 1995, because I wanted people to know they were talking to somebody real, not just another username. I've NEVER hid behind some miscellaneous name tied to the band EVER. HAVING to keep anything related to THAT name is highly insulting and offensive to me. There's a reason I went through the trouble (at about $500 expense) to change diplomas, driver's license, Social Security Card, birth certificates, etc., to change my name. Again, I understand the "you changed HIS name, why not mine?" argument, but mine is a very, VERY different and unique case. AND, I'm not asking for a new username that isn't based on my current name.

[HomerMcvie]

While he has a far more valid point than mine, I HATE Homer! Maybe let people change it, if they've been here longer than a decade.

[welcomechris]

My Username Was Supposed to be WelcomeBackChris not WelcomeChris

[michelej1]

You don't understand my concerns about changing your usernames. It's not just a question of aesthetics. Depending on how many posts a user has it can be a major thing.

Your usernames are not being changed.

I understand that it's offensive to you Steve. You've said it is many times, but your username is not being changed. I'd hate to lose your input around here, but if it's upsetting you so much I can understand why you have to leave.

Michele

[michelej1]

I think what it's hard for people to appreciate is that this site runs on a dedicated server. There are lots of services where you can get a website and you don't have to have your own server at all. I think I have a website on google. And I can do whatever I want to with it and I don't have to worry about how much processing power I use because I am on Google's server and it's free. Google handles all of the server management. It's not my concern.

This site is different. It's on a dedicated server. There's no cloud storage or anything. It's a single server and there's no one to manage it but me. When I changed to a new Internet Service Provider, I tried to share servers with other website owners, because that would be cheaper, but it hasn't worked. I always get kicked off because the site starts using more processing power than it should for some reason. So, I have to have my own server so I'm not slowing down anyone else's website. Now, if I was computer savvy and always knew why load averages were rising and I could fix them myself, it would be no problem. But most of the time when load averages go up, I have no real idea why it happened.

I could pay someone who knows servers to manage the server and always stay on top of things, but I don't want to. I could pay for a bigger, more powerful server, but that costs more money and I don't want to do that either. This site costs $200 a month and I don't want to pay any more than that for managed hosting or a larger capacity server.

Everything the forum does takes up processing power. It's usually very minimum. Just regular posting on an every day basis is no big deal. Even on big nights when we have a lot of posters, like when a tour opens, I don't think it hurts the server. No big deal. But whenever you do something that changes 1000s of posts, it becomes a big deal. Let's say a user with 15,000 posts wants all of their posts deleted. To delete 15,000 posts puts a burden on the processor. First it slows down and then it just hangs and I have to HOPE that rebooting will make everything work again. And when it reboots in the middle of a process like that, the process may not have been completed at all. It may not even result in all of the 15,000 posts having been deleted. All that trouble for nothing.

And sometimes if the server goes down unexpectedly, data is lost. You older posters may remember that I lost a lot of data doing something when I first bought the sight from Marty. I was making a change and it seemed to stall and I waited for hours and then I just decided that I had no choice but to reboot and when I did we lost thousands of posts. Marty was a programmer. He knew how to fix technical glitches himself. He came back and he restored as many posts as he could from a back up, with the help of his brother-in-law.

Long story short or -- as Stevie said -- short story long, to change the name on 15,000 posts puts a burden on the processor. It hangs. I have to hope that rebooting works, because if something more is needed, then I have to pay someone to fix the problem for me.

We have a search function. For the search function to work, all posts are indexed. When you make changes to a post, the post is re-indexed. That's no big deal when you change one post. It's no big deal when you delete one post. But if we all decided we wanted to edit or delete a post at one time, that WOULD cause a problem. Changing thousands of posts from Dave Brown to Dave Jones would cause a problem.

When I make any change that effects a lot of posts at one time that can cause the server to go down. Sure, sometimes getting it back up takes just a reboot, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it takes me hiring someone to fix the problem for me to get me up and running again and I just am not into doing that.

Functions that take up a lot of memory and processing power won't be allowed. Now, everyone could just start a new user account and leave their old posts unchanged and start with new usernames at post #1 again. That wouldn't clog up the server, but I don't think people should have a second user account. So, that's not going to happen either. I know people don't like it. I remember one longtime poster, John, had the username Pete something and he didn't want it anymore and he decided to leave because he couldn't change it and that was very sad, but I think that the stance I've taken is the most prudent one for my situation.

Michele

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by welcomechris

My Username Was Supposed to be WelcomeBackChris not WelcomeChris

I think you should have called yourself, WelcomeBackKotter.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Now, everyone could just start a new user account and leave their old posts unchanged and start with new usernames at post #1 again. That wouldn't clog up the server, but I don't think people should have a second user account. So, that's not going to happen either. I know people don't like it. I remember one longtime poster, John, had the username Pete something and he didn't want it anymore and he decided to leave because he couldn't change it and that was very sad, but I think that the stance I've taken is the most prudent one for my situation.

Okay, I don't know the story behind Pete/John, but in a somewhat extraordinary case like mine, I don't see why I can't just be given a new username, and the SteveMacD account be banned from posting. Again, if I had known the truth about my life a decade ago, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Okay, I don't know the story behind Pete/John, but in a somewhat extraordinary case like mine, I don't see why I can't just be given a new username, and the SteveMacD account be banned from posting. Again, if I had known the truth about my life a decade ago, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

I can understand your need to break from a name that means nothing but pain to you now. Seeing it all of the time, every time you log in, is obviously very trying. You know we count on you and the other Steve (Chili) to keep us up to date on FM's history, so you would be terribly missed, but sometimes personal principles mean more than a music message board, so we'll know why you had to go.

I'm glad you were able to change all of your legal documents. I know people who have been through terrible divorces and having their own name restored was very liberating and not being able to do it on their official documents would have been a barrier to closure. So, I know that was $500 well spent for you.

Michele

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by michelej1

you would be terribly missed, but sometimes personal principles mean more than a music message board, so we'll know why you had to go.

GO??? LOL!!! Oh, you have no clue.

Trust me, the easiest thing right now would be to give me a new account and close out my old account.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

GO??? LOL!!! Oh, you have no clue.

Trust me, the easiest thing right now would be to give me a new account and close out my old account.

Go or stay Steve, but you've been arguing about this for months now and it's not going to change. So, no more posts about the name change.