Dear ILP Members,
The results are in and after much discussion amongst the ILP Staff, we have selected and enrolled some new staff members. Thank you to all those applied and don’t feel bad if you didn’t get in, it was an extremely tough decision. Your new moderators are (in no particular order)
Impenitent, Alexistentialism and xanderman,
I hope you will all join me in congratulating them and wishing them well in their future with ILP.
Congrats,
Ben
Excellent choices. ILP was in need for some decent, well-respected, and high-quality philosophs to moderate the board. I can say for certain that Impenitent and Xanderman fill that “vacuum” of ILP just perfectly.
I’m sure that Alexistentialism is also a fine choice…It’s just that I have not really had the oppertunity to engage him in many threads, and thus…I am unable to same anything more about him from my own experiences.
Having said all this…uh…one minute
Beemer goes to the cellar momentarily
…I propose a toast to the future of “ILP: The Online Future of Those Who Actually Use Their Heads” with a bottle of champaign! 
Congrats to the suckers…er, new mods! Have fun riding shotgun over the madhouse! 
Seriously, sounds good. There are some good discussions here, so long as you can keep the trolls from crapping in them.
her.
i’m sure our minds will meet.
thanks
Thank you to all the well-wishers and congratulations to my fellow new mods. I hope that we will all serve the community well.
ditto
-Imp
Ditto, indeed.
Sincerely,
Floyd
so who is this “her” that managed to get to be moderator in five weeks and thirty posts then ?
Ben, please do not get mad at this honest and sincere question:
Just curious, but why do you keep ILP’s numerous inactive moderators on board. HVD only shows up like 4 times a year. And when he does, he just swoops in locks a thread or two, posts an announcement in the sacred Announcements Board, and is not seen again for several months.
Pangloss showed up here a while ago for the first time in a long time. He posted like once or twice, and was gone and has not been seen since. The same applies for virtually all our “old” moderators…
…with the exceptions of Pax Vitae, Marshall Mcdaniel, and even good old Polemarchus. These moderators at least do their best to come here when they can, and when they do, they allways contribute much in their high-quality philosophical posts.
Again, I’m honestly NOT questioning your judgment, or challenging your reasons. I’m just curious…that’s all.
On a positive note, I see Impenitent and Xanderman as soon become some of the “Golden” members of ILP. They were perfect choices for moderators and I feel that they have and will continue to contribute much to ILP.
Hi BMW-Guy,
A good question and one which I struggle with from time to time. When I first started appointing moderators I envisaged people who would be on all the time, happily reading through every thread and weeding out the unwanted and unsanitary. It didn’t take long to realise that my vision did not mirror reality. ILP is a hobby for all of us, and just as I get bored of philosophy and of this site sometimes, so do all the mods and so they take a break. It may seem really simple just to click a few buttons every now and then, but if you’re busy doing other things with your life, sometimes you just can’t be bothered. However, they all come back, sooner or later!
Having said that, I would not want you to think that I think the staff are lazy or apathetic. To my mind, they do over and above their call of duty including contributing to discussions in the staff forum. A lot of stuff gets done behind the scenes which you do not see.
As to why I don’t delete them, well the question I would ask you is, what reason is there TO delete them? Some of the old school mods have been here since ILP began and that is invaluable when discussing the site as a whole since they know where we’ve come from. Of course the site needs moderators who are active which is why we get a new set of fresh faces in every now and then when we need a kickstart!
The other staff don’t get deleted, even if they are inactive on the main boards, because I value their opinions and their insight, which is more important to me than how fast they can delete a post.
As for HVD, simply put, ILP would not be around today were it not for him. I keep Pangloss around for ‘theory’, entertainment, and to keep him quiet.
Not very coherent I know, but I hope that explains a little bit,
Best Wishes
Ben
Ah, I see. Thank-you kindly ben. It cleared a bit of my confussion up.
I guess everything is good so long as ILP has at least some active moderation going on from time to time…and this, I do think is the case.
Thanks again. 
how did impenitent make the cut
We had a poll for “most likely to piss Monooq off” and made them staff. 
LOL!! That has to be by far the best comeback to a comment on this site I have seen in the last week… 
I’d like to think the Monooqists are raving in anger, shouting in opposition at the top of their lungs, and litterally making their blood boil at the sight of Imp’s rise to power.
The Monooqists gathered at the town square, confronting the leaders of the forum, and they said unto them: “What is Imp to our great master? Is he not but a shadow of a fraction of a reflection of greatness as our great master whose greatly endless great bounds of greatness cannot greatly even begin to greatly be explained by the greatness of his great graces?”
The “moonoqists” are/is moonoq really…
Oh, lay off the blasphemous attack against our Great Master, ghostly one! We have gathered at the square to affirm the greatness of the power that be! It is He, the great master Monooq, that we offer our strength.
congrats to all new mods
Ben, I don’t think there should be any moderators on any forums and personally I would NEVER apply for one, if I was offered to be one, I’d refuse point blank. The reason I don’t think there should be any moderators on any forums is because I feel that anything a person has written is immediately copyrighted and so another has no business touching it. If there is a mistake of any kind in the post, the poster is responsible and no other, keeping in mind of course that no one in authority and control messed with the post. As such, there should be no moderating anywhere I believe. I’d be posting way more stuff and more freely too if moderating wasn’t the norm. I also feel that mistakes are a part of life, without them we would be lost, not only that, it’s because of mistakes that brilliant innovations and discoveries happen so many times, therefore, if I had a forum of my own, there would be no moderators or moderating there. I’m not kidding. I could never ever play with another’s copyright. Besides, letting life take its own course is the best way to pay respect and pay homage to life.
Benna:
You know I recently got banned, but after some reflection I had a few realizations.
If Ben pays for the site then he has a lawful right to discriminate. Since we don’t have to be here its our fault to become offended at getting posts erased or banned. Think about it.
Do we have to be here? Ben owes us nothing. We’re not forced to be here, and can leave at any time.
Xanderman, why haven’t you replied regarding the issue of your sneaky act?
Pureasonist,
What “sneaky act” are you talking about?