Is there something we don't know that only the inside people know here?

Possibly.

But, who cares? Except for maybe the private messages bit.

I’m not a mod, but I’m pretty sure the answers to (most of) your questions are yes. I’m not sure if they can read deleted PM (by the way, not all mods can read those), and I don’t know if they can see the people observing a thread. They could leak any information, but they claim they won’t.

I with @jjmah. All non issues. :-)

Yes “they” by that I mean Andrew, Ben, and Tim [and perhaps Augustlan remotely] have access to the servers and the analytics and could track those things if they had either the time or a damn good reason to. But they usually have neither and everyone’s comings and goings are lost in the whirl of too much data.

I wonder why there has been such a stream of slightly paranoid questions lately. I know they happen regularly and I even asked one:: were those cute little messages in upper right aimed at me personally? But there seem to be so many more and of an ‘us’ and ‘them’ nature since the changes in Fluther or is it since a large influx of new people while these discussions of change were going on?

I don’t mind at all. – As long as they don’t tell my clients.

Only Andrew, Ben and Tim and augustlan can read PMs and they only do so if there is a complaint issue.

The mods do know who flags something and who gives lurve, but they don’t pay that much attention to it (especially the latter) unless it is relevant to something.

@anartist I don’t know if there have been more of such questions lately, but let’s suppose there are. I think both of your explanations probably play a role in it, although I think it’s probably more about semi new users than the other reasons. Semi-new (more than 1000 and less than 5000 lurve) have been around long enough to make friends and understand what is going on. Suddenly they realize that they might say things to others they have become close to and they don’t want those things seen by anyone else.

My advice to anyone who is writing stuff they don’t want anyone else to see is to take it to a private email correspondence. That kind of stuff can still be seen by a third party if someone steals a password, or if the government demands it, but at least that is fewer parties than on fluther, where it is possible for managers to see private messages, although extremely unlikely they will look. Although if you plan on making trouble, there is a much greater chance they will look.

@wundayatta there’s always the good rule of thumb never write anything online you wouldn’t mind being published in the newspaper or your mother seeing [salty language overlooked]

@anartist Oh – but how much more boring life would be then!

@janbb My mother was very open to lots of things and occasionally shocking in her views, and the papers can clean up my opinions but can’t change them. There are lots of underground papers.

@anartist Did we have the same Mom?

@janbb I knew there was a reason I liked you right off the bat!

As a Web developer, I can assure you that if you go deep enough inside, the answer is yes to all but the question about leaking info. I think that would be self defeating and improbable, yet certainly possible. A good way to deal with activity of the internet is to assume that everything short of credit card info and personal data disclosed to Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) compliant sites is potentially going to be seen by others. Even PCI compliant sites are vulnerable. Often it’s an employee on the inside who initiates the identity theft.

A good rule of thumb is to consider the Internet the worlds very worst hiding place. If there are things about you that you would never want your neighbors to know, don’t post them on the Internet.

[mod says]
-Could they know who just come to fluther and how long each user spent their time here?
Mods can’t, but I’m pretty sure analytics can be used (and are) to understand how the site is doing, and how modifications to the site affect users.
-Could they know who flag who? Absolutely.
-Could they know who lurve who? Yes.
-Could they read our PM,how about our deleted PM? Only a select few can read these, and only in the event of a complaint. For instance, I cannot read anyone else’s PMs. As to deleted PMs, I bet that they are stored, somewhere, but much harder to access.
-Could they know the people who hanging in a thread? (When no one write a post,it just shows the number of active member)
I don’t know the answer to this one. Does it matter?
—-Will they leak one of these information if someone ask them about it?— NO.

In the end, just like everything else in the world, the success of a place like this depends on trust. The owners must maintain a good reputation or everyone else will bail out instantly. Relationships work on trust. The monetary system works on trust. Nothing can really work without that fragile idea in force.

There is another factor working in our favor, and that is the issue of numbers. There are too many of us and too few of them. It is possible to gather enormous amounts of data, but analyzing it is a horrendous task. Everything we look for is a needle in the haystack. Do you computers help us locate them more quickly? Perhaps.

The trick is to always look like hay. You might be a needle, but if you look like hay, even the computer doesn’t really provide much help.

Look innocent, young man. Look innocent! ;-)

Or look so outrageously guilty that people can’t imagine you actually being guilty)

Thank you for those who took their time to answer this question! I’m just curious about how fluther really works(my personal observation isn’t enough) and I thought it would be rude if I personally and suddenly ask a mod about these things so I just have to make this question. I need to know everything I should know whether or not it’s an important information. I’m a curious person after all.

I agree with @wundayatta that it comes down to trust. I have no basis to mistrust those with superuser privileges. They seem like trustworthy people. I choose not to worry about it.

i agree with @Dr_Lawrence. I like and trust the administrators of this site and have no reason to distrust or dislike the moderators either. Whatever peccadilloes we may get into here, I don’t think Bendrewim is hawking them to Rubicon Project or other advertising databases [much less calling up @worriedguy‘s clients]. It is unavoidable that the information is accessible; that is part of running a complex website. But I don’t lose any sleep over it.

I agree with @anartist who agreed with @Dr_Lawrence who agreed with @wundayatta ~

I agree with @shilolo. And @rebbel et al.

@augustlan
Good choice.

I agree with far too many people to type all their names.

I have seen some comments about Fluther members on facebook accounts that show up on a Google search, and been able to click on them and have access to the account, even though I do not have a facebook account myself.

There is a lot of gossip that goes on, and they apparently have no idea their comments are searchable.

I think something fishy is definitely going on here. For example, just now they said they ”want to be like me when they grow up” – hmmm.

The fishiest thing around here is zenele.

^ Agreed.