Bluelight inner workings

PepperSocks

PepperSocks

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
6,564
Location
Too far from good ski hills
I'm just a curious nerd. I UTFSE'd but didn't find anything.

Just wondering what can mods and crew actually see? I know they can view what thread you're reading but what else? Can they track your IP to see if you're lurking?

How much power do admins actually have? Can they get into the servers and tinker with the deep dark bowels of the site or is that done by an engineer? Are admins still anonymous to the web hosting service or is their information on file? Do they need technical knowledge of network systems or are they just a highly powerful forum moderator? How much damage to the site could they do if they ever felt like it for whatever reason? I suppose they must be highly trusted to obtain such power; do they have to go to an IRL meeting and meet the higher powers before becoming admins? Is there another level of power higher than an admin that we never see? I know it's the admins that activate moderator accounts but who activates an admin account? Another admin? and engineer?

I've heard an engineer would be able to read anything passing through the server including PMs; can admins do this? If law enforcement wanted to see a person's PMs, get their IP address and subsequently their ISP and then physical address would they be able to?

I hope this isn't classified information or anything. If there's anything I missed that you think my nerdy mind would interested in please include it in your reply. :)
 
Sorry about the delay, to answer as best I can.

  • Only senior staff can see IP addresses and they are flushed after a short period.
  • Engineers have access to the server and can read all the raw data, including private messages.
  • We have never had cause to ask them to do so, so far. Member privacy is paramount on BL.
  • Admins can only read PMs by changing a users password, which would be discovered at next login
  • Admins and engineers are not anonymous to the web hosting service
  • How much damage could one of us do: we could pretty much trash everything
  • Admins activate other admin accounts
  • Admins are appointed at secret ceremonies in Basel, Switzerland and undergo an initiation ceremony that involves the letters 'B' and 'L' being tattooed on their butt cheeks. (I just realised this actually says 'BOL'. :\)
  • Mods have visibility of pretty much everything in their forums and view and post in the staff forums. The smods have their own forum.
  • BL Crew have no extra visibility over members
  • Admins only can see users who are "invisible"

I hope the answers are sufficient. :)
 
One thing I might add to Hoptis' list; moderators can also read deleted posts and threads. :)

Admins are appointed at secret ceremonies in Basel, Switzerland and undergo an initiation ceremony that involves the letters 'B' and 'L' being tattooed on their butt cheeks. (I just realised this actually says 'BOL'. )
Click to expand...

:D:D Nice. I knew you guys were weird; just not THAT weird.
 
Not at this time, other than any built-in stat abilities of the site software or it's natural add-ons, and I'll be the first to tell you those are damn thin on usability. Essentially it is used to generate those posting statistics maintained in ANNOUNCEMENTS. But if anyone were to go to either vbulletin.com (for the site software) or vbulletin.org (where many coders create add-ons) you'll see what the current software is capable of and limited to. Not all add-ons are used by us, but posting which ones we use would be somewhat silly as we are often trying new ones or removing older ones and such a list would become dated and useless.

Back to the original question - web statistics we are using none right now. Even google analytics is way underutilized by us....but maybe more in the future, depending upon when the admin have time for it.
 
Thanks hoptis :)

hoptis said:
[*]Admins are appointed at secret ceremonies in Basel, Switzerland and undergo an initiation ceremony that involves the letters 'B' and 'L' being tattooed on their butt cheeks. (I just realised this actually says 'BOL'. :\)
Click to expand...

haha, I take it by your outlandish sarcasm; No IRL meetings? Or are they in the basement of Hoffman's old house? :)
 
Moderators, senior staff, and admins can also view reported posts and warnings of all users. We also receive reports of who is banned, and why.

Ive always wondered what special privileges johnboy has... hmmm.
 
^^^Kinda like the Girls Gone Wild owners... :D

Does he have admin access, or considered an admin? or does he let others deal with it?
 
^^^
Nice writeup!!!

I think it would really cool if somebody posted about the history of bluelight, like how it came about, history of who ran it, styles it endured, and other things of interest.

Shouldn't the two starting admins at least hold the crew tag (including you IJ)? lol
 
And oh yeah: I've wondered this for awhile. Are people like Sebastians_ghost (MAPS.org) and fire (Erowid) considered staff?

And I can't say ive ever seen an engineer online posting. Are they active?
 
Ya, "ruski" He's an engineer. I saw a few posts by him in pillreports discussion. He sure doens't post much though.

A full story about Bluelight's history would be sweet. You can tell it still revolves around MDMA/ecstasy. When you search "Bluelight" in google the description is "A message board discussing MDMA and other drugs" or something of that effect. The MDMA clearinghouse history still shows through.

and the EZ test banner at the top of course.
 
as far as the BL Crew tag is concerned, it's up to ex-staff to request it, it's not something that is 'forced' on people automatically. i doubt if jase or skydancer have been here recently enough to notice this latest phase of using this tag. (it was around years ago, then it was dropped after a software upgrade, and now it's been back for the past year or so.)

[if you want it, IJ, hit me up. ;)]

you should have a read through the greenlighter's guide (linked in the big green box at the top of Support. :)

The origins of Bluelight

by Anonymous with contributions from Jase, johnboy, skydancer and xtcxtc

Beginning in 1997, there was a small message board hosted on bluelight.net called the MDMA Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse was a side project for the owner of a design company called Bluelight Designs in West Palm Beach, Florida. The message board could only hold a few threads before they scrolled off the board and could not be retrieved.

Nevertheless, a small but dedicated number of people were regular participants and it felt like a close community. Someone suggested that a more permanent home be created so the message board could be stable and the content could be better managed.

The New Bluelight was created in May 1999 as a new home for the MDMA Clearinghouse participants. The "bluelight.nu" domain was registered in June 1999. Once the technical details were finalized, "The New Bluelight" opened for business and most of the crowd from MDMA Clearinghouse migrated to the new forums.

In October of 2005 the domain was switched to "bluelight.ru".

At least two different kinds of message board software (DCForum and wwwboard.cgi) were used between May 1999 and October 1999. There are no posts remaining from that time period. "The New Bluelight" changed software again in October 1999 and has operated continuously ever since then. From that time, Bluelight has grown from a small underground forum to one of the largest message boards of all time.

At some point the MDMA Clearinghouse collapsed and disappeared, although historic screen shots of the front page are still available through . While there have been many changes, Bluelight is still maintained by volunteers and a strong community spirit continues to evolve.
 
^^^
Ive read that, but i was talking about something more specific, like who ran it, and what it was like (style, etc.)
 
I didn't want to touch this with a 20 foot poll, but I thought u said you didn't want it?
 
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