Welcome a new overlord!

I’m very pleased to say that Mung has very kindly agreed to join the admin team.

Thank you so much Mung, and welcome!

In other news (?) – I finally managed to catch up (nearly) sufficiently on my work back-log to take a vacation, but unfortunately (but unsurprisingly!) the internet connection is very poor.  We are walking the Coast-to-Coast route from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. Will post some pics!ffff

And I look forward (?) to reading the Squawk Box comments on my return – and letting you know my responses and thoughts.  Hang in there, guys!

66 thoughts on “Welcome a new overlord!

  1. When your expectations of Mung are low, he lives down to them. After I started assuming better things about him, Mung turned out to be a pretty good guy.

    I think Elizabeth has made a good decision. I ask those of you who have had long-running battles with Mung to try treating him with kindness, and see if you don’t get the same in return from him.

  2. Tom English: When your expectations of Mung are low, he lives down to them. After I started assuming better things about him, Mung turned out to be a pretty good guy.

    I too have come to appreciate a different side of Mung. I suspect this new addition to the admin team might be a good thing going forward.

  3. I’ve always appreciated the way that Mung has pointed out the ridiculousness of our feeling of self-importance.

  4. When people use funny names i forget attributes about them however i remember Mung as okay and welcome him .
    i like hiking too, for many reasons, and applaud Elizabeths journey. there are great youtibe shows of english hiking adventures.

  5. A friend and colleague did that very hike last year. He said he kept track of the different beers he drank, and they came out to 62 different brands. I said “and I bet you can’t buy any of those over here” and he acknowledged that this was, sadly, true.

  6. I think getting a theist to be a mod is a good idea, and I’m sure mung will be fine. Not sure why anybody would want the gig though.

  7. Acartia: I’ve always appreciated the way that Mung has pointed out the ridiculousness of our feeling of self-importance.

    Not counting all the times that he has argued the ridiculousness of perfectly relevant, cogent and illuminating arguments.

  8. Joe Felsenstein: I said “and I bet you can’t buy any of those over here” and he acknowledged that this was, sadly, true.

    Hey, you can’t even buy Watney’s here.

  9. Joe Felsenstein: Not counting all the times that he has argued the ridiculousness of perfectly relevant, cogent and illuminating arguments.

    I simply haven’t been interested in the kinds of things Mung is interested in. But if others are, that’s okay.

  10. Joe Felsenstein: Not counting all the times that he has argued the ridiculousness of perfectly relevant, cogent and illuminating arguments.

    There would be nothing to do if there were no one wrong on the internet.

  11. After I started assuming better things about him, Mung turned out to be a pretty good guy.

    Thanks Tom!

    Thank you Elizabeth.

    And thanks to others for their kind words.

  12. John Harshman: Hey, you can’t even buy Watney’s here.

    I sincerely hope that’s true everywhere. Watney’s Red Barrel. Still gives me nightmares. And certainly never came anywhere near a barrel. It was the birth of the near death of live beer. Though, thank God, there’s been a revival of real ale, partly due to the abominable Red Barrel.

  13. Joe Felsenstein:
    A friend and colleague did that very hike last year.He said he kept track of the different beers he drank, and they came out to 62 different brands.I said “and I bet you can’t buy any of those over here” and he acknowledged that this was, sadly, true.

    And how many different ones did he have on the second day?

  14. John Harshman: I quite like Watney’s Cream Stout, though.

    John,
    I admire you immensely…

    but cream stout? It was brewed for invalids and elderly ladies. with added lactose for sweetness. And you can still get it? My mind is truly boggled.

    The nec plus ultra of milk stout!, the name coming from lactose or milk sugar which yeast doesn’t ferment, giving the beer its characteristic taste. I guess cream stout purports to be a superior product to milk stout.

  15. Mung has been asking some tough questions over on UD – questions worthy of a skeptic. I think he deserves a chance if he can try to avoid saying “bite me” too often.

  16. Alan Fox: And you can still get it?

    No, I can’t. And I do confess that I like a bit of sweetness in a beer. Plenty of Belgian ales have it, many stouts and porters have it, there’s a French beer called Pelforth that I like too (and that I also can’t get). Look down on me all you will.

  17. Congratulations, Mung. I’m glad your application was indeed meant seriously.

    However, based on the last week or so, it looks like you may not have Nixon to kick around anymore. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing from where you now sit.

  18. That is what I’m talking about !!!!!!!!

    whoop whoop whoop

    thumbs up all over the place

    peace

  19. Let us assume that the Mung we get is a Good Mung. I see that over at UD he is holding EricMH to account for unsupported assertions.

    I’m going to guess that the way EricMH has natural selection unable to increase function is that when there are differences in fitness based on function, he considers those fitness differences to be an input of outside information, and thus the increase of function during natural selection does not contradict his proposed law.

    Mung is asking tough but fair questions there and I hope Mung gets an answer there.

