There are two levels of admins at TORN. The first are the sysadmins, often referred to as TPTB (the powers that be). These include Xoanon, Corvar, Calisuri, Tehanu, Leo, Pipe Smoke, and several other members of the TORN staff. They set up the site and its boards and control the working of same.

TPTB used to be the only folks who could delete a post. But in 2000, the boards got hit by repeated troll attacks. TPTB didn't have time to patrol the boards constantly. So they designated about a dozen of the old-time TORN regulars as "Forum Admins." These folks can also delete posts. The FAs represent various time zones around the world so there is always at least one on patrol.

The FAs follow the TORN Discussion Rules when deciding whether or not to delete a post:

No swearing, cursing, harassment or other such foolishness. Watch your language, please. And no attacking other posters. This is how flame wars start. There are plenty of boards where you can curse and insult others as much as you want. Not here.

If you post an image please do not make it larger than 50k and 480x360 pixels in size. The TORN server thanks you for obeying this one. Big pictures are also a problem for folks with dial-up connections as they take a long time to load.

No image banners or advertisements for other sites are permitted. Why? Because people want to talk about Tolkien, not your site. If you really want to advertise, the polite thing is to contact TPTB and offer to pay them to do so! (But FAs will ignore it if a regular poster puts a link to their site in their footer . . .)

Make sure you post according to the name of the Forum. IE, LOTR [Movie] discussion should be limited to the [Movie] Board. No cross-posts please (posting the same message in more than one forum). And please, no personal message posts to other TORNsibs, or "I'm bored, who's here?" posts. This is not a chat room. Your post should be of general interest.

Be friendly and patient with each other. After all, we are just having fun! As with Rule #1 - play nice! And remember it may be hours before a TORNsib from another part of the world gets a chance to reply. If you don't get replies right away, check back later.

You can request help or complain to the admins on the Feedback board.

Some other things to keep in mind.

Most of these things stem from the rules as posted above, and are general courtesies that you are expected to follow on the boards.

-- This is a family board. Please don't make lewd comments. Use your best judgement, and keep in mind that some posters are parents and others are quite young.
-- Please do not ask us to do your homework.
-- If you are looking for a picture, fact, or date, and there is a good chance you would find it by searching on Google, please do so before asking us.
-- Yes, Orlando is very hot. We know. Try not to litter the board with his praises, though.
-- On a similar note: contrary to what you may have heard, no one on the board knows or is a cast member. If someone tells you in whatever context that he is Elijah Wood or something like that, don't believe it. It may seem silly, but . . .
-- A minor point: proper capitalization and punctuation are appreciated. Also, please don't use text-messaging abbreviations like "ne1" "ppl" and "ur". Many of our posters aren't native English speakers, and these can be confusing. On the other hand, if you are not a native English speaker, please stick to English as much as possible. In other words, standard English is the language of the boards.
-- If you have never been introduced to netiquette, or are unsure as to how to conduct yourself in online communities, The Core Rules of Netiquette is a good resource.

The most important thing to remember is to keep an open mind and to start threads that everyone can participate in.

And one more thing...

Trolls