s/o "I am a DCPCS employee, posting from a DCPCS preschool. (It is naptime and my kids are asleep)"

[Anonymous]

Um, Jeff hasn't changed a bit. If you're surprised that he's used IP address info to snark, you haven't been on DCUM long at all.

This is Jeff (and Maria)'s show, and Jeff is pretty open about the fact that he's a capricious moderator.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Thousands of people trust you because of your past writings where you have so often written of the importance of ethics. Yet today you have abused your power as DCUMs Adminstrator by tracing a person's IP Address. Then to make matters worse you called the OP a hypocrite. What could be more hypocritical than promising posters anominity and then tracking them down by their IP Address.

Now all you have to say is Blah, blah, blah

Whatever happened to the ethical and intellectual Jeff we used know??

Wow, this is quite the freak out. Are you sure that "anonymity" means what you think it does? In what way is the poster any less anonymous than she previously was? The OP, while at work, not only posted a message criticizing another user for posting at work, but then started an entirely new thread repeating the allegation. Calling that hypocrisy is simply stating the obvious. Haven't you heard the expression about glass houses?

As far as "tracing" and IP address is concerned, the addresses are displayed right on the screen below where it says "anonymous." I have been looking at these addresses daily for 10 years. I can tell a Verizon, RCN, or Comcast address immediately as easy as I can recognize my own name. These days, VZW and AT&T addresses are nearly as recognizable. If a poster is not using one of those addresses, it's almost guaranteed to be from a work address. It's not like I have really do anything to "trace" an address.

I noticed that you still didn't take issue with the OP starting a thread solely aimed at bashing another poster.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thousands of people trust you because of your past writings where you have so often written of the importance of ethics. Yet today you have abused your power as DCUMs Adminstrator by tracing a person's IP Address. Then to make matters worse you called the OP a hypocrite. What could be more hypocritical than promising posters anominity and then tracking them down by their IP Address.

Now all you have to say is Blah, blah, blah

Whatever happened to the ethical and intellectual Jeff we used know??

Wow, this is quite the freak out. Are you sure that "anonymity" means what you think it does? In what way is the poster any less anonymous than she previously was? The OP, while at work, not only posted a message criticizing another user for posting at work, but then started an entirely new thread repeating the allegation. Calling that hypocrisy is simply stating the obvious. Haven't you heard the expression about glass houses?

As far as "tracing" and IP address is concerned, the addresses are displayed right on the screen below where it says "anonymous." I have been looking at these addresses daily for 10 years. I can tell a Verizon, RCN, or Comcast address immediately as easy as I can recognize my own name. These days, VZW and AT&T addresses are nearly as recognizable. If a poster is not using one of those addresses, it's almost guaranteed to be from a work address. It's not like I have really do anything to "trace" an address.

I noticed that you still didn't take issue with the OP starting a thread solely aimed at bashing another poster.

Given this additional information, I'm with Jeff here. It would have been better if he'd said she was "most likely" or "almost certainly" posting from work, but whatever.

[Anonymous]

What about when Jeff called out the Govt worker? I think he called out specifically the agency (state dept or something similar).

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised anyone thinks they're guaranteed full anonymity here or anywhere else on the Internet.

[Anonymous]

Jeff. Stop blaming the OP for your unethical acts. Whatever the OP said is unrelated to the fact you used inside information available only to you to make the OP feel vulnerable. Stop being a defensive heel about this matter. Admit the oblivious. You used your power to be abusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff. Stop blaming the OP for your unethical acts. Whatever the OP said is unrelated to the fact you used inside information available only to you to make the OP feel vulnerable. Stop being a defensive heel about this matter. Admit the oblivious. You used your power to be abusive.

If you do not like it, then don't post. You seem quite concerned about Jeff being unethical yet you continue using the site. Why?

[Anonymous]

Again you return your focus/blame to the OP and me. This forum may be owned by Jeff, but none the less it is a public forum. So the question should not be "why do I continue the use the forum". The question should be why has Jeff betrayed his loyal followers by instituting abusive behaviors as was the case tonight when he tried to intimidate a poster who essentially made by all DCUM standards - a harmless remark. Jeff - you made a mistake. Admit your mistake and to regain the trust of your loyal followers prose you will not engage on that practice again unless it seems to be a public safety issue.

[Anonymous]

Promise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff. Stop blaming the OP for your unethical acts. Whatever the OP said is unrelated to the fact you used inside information available only to you to make the OP feel vulnerable. Stop being a defensive heel about this matter. Admit the oblivious. You used your power to be abusive.

Why is it unethical? There are plenty of msg boards all over the Internet that display one's IP address when they post a message to the board. From his post above, it appears that he as the admin is able to see the IP address info as he says it displays under username but I am guessing he has choose to make that field not viewable to users or the field is not viewable to users ever. He also stated that he identified the person as being at work by process of elimination but that doesn't guarantee he is correct.

[Anonymous]

Sure there are many bad things in this world, but Jeff has always claimed to take the high road. He didn't do that tonight. He took privy information and used it against a person using his forum. That is totally unethical.

Stop blaming others or stating that other websites are bad. Jeff needs to tell us if tracking down IP addresses has always been his normal practice and if he will continue doing it in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again you return your focus/blame to the OP and me. This forum may be owned by Jeff, but none the less it is a public forum. So the question should not be "why do I continue the use the forum". The question should be why has Jeff betrayed his loyal followers by instituting abusive behaviors as was the case tonight when he tried to intimidate a poster who essentially made by all DCUM standards - a harmless remark. Jeff - you made a mistake. Admit your mistake and to regain the trust of your loyal followers prose you will not engage on that practice again unless it seems to be a public safety issue.

But the Frequently Asked Questions page--which hasn't changed in at least two years--predicts something close to what Jeff did to this OP.

DCUM Administrators reserve the right to reveal both IP addresses and details learned from them either publicly or privately in connection with abuse or misuse of the DCUM website. Abuse and misuse include, but are not limited to, trolling (posting inflammatory messages in order to elicit a response), sock puppeting (posting multiple messages as if you were a different poster in each case), spamming, and chronic rudeness.

See http://www.dcurbanmom.com/faq.html

Don't ignore the FAQ and then feel betrayed because something described there actually took place.

[Anonymous]

Where is OP?lol

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting the DCUM rules and regulations because you further clarify the fact that Jeff abused his power. The rules state that he can use IP Addresses if the post trolling or sock puppeting, which the OP was not. The OP was mild by DCUM standards.

Jeff abused his power not because the OP did anything that was wrong, but because he had a philosophical difference of opinion.

Jeff you abused your power. Just admit that you did something wrong, promise to change and make today a better day. Returned to being the way you used to be.

[Anonymous]

Seriously? An "abuse of power?"

You need another hobby.