A ToO Conspiracy!

[bookworm]

Citizens of the Town of Odyssey, listen carefully. This is very important.
I have come across evidence of a conspiracy and coverup in the leadership of our community. I cannot keep this to myself anymore, the public must know the truth.
It is possible that I will be silenced for what I am about to reveal. In anticipation of this, I have passed the evidence on to a select group of trustworthy citizens that shall remain unnamed for their protection. I may be taken out, but the truth will survive.

I believe there is a secret moderator force among us with hidden privileges. Citizens that appear perfectly ordinary, but in reality have powers no one knows about.

Catspaw has been questioned about this, but she denies anything of the sort exists. This means either she is in on the coverup, or this is so big it’s beyond even her. Either way, this is a very dire situation. It’s very possible that this post will be removed by one of the overseers and no one will ever read it. But I must at least try to make the truth known.


I first discovered the existence of the shadow force just over a year ago when I saw The Top Crusader split and move several threads, when he was not a moderator. This incident was very cleverly just on the border of explainable, as the threads in question originated inside a faction he was in control of, allowing him to manipulate them inside that area before moving them out into the public forum. This explanation was good enough for me at first, and I pushed the incident to the back of my mind.

Then three months ago Sherlock moved, split, and locked some threads. She was also not a moderator at the time. This aroused my suspicions and caused me to recall the previous incident. With two similar occurrences I was now certain something was going on. I questioned Catspaw about it, but she said it was simply a phenomenon in which sometimes moderator privileges remain active for a period even though they were selected to be removed. This sounded reasonable, Sherlock had only recently been taken off the moderator force. Perhaps it was just a glitch. Again I pushed the incident back.

But now a third incident has surfaced. One that has no ready explanation. A couple months ago Jelly closed a report on a post. The post wasn’t in a faction, so that doesn’t explain how he had the ability. And he hasn’t been a moderator for several months, so it wasn’t residual privileges. The only explanation is that my initial suspicions were correct. There is a secret moderator force.


The way I see it, there are three possible scenarios. We need to determine which one we are in, quickly.

Scenario 1
When Shadowpaw became too busy to maintain an active presence here he appointed Catspaw as his successor. Or so we were meant to believe. In reality, he formed a secret group of citizens and gave them hidden privileges so they would be his eyes. Undetected by everyone, even our highest administrator, they roam the forums with the ability to do whatever they wish. To ensure their secret is never revealed they use their powers to remove any posts on the subject, and possibly even some citizens who figure out too much. Perhaps this is the reason members disappear from here, because they get too nosy.

Scenario 2
The same situation as the first scenario, except that Catspaw is in on the plot herself. If this is the case we’re all doomed. All references to this will be purged, as will the citizens with knowledge of it. Everything will continue to be covered up, and with the highest admin cooperating soon the idea will only be as that of a dream, if even that much of a notion survives.

Scenario 3
I misjudged the situation. There is a shadow moderator force, but their purpose is not sinister. It was actually put in place for our benefit. To ensure that there are always watchful eyes to keep the peace. To ensure that lawlessness does not break out between terms when there are no appointed mods. To ensure spam does not become out of control when green named mods are not online. We are allowed to have our facade of democracy, with the elected admins appointing a public moderating team, but underneath there is that force of hidden permanent moderators as a safety net. The secrecy is not maintained to be villainous, but to be benevolent. There is no reason for us to know of their existence, it would just add unnecessary complexity to our existence in this community.


I sincerely hope we are living in the third scenario, because if not I don’t know what will happen to me for bringing this forward. I could be threatened, punished, or worse. But whatever the case, I have no regrets. The members of this community deserve to know what is going on.

Citizens of the Town of Odyssey, do not be intimidated. Discover the truth!

[stingcameron]

I for one believe scenario one and or two. Some strange things have happened just like you have mentioned. And I will carry on the cause. lol

[Blitz]

Hmm time to find out the truth. Would you like a muffin

[stingcameron]

Also did you notice. At the bottom of main page it shows how many HIDDEN users have been online? So far there have an alarming 9 hidden users TODAY. That, for me proves it.

[Jehoshaphat]

How serious is this? If it is true then I hope that it is Scenario 3. Otherwise the ToO is on a downfall.

[stingcameron]

Downfall baby, Downfall.

[bookworm]

Here is the evidence of the conspiracy and coverup.

Incident 1:
The Top Crusader splits and moves several threads.
His name is green now, but don’t fooled. At the time this happened he was not a moderator.

Incident 2:
Sherlock moves, splits, and locks some threads.
This happened after she was removed from the moderator team.
Also, these activity logs have been hidden, proving that someone purposely covered it up.

Incident 3:
Jelly closes a report.
There is no explanation for this one. He must have hidden privileges.

So you can see there is definitely something going on. I don’t know exactly what or why, but something is.

[stingcameron]

My theory is that ONE and only ONE of the admins set up a secret force to control the ToO and use that force to eventually take over the Too!!!!! That way he has unremovable moderators that will block, delete, or close posts just like this one for fear the truth will get out!!! Keep on fighting ToO citizens!!

[Joanne]

WE ARE DOOMED!!

I can't tell if this is the beginning of a story arch, or a serious post...

[bookworm]

That’s very possible stingcameron. For now we just need to be careful and wait it out, see if anything happens. This might still just be a misunderstanding.

[stingcameron]

WE ARE DOOMED!!

I can't tell if this is the beginning of a story arch, or a serious post...

Oh it's serious alright serious, serious, SERIOUS!!! and the thing is something like this happened before and was completely dismissed, locked up, hidden, and deleted. Someone figured it out and the moment the truth was posted it was deleted only I saw for 3 or 4 seconds before it was removed. All I know about the post was that it had something to do about a giant conspiracy involving the ToO administration. There are 2 hidden users online NOW!!

[BlessedCheesemaker]

The log for Jelly's "incident" seems like a error to me. Usually the log will include a topic and forum link. His is the only one that I see that does not include that. Also is it possible to close a report that you make?

[Mockingbird]

Interesting... * muses quietly *

Strider moment, haha. =D

[Kenric]

That was incredibly entertaining to read . Oh, how I miss all of you! Wish there were more oldies still alive here.

[bookworm]

Good observation BC, you’re partially correct.
His closing the report did cause an error after the fact, thus the absence of the usually present additional information. I don’t know if you can close your own report, but even if you can that isn’t the case here, as Jelly was not the one that made that report.

[stingcameron]

This is looking more and more like a true conspiracy!

[~JCGJ~]

If there is a conspiracy, and this "Shadowforce" is trying so hard to keep hidden, why hasn't this thread been deleted (nearly three hours after its initial posting)?

[darcie]

I'm gonna say that Top and Sherlock's moderator actions were in factions in which they're the group leader (aka moderator). Or it's a conspiracy, because that would be more awesome. Whatever.

[American Eagle]

Wish there were more oldies still alive here.

Wait! Are you implying that some of the oldbies are not alive, and therefore dead? DEAD?

[Kenric]

Wish there were more oldies still alive here.

Wait! Are you implying that some of the oldbies are not alive, and therefore dead? DEAD?

LOL! We are all, indeed, alive, in the "we-live-in-the-real-world" sense of the word (at least I hope so.)
Perhaps, I should have said I wish we were more active. Aha! Yes. That seems quite befitting.