Hi all,

The other day I got an email in from David (Anderson) in which he asked me to tone it down, because of a complaint of someone who apparently didn't like that I have an opinion that differs from theirs on things like the climate and the corona virus. Instead of that this person took to the discussion on the forums or even in PM to me, they went to David with links to my transgressions, and requested that I was dealt with because I was destroying the reputation of BOINC, the scientific projects under Boinc, as well as the reputation of Berkeley, University of California and even more.

The person also stated that they wanted to post about it on these forums but were afraid I would retaliate and remove their post and banish them from these boards. They must have mistaken me for two ex-moderators at Seti@Home who couldn't deal with reality.

But okay, what I did next was something I had been planning for a while, and something I probably should've done a long time ago: I made an anonymous moderator account.
I want to post my own opinion with my own account. I am not paid by BOINC to do any of the moderation on these forums, and I have been doing that moderation with much fun since I started here. So to be able to continue that, I have made that new account solely to be used for moderating these forums. I won't use it to post with. Unless a warning is needed in a thread.

Just so they too are be able to post their opinion with their own account without having to watch out for the wrath of people with a different opinion, I have advised the other moderators on this forum to follow my lead, which meanwhile Les has done.

I hate that it had to come to this, and I hope that in the future I can just put the titles back on my own account. But in the mean time, let's do it like this.
I implore, if you have a problem with me, or my style of writing, or my opinions, or my scientific principles or you find anything else that differs from what you believe in, why not send me a PM or take me on for a discussion in the boards?

Leaves the state of the forums: yes, we are very aware that there are some threads in various forums that have gone way off topic as according to their thread titles, but with the world in disarray I don't find that much of a problem. If you do find it a problem, press the red-x and post something about it. A moderator will look into it then.

Sounds good to me.

I will try a little harder to stay on topic and or start a new thread in the lounge to carry on discussion. I feel a modicum of responsibility for the way the thread went.

Incidentally, on a local Faceache group we are lucky if we go two days without having to delete a post for someone being abusing and not a few people have been muted for a month or even blocked from the group. So, I think the way these boards are managed works pretty well on the whole.

Well, some people coming from Folding at home forums, probably fear the same thing could happen here.
And I can say this forum is miles better than over there!

I don't want to put any pressure on you guys, but forum CS matters a lot.
A lot of people stop folding, and join Boinc, because of the moderators; even if they support the Folding cause!
I do think some threads went way beyond the original topic.

If anything, in my years on the internet, there's no clear guideline.
Even on Social media (like facebook), people generally don't know what to post, and what not.
Or where to post what (like I occasionally get some PMs on my timeline from people).

I think most people are just not really understanding how things work, and it's because there's no etiquette anywhere, that works everywhere.
Every forum has it's own rules, and most don't have any (and let the trolls freely destroy the posts of the sincere people)

Wow. I'm just going to restate something I've always believed in.
If everyone was all the same, what a boring world that would be.
My understanding is that what has occurred is a vain attempt at censorship.
Sad. :-(