What is Sysop?

Sysop is a neologism created from the words "system" and "operator". Usually it is a title employed by a person responsible for moderating or managing virtual communities such as discussion forums or bulletin record systems (BBS). Sysop usually has a measure of administrative powers with which the community can be managed. Sysadmin or system administrator is a similar term that usually refers to a professional position. While both titles refer to someone who has administrative powers and responsibilities in some type of computer system interconnected, Sysop usually donates its time or is part of the community concerned. Once the electronic BBS has become popular, this term was borrowed to refer to the administrators of these systems. Members of the community would often be appointed Ko-Mesopy and receive some powers and responsibility. BBS common intermediates were sometimes entrusted with things such as file management, new members processing, and discussions.

A wide range of virtual communities over the Internet uses Sysops in some function. Many of these groups form around discussion forums and other sites that support user posts. Since most of the content on this site is generated by a user, SYSOPS will often have the task of moderating the content. They also often process back-end tasks involved in the monitoring and maintenance of the software that the community is running.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) can also use a term to link to users with moderating performance. These users, also known as channel operators, are generally able to change certain aspects of the chat room, remove abuse users and perform a number of other features. IRC also has the number of other positions that grant a higher authority over IRC, such as the IRC operator (IRCOP), which may have wide powers to disable users and change channels.

sysadmins can do many of the sameFunctions such as Sysops, but are usually also responsible for managing network servers or hosts. The system manager is also usually a paid position held by a professional, while Sysop is a generally unpaid volunteer. The owner or operator of the Internet forum will often be referred to as an administrator, although it is not necessarily the same as Sysadmin. While Sysadmin often has root access to the server and controls the software that the community runs, may or may not be responsible for hardware or be a paid professional.