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This 11+ year old answer states that per-site moderator access to the following information about individual users is logged:

  • real name

  • email

  • IP address

Notwithstanding the need to keep certain functionality secret to avoid users gaming the system and other (abhorrent) abuses:

  • does anyone actually look at these logs, and do they serve any on-going purpose or are they just dead-end datasets?

Bonus question...

  • Is access to my PII by SO Staff / CMs also logged and monitored?
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  • 13
    Define dead end. Hypothetically - the logs are useful if there's accusations of abuse, but I don't think a community manager is going "Ah hah! @journeymangeek looked at aibobot's IP address again!" . Its a check but not something that's constantly being monitored
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Jun 12 at 13:39

1 Answer 1

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[Does] anyone actually look at these logs[...]?

Yes.

Is access to my PII by SO Staff / CMs also logged and monitored?

Yes.

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  • Simple, concise, doesn't disclose what can't be disclosed yet works to alleviate the user doubts. +1
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Jun 13 at 7:37
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    While simple one mod's on record as saying he bulk checks user's email addresses out of idle curiosity for no practical reason other than prying. If you want more user singups start by protecting the average user from the potential +600 bad actors that are the mods. Martjin's argument in this post doesn't make for a valid argument against protecting users from prying mods, because there's more than enough spam profiles no one cares to delete anyway (just check any leaderboard on the smaller SE sites).
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 13 at 8:44
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    Obfuscating emails from sys admins has been a common practice for so long there can't be any valid argument for leaking that PII to a +600 crowd of people that in plenty of cases won't have any liability anyway.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 13 at 8:46
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    @bad_coder "one mod's on record as saying he bulk checks user's email addresses out of idle curiosity for no practical reason other than prying." > That sounds like something that shouldn't be hashed out in comments, but a case for a 'Contact Us' ticket, with a link to the actual record. Because from the way you phrased it, it sure sounds like this may need a bit more investigating.
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Jun 13 at 9:41
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    @bad_coder If you have concerns about a moderator's use of PII, please send in a Contact Us ticket. I can't comment about any specific case in public.
    – Slate StaffMod
    Commented Jun 13 at 13:27
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    @Slate what I wrote was about PII protection concerning a +600 crowed, and how there's every reason for someone to not register nor participate on SE for the mentioned reason alone. (The alluded example serves only to illustrating a valid concern almost no one dares mention.) I've told my last colleagues I've discussed this with they should never register nor participate on SE because mods get to see their emails and I would not trust the mods to hold my beer.
    – bad_coder
    Commented Jun 13 at 16:02

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