    BruceS to Mung: based on the last week or so, it looks like you may not have Nixon to kick around anymore.

    Is that a statement about what has/is/will happen to Mung at UD?

  20. Joe Felsenstein:

    BruceS to Mung: based on the last week or so, it looks like you may not have Nixon to kick around anymore.

    Joe F: Is that a statement about what has/is/will happen to Mung at UD?

    No, it’s about the TSZ. I never look at UD.

  21. Two years ago, at the welcoming reception for a week-long course that I help run around here, there was a Belgian scientist. I had brought Fremont IPA for folks to drink, and he seemed happy to drink it. I said that with hundreds of breweries in Belgium he was probably not going to be very impressed with anything over here.

    He surprised me by saying that actually Northwest citrus-flavored IPAs had become a favorite in Belgium, and he was very happy to drink that.

  22. So Alan comes on this thread about a new moderator, and the only thing Alan talks about is beer. Not a single word about welcoming Mung.

    What a classless putz, er I mean Admin, as always.

    Welcome Mung. I hope you suspend Alan soon for making moderator decisions when he is not a moderator.

  23. phoodoo: So Alan comes on this thread about a new moderator, and the only thing Alan talks about is beer. Not a single word about welcoming Mung.

    Somebody gave Mung the needed permissions to be a moderator. It wasn’t me. And I checked several times after Elizabeth’s post, and Mung still did not have the permissions. So my best guess is that Alan set that up — which seems like a pretty good way of welcoming Mung.

    Come to think of it, I have not yet welcomed Mung. I think we have all been taking it for granted that Mung was going to be joining us, and have been privately communicating that to Elizabeth.

    A hearty welcome to Mung as a new member of the admin team.

  24. phoodoo: So Alan comes on this thread about a new moderator, and the only thing Alan talks about is beer. Not a single word about welcoming Mung.

    Thanks for the reminder. Welcome, Mung, to the admin crew.

  25. Joe Felsenstein: He surprised me by saying that actually Northwest citrus-flavored IPAs had become a favorite in Belgium, and he was very happy to drink that.

    When in Rome…

    I visited my brother in Canada a while ago and was really taken with one particular micro-brewed beer. Creemore, I remember it as. *Googles* Still in business

    Provenance is the thing. Honesty in production and labelling.

  26. Corneel: I like kriek lambic beer on a warm summer’s day.

    Never come across lambic beer before. Sounds interesting. Have Belgian neighbours who split their time between here and Belgium. Must ask them if they’d mind bringing a bottle to try.

    ETA: The Carrefour supermarket chain sell it, apparently. And Witte Lambic, which sounds a bit like Berliner Weißbier, which I tried many years ago on a student trip to Berlin.

  27. Alan Fox: And Witte Lambic, which sounds a bit like Berliner Weißbier, which I tried many years ago on a student trip to Berlin.

    If unsweetened, lambiek will be sour indeed, as the brewing involves spontaneous (!) fermentation. If you like your sour beers, you can try geuze, which is a blend of young and old lambiek. Kriek lambiek has cherries (krieken) added during the brewing and most modern brews are sweetened, so that is a bit more accessible.

  28. Alan Fox: Thanks for the reminder. Welcome, Mung, to the admin crew.

    Which is it, is Mung a moderator or an Admin?

    In your desire to try to bullshit people you think are dumb enough to believe you, you suggested that being an admin and being a moderator were two different things.

  29. Neil Rickert: Somebody gave Mung the needed permissions to be a moderator.It wasn’t me.And I checked several times after Elizabeth’s post, and Mung still did not have the permissions.So my best guess is that Alan set that up — which seems like a pretty good way of welcoming Mung.

    Come to think of it, I have not yet welcomed Mung.I think we have all been taking it for granted that Mung was going to be joining us, and have been privately communicating that to Elizabeth.

    A hearty welcome to Mung as a new member of the admin team.

    Are you suggesting it wasn’t Lizzie’s decision, it was Alan’s?

    Is this a joke?

  30. phoodoo: Which is it, is Mung a moderator or an Admin?

    Admin. He has all the requisite superpowers.

    In your desire to try to bullshit people you think are dumb enough to believe you, you suggested that being an admin and being a moderator were two different things.

    They are indeed. Moderating is part of being an admin here. Moderating involves monitoring discussion and maybe moving rule-breaking comments. Admin duties cover keeping the site operational (or fixing it after breaking it 🙁 ).

  31. phoodoo: Are you suggesting it wasn’t Lizzie’s decision, it was Alan’s?

    Of course it was Lizzie’s decision. I merely passed Mung’s offer on to her and switched the permissions. There was a brief discussion involving Lizzie and all other admins regarding accepting Mung’s offer. There were no objections.

  32. Alan Fox: Of course it was Lizzie’s decision. I merely passed Mung’s offer on to her and switched the permissions. There was a brief discussion involving Lizzie and all other admins regarding accepting Mung’s offer. There were no objections.

