PaulM: In answer to your question (which, by the way, was rather prejudicially stated), I read the thread. I even posted to it. And, of course, my message was brilliant and insightful, but I don't regret that it's gone.

Of course, I can't be sure that a few more messages weren't added to that thread after I read it and before Joe deleted it, but I DID read the portion that revealed a "back door" to Mudcat. In short, there is (or was) a page that would give anyone the power to mess with certain things (for good or ill) if only you knew the URL of that page. There are (or were) no links to it.

The problem is apparently gone now, because I see the URL no longer works the way it did. I assume Max either deleted the page or gave it a new URL. I also assume Max is now working on a more secure way to restore the powers in question to a few trusted members—probably fewer than before.

That page did NOT include the power to view other members' Personal Messages, which is what I think the discussion was mainly about.

What I don't understand is why anyone would reveal this type of information in a public discussion thread. You might as well put a bin of box cutters in an airport concourse, with a sign "Take One."

Mudcat is very much like the small town in which nobody locks their doors. (There really are such places.) Our security depends mainly on the good will of the vast majority of our members, and the fact that people of evil intent have very little reason to be interested in Mudcat.