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With the up-coming moderator election, I was wondering what sort of knowledge a moderator can obtain. Obviously we should aim to vote in a respectable and honest person, but in the event that we get a "bad egg" I was wondering what sort of information has been compromised (for want of a better word). So far as I know, Math.SE only stores two pieces of private information about me, my name and email address:

  1. Can moderators see user's email addresses?
  2. On my profile there is a "full name" field which is "private information (not shown publicly)", and I presume other people have this field also. Can moderators see this field?
  3. Is there any other sensitive information which moderators can obtain about a specific user?
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I refer to the official answer on the main meta to

Who can see what in my profile?

I quote a part:

Things visible to diamond moderators only:

  • real name*
  • email*
  • how many days you visited the site (and your current consecutive visits streak)
  • your IP address*
  • all the names you used in the last 90 days

*mods have to click a link to see this information, the act of which is also logged.

Note: The point of the "only" is to contrast it with general users (which was part of the question there).

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  • $\begingroup$ Extra question I just thought up: Can moderators see who has voted to close/delete/reopen/undelete etc. before the final vote is cast? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 15:55
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    $\begingroup$ I know that votes are anonymous even to mods, but I do wonder when mods check serial/targeting votes, what type of private information (if there is any) do they see? I don't see how any of those points help mods in tracking such things. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:00
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    $\begingroup$ @user1729 please look up such things on the main meta, usually it is there. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:09
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    $\begingroup$ @Zacky the details of what we know regarding votes are not to be shared. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ @Zacky: Do volunteer/elected moderators have access to detailed voting history data? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:24
  • $\begingroup$ @T.S thanks, this also seems relevant.// Anyway it was just a curiosity raised by this question and now that I think of it, I agree with quid and I think it's better for users to not know what mods can see related to votes (as for example someone who serial downvotes can try to avoid doing what mods got access to and get away with it). $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:39
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    $\begingroup$ @Zacky: This is not a secrete. The developers can see votes when necessary: meta.stackexchange.com/a/90758 Also, see this comment: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/90735/… $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 16:45
  • $\begingroup$ @user1729 yes we can know that, though I do not know what "etc" is supposed to indicated. Up/down we cannot see. (I did not want to answer right away as I needed to check if it is public info; that's sometimes what makes answering such questions tricky.) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 15, 2020 at 20:52
  • $\begingroup$ wait, I think I can’t even see my consecutive visits streak. Is this information useful in mod work? Also can I trouble you into telling me my number? :) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 1:55
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    $\begingroup$ @CalvinKhor if you go to math.meta.stackexchange.com/users/current?tab=profile you should towards the right at the end of a list with four items 'see visited N days, M consecutive'. when you click on it you get a calendar with al the days you visited. I would not recall having ever used this information specifically. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 2:29
  • $\begingroup$ oh, thanks! Turns out I don't visit my own profile $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 2:35
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    $\begingroup$ @CalvinKhor let me add that clicking on the number of helpful flags can be useful too. Since there you see what we might reply to a flag. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 2:53
  • $\begingroup$ @quid Thanks, and thanks for giving a reason for your evasive reply. I hadn't thought that moderators might have powers which they're not meant to advertise! (The "etc." was in case I was missing something.) $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 9:12
  • $\begingroup$ I think "days visited and consecutive days" information was public in past but not sure. I sometimes used to check this for high rep users. It used to give some idea of nature of a user's addiction to the site. But now it is not accessible to public (and that's a good thing). $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2020 at 7:11

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