    Right, so why does Neil feel that you deserve some credit for doing the right thing there? You didn’t do anything.

    Secondly, so if being admin means being a moderator, when you said you quit being a moderator, but continued to be an admin, that would be either totally illogical, or a lie. Or both just as likely.

  33. phoodoo: Right, so why does Neil feel that you deserve some credit for doing the right thing there? You didn’t do anything.

    If that is what Neil is doing, rather than just clarifying, you’ll have to ask him. As I said, all I did was pass on Mung’s offer and deal with the technicalities after Lizzie accepted the offer.

    Secondly, so if being admin means being a moderator, when you said you quit being a moderator, but continued to be an admin, that would be either totally illogical, or a lie.Or both just as likely.

    I’ve been an admin here since quite early on. When Lizzie was around on a regular basis, she would usually act in moderator capacity so there was little need for my input. It’s only during her later long absences that I have become more active in moderating.

    For the last couple of years roughly, there has been more discussion on moderation and (not least because of the Alurker incident) I felt I needed a break (and Vincent and DNA_Jock came on board). Lizzie asked if I would remain as caretaker admin and until the recent “liar” OP I have taken a back seat on moderating. I don’t see any illogicality in that, nor am I lying.

  34. Alan Fox: If that is what Neil is doing, rather than just clarifying, you’ll have to ask him. As I said, all I did was pass on Mung’s offer and deal with the technicalities after Lizzie accepted the offer.

    I’ve been an admin here since quite early on. When Lizzie was around on a regular basis, she would usually act in moderator capacity so there was little need for my input. It’s only during her later long absences that I have become more active in moderating.

    For the last couple of years roughly, there has been more discussion on moderation and (not least because of the Alurker incident) I felt I needed a break (and Vincent and DNA_Jock came on board). Lizzie asked if I would remain as caretaker admin and until the recent “liar” OP I have taken a back seat on moderating. I don’t see any illogicality in that, nor am I lying.

    Alan, you continue to obfuscate in a most unseemly manner. Are you a moderator or not-you said you were quitting as a moderator. Your announcement that you were quitting as a moderator actually meant you were taking a backseat (whatever the heck that means) but still being a moderator when you feel like taking out grudges, or when you pretend you care about libel laws except for when you don’t care about libel laws?

    If you take moderator actions that is being a moderator Alan. Its not you being a backseat driver. You tried to squirm you way out of returning as a moderator by saying you are only an admin now. Which is both ridiculous and deceptive. Being an Admin IS being a moderator.

    Who begged you to return. When will you leave?

  35. Alan Fox,

    What about keiths situation made you feel that the other moderators couldn’t handle it, other than that you just don’t like keiths, so you wanted to take revenge/ You didn’t trust the others to do the right thing according to the rules, so you decided your judgement is more important than other moderators?

    What is it about the other moderators that you don’t trust them so much?

  36. Hey Neil and Jock, how does it make you feel to know that Alan thinks you are both incompetent fools?

  37. phoodoo: Alan, you continue to obfuscate in a most unseemly manner. Are you a moderator or not-you said you were quitting as a moderator.

    Why are you trying to make this complicated.

    “Moderator” is a particular role, a way of participating.
    “Administrator” is a different role, more in the background, less visible.

    It happens that the set of permissions for “moderator” is the same as the set of permissions for “administrator”.

    When Alan said he was taking a break from moderating, it simply meant that he was changing how he participated. It implied that he was no longer closely monitoring posts for problems. But if he happened to see a problem, he still had the ability to do something.

    This is all an informal arrangement. You are trying to make it too formal and too legalistic.

  38. phoodoo: Hey Neil and Jock, how does it make you feel to know that Alan thinks you are both incompetent fools?

    I haven’t seen any evidence of that.

    As far as I know, Alan thought — based on his clock reading — that I was asleep at the time that he noticed a particular event. And he was correct; I was asleep at that time.

  39. phoodoo: What is it about the other moderators that you don’t trust them so much?

    As Neil said, other admins were in other time zones. And the thread author was utterly impervious to suggestions he should modify the OP. The evidence is in the thread comments.

    This is getting beyond banter. If you want to continue querying moderating policy, do it in the moderation issues thread, or squawkbox.

  40. colewd: A new sheriff in town and no new comments in guano

    I’m not in any big rush.

    But I did notice a plethora of off-topic comments in this thread so I may need to get busy.

    😉

  41. Greetings oh great overlord Mung. You are the smartest of the smart, the wisest of the wise, the most learned of the learned, the most logical of the logical. TSZ shall henceforth be a beacon of light and knowledge to all mankind from this day forth because of your reign. Peoples from all over the planet shall be blessed by the knowledge that flows out our keyboards onto their computer screens while you set the standard for all admins of all websites in cyberspace.

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