I wish we could have a tip jar for the mods. No one thought a week ago, 172 pages and after tomorrow's new info, there will probably be another 50 pages.
Thank you many times for your work. May you get tons of pixie dust on each and every trip you take.
I've been a mod on other forums in the past; my first turn as a mod was in 1997 (I'm old. They dust me off a couple of times a year, and take me out of the museum, and let me warm my bones in the sun at Disney World LOL)
The reason most folks take on the task of being a mod is because we are passionate about the topic at hand. Most of the time, it is someone who is personally knee-deep into the topic, and not going anywhere else, anytime soon. If you become a mod, you do it knowing you are not going to get paid, that there will be trolls, tempers and terrible days when you can't bear to look at how many new posts there are... you just have to jump in and start reading. But you are also there for those times when you really help someone. For the moments when you can guide someone to the information they need, or for when you can help them untangle a particularly thorny problem. You do it because you know that there are always new folks seeking the very information that you have to share - most often earned and learned through personal experience - and you can hopefully help them avoid any pitfalls you had, as well as have an easier time overall because you walked through before them.
It's not an easy job, it's not a glamorous job, and it's not one that folks do because it's so much fun. I can't speak directly for our mods here, but I'm willing to bet it's their passion and their desire to help others that drives them to get up and log on every day.
We are uniquely fortunate here, because our mods are not just subject-level experts, they are professionals, with real-world, real-life hands-on, daily experience. They (and their families) live this, every day, like all of us do. If you respect nothing else here, respect that. They know of what they speak.
So, the next time one of our mods asks us to refrain from speculation, or to not engage in a game of "my problem is worse than your problem" we don't need a tip jar as much as... simply doing what they have asked us to do will go a *long* way towards putting a smile on their faces.
And saying "Thank you" once in a while doesn't hurt, either.
Thank you, Sue. Thank you Judy. And thank you to your families; they share you with us, and never hear how much we appreciate them as well.