DA old timers  

@sdr @herringbone

You are both such kind souls!

Maybe I've been a little lonely lately, but my better half has returned from the west coast today (bearing a new list of chores) so I've a renewed sense of purpose. At least temporarily. Seems I'm not quite dead ...yet!

 Oh, and if I ever make it back across the pond to Merry Old again, I'll be sure to send advance notice. I'd like someday to meet @lexi, too.

Yes, Herringbone, and agreed.  I'm a laggard, so I've put the link to this page on my Desktop, at last, to remind me to check in---and (unlike some fora where the practice is offered but not always honored) DA provides a notice of activity on active threads, which brings me here today.

H, what are your duties and responsibilities as a Moderator here ?  Did you request the position, or was it bestowed unasked ?

. . .

Today's haiku: I

spill these out, word by word, not

knowing how they'll end.

. . .

Is that any way

to construct a poem ?  I

suppose not.  Ah, well . . .

@sdr

The long and boring story is this: With the invention of chatbots, more and more annoying spam posts appeared in the forum, which increasingly disrupted its use. As users, we had no choice but to ignore these posts and write around them, so to speak. However, this became increasingly difficult as the amount of spam grew. The report function in the forum didn't help much either. So at some point I wrote to the people behind DA and asked if there was anything that could be done. And then I got the job as a moderator. As a moderator, I have a slightly larger menu than all other users, I can also edit individual posts from other users and, above all, I can delete posts - which is very helpful for tidying up the forum. I also have to confirm posts from new users. This means that if a bot or a user who has never appeared on the forum before makes a new post, only I can see this post. I then approve or delete it, depending on the content. If I have approved a user three times, they can post without my approval. This is a very consistent way of preventing the forum from being spammed with bot posts for you all to see. When I log in, however, everything is full, I delete five to ten spam posts a day - and sometimes I overlook a new user who then waits for days for their post to become public. That's my job here. There were actually two of us doing it, but Kyle is hardly ever on the forum anymore for personal reasons. Honestly, some support would be helpful.

Thanks for the haiku. It is beautiful. 

Thanks for taking on this duty, Herringbone, and for the run-down.  The site owners must be grateful for your help; I'm glad we're now aware of it as well.  

. . .

Long days, short nights; we're

at the apex of summer.

It's all downhill now.

. . .

The gloom of winter

seems so far away--but it

soon enough will come.

. . .

Enjoy our youth while

we may, for nothing good can

last nor reappear.

In the twilight glow,

SDR’s words gently weave,

Joy in every line.

😋