#1 and #2 are not the same. Maybe you need to edit one. "Moderators" is not equal to "Super Moderators." As you know, other sites just call the moderators, "Moderators."
If you read it properly it dosnt matter if your a mod,super mod or joe blogs. The admin can configure ANY group to have ANY power they like, it isnt dependent on the software, you choose what powers to give groups when you set groups up. Some groups come pre configured with options but these can be tweaked.
Powers can be added or taken away on the fly
Privacy is officially gone overboard as when you call police and tell them that wife was throwing dishes at you, giving way to the next question ("Why?") and then is not in your hands anymore.
Keep in mind just about ALL forum software has features like this built in or available as an addon, older software is worse as some just has a flat file system so you can query the DB and read everything in one swoop, but that is pretty rare now from what I have seen.
Its a double edged sword, on the whole I think its a good thing, the more people know it exists the less likely nasty **** is to happen in pm, I kn9ow when I was younger my mum would of been happier had she known the pm's were readable, the rationale being if people knew then they would be less likely to write unsavory stuff to you. I only had one really bad message from a perv in 5 years.
One last point the software is pretty secure, its normally more secure than most servers it sits on. Remember when ETO got hacked with the old software? That kind of security flaw dosnt exist in this software, its pretty good against cross side scripting although like most systems it has a weak point with swf uploads, but you would really need to know your stuff to get in that way.
No software is 100% secure but modern software is a challenge to get into, I run our servers for our my little business, I am forever trying to break in so I can secure it. Reading the logs is always a shock to see how many attempt on a daily basis to try and get in.
Had to look that one up cowboy- you are too cultured for me: caveat utilitor= let the user beware. I knew caveat emptor= let the buyer beware though. I even knew oxymoron- great word.
One of the problems with society is that if people can't find out anything about you, they will make something up.