Fellow Crunchers

It has become obvious that communications amongst and to the current moderators can no longer be considered secure and confidential. I do not know, at this time, if we have been hacked or infiltrated by a mole. Eric Korpela is working to determine the source of this problem.

In the meanwhile, should you have reason to contact the current moderators, please know that your communications are being read by “other(s).” NEVER use your personal e-mail address to contact the moderators. For your own protection, always use our personal messaging system or the red X.

I am quite angry about this new development. As Seti@home users, you have every right to be angry as well. I believe that users should to be able to discuss concerns with moderators in confidence. I believe your moderators should be able to discuss issues privately amongst themselves. Some posts to our boards are not easily identified as “permissible” or “not permissible”. Moderators should be able to discuss questionable posts openly and honestly, without needing to think twice about how they phrase something. The fact that your moderators, once again, have to work around eavesdropper(s) is quite upsetting to me.

I do not think moderation is impossible under these circumstances. I feel no need to close the boards over this development. You are gifted with a thoughtful, reflective and adaptable group of moderators. At the end of each day, I do not believe that anything your moderators say to each other will not hold up to public scrutiny. It is cumbersome to moderate without confidentiality, but it is not impossible.

Your moderators are all volunteers and they give generously of their time and talents. Their privacy and your privacy are once again being violated. When we determine the person or people responsible for this breach, more terminations of user contracts will occur. Listening in on the private conversations of others is reprehensible. Any user who is caught doing this will no longer be welcome in this community.

Under circumstances like these, tempers flare high and suspicions run rampant. If you would like to comment on this situation, please do so in the political thread entitled “Termination of User Contracts”, since this is a related issue. Do not make public accusations about somebody being a “mole”. Comments containing accusations will be hidden by moderators.

If you have information regarding this situation that you feel I should know, please send me a personal message. Please do not contact me with suspicions only. I will not act on suspicions.

Most sincerely,
Wilma