As you know, we use real live jellyfish human moderation to maintain the environment that’s such a big part of the Fluther experience. We thought you’d like to get to know your mods a little better, so we’ve been featuring them here over the last year or so. In this, Part IX of a series, we introduce you to the two most recent additions to the mod team, downtide and PhiNotPi.  Thanks for all you do, mods!

In case you missed the previous entries, be sure to check out the whole series here.

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downtide

Downtide is 45 years old, and lives in the ‘wet bit’ of England along with his partner, their adult daughter, and one very lucky dog. His interesting username comes from an ancestor of his from about 100 years ago, who was a fisherman.

Favorite quote: “I never panic when I get lost. I just change wherever it is I want to go”. – Rita Rudner. I live by this in all things, not just travel-related. If I don’t get where I want to be in life I don’t worry about it, I just make new goals.

Pets: Xena, a black Labrador-cross, who I adopted as a rescue when she was four months old. Someone had tossed her out of a car on a busy road in the city. She’s now twelve years old, my grand old lady.

Education: The School of Hard Knocks and the University of Life. I have a degree in “Make-it-up-as-you-go-along”.

Hobbies/Interests: I do watercolor painting, mostly landscapes. I’m active in my local LGBT community, especially the transgender community and I’m on the committee for my local trans-men’s support group. I am also a big fan of the online virtual world of Second Life, and my Fluther avatar is a picture of my main avatar from there.

Day job: I work in the back-office of a major UK company, mainly dealing with customer queries and problems by letter and email. I’ve been there nearly ten years, but the first seven years were in sales. I’m rather glad to be not doing that any more in the current economic climate.

Dream job: To run my own art shop and studio, and just paint all day. I actually did do this for a couple of years but didn’t make enough money to support it.

Why do you volunteer your time to Fluther? I’ve been a Jelly for over two and a half years, and I think it’s an awesome community that we have here. I felt that it was about time I became more active in supporting the community and giving something back to it.

Is there anything else you’d like the community to know about you? Most of the community already knows this (because I never shut up about it!), but for the benefit of new Jellies, I am a trans-man and I’m part-way through sex transition from female to male. It’s a long and difficult process and I’ve waited a long time to start, but it’s wonderful to finally be who I should have been all along.

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PhiNotPi

Matthew is one of our most talented resident math whizzes, and you may be surprised to learn that he is only 15 years old. (I know we were!) He lives in South Carolina with his parents, a sibling, and many pets. His catchy username refers to his preference for abstract math.

Favorite quote: “People who eat dirt are smarter.” -My dad, as he explains how the immune response stimulates the nervous system.

Pets: My family has several pets, including a cat by the name of Bonnie and a bearded dragon by the name of Newton.

Education: I have not yet graduated from high school, but I plan to do so within a reasonable amount of time. I’ll then go to a university (but I haven’t decided which).

Hobbies/Interests: I play clarinet in my school’s concert and marching bands.

Day job: School. And Fluther. But almost always school.

Dream job: I haven’t decided yet, but surely something involving math and science. I might become an engineer or go into a medical field that involves technology.

Why do you volunteer your time to Fluther? I already spend a considerable amount of time on Fluther. I became a mod because I like to actively help fix this place. I could either complain about stuff or actually help with stuff. I choose the second option.

Is there anything else you’d like the community to know about you? My favorite areas of expertise are mathematics and science. If you ask a question about math, then I’ll be there, lurking in the background. I like to compose music (for the classical instruments only; I don’t write songs), although I have not yet written an entire piece. In my spare time, I do things that many might consider math, but which I view as a mental challenge assigned to myself, from myself.

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Thanks, mods, for helping us all get to know you better!