As from 1st October ORB will be hanging up his Moderator's cap in order to pursue other projects in his retirement. I know some of you will comment that he's come and gone before but this time it's final - at least as far as moderating is concerned. ORB has some cataract ops coming up and this will mean a good period of downtime and the Consultant's advice is to severely limit screen time. Hopefully he will still contribute as a 'normal' member when his eyesight allows.

I am not prepared to moderate alone as I did last Autumn, I work full-time and there are days when I struggle to allocate sufficient time. Also due to my expanding work and family commitments (large new project starting January and family from NZ visiting for a month in December) I would like to slowly take a more back seat position and there are times when I just need a break from it. Since March 2021 I have been doing this seven days a week without break, ORB the same apart from a period of absence last Autumn.

Most of the time there isn't a great amount to do (how's that for tempting fate...) but it is a commitment to look in and try and keep discussions civilised, deal with emails (yes we get some nice ones occasionally), remove spam (which moderators shouldn't have to do but that's the way it is) and delete any suspicious accounts last thing at night to limit spam coming in. Also delete anything that could cause legal difficulties for the forum e.g. naming and shaming, copyright infringements etc.

Therefore we are looking for two enthusiastic members to come on board, one to directly replace ORB and the other so we can even out some of the work and allow me to step back a bit. With three we might even develop a rota - two weeks on, one week off or similar.

There is a moderators' manual to explain how the software works and other more general advice.

If you are interested or would like further information then please email us: moderators@honestjohn.co.uk

Any final decision will be down to the HJ Editor.