I've seen quite a bit of confusion about the activities of mql5.com Forum Moderators versus Administrators... versus the Service Desk, so I'll try to clear things up here. A Moderator is relegated to editing, censoring, and reorganizing the content of Forum Topics (threads) and Posts. Other than that, Moderators also contribute to Forum discussions in the same way that regular contributors do. Some Moderators are programmers, some Moderators are algorithmic traders, some Moderators are manual traders who don't program, and it's possible that some Moderators don't trade at all.
Based on human Moderator Miguel Angel Vico Alba's post below, one Moderator that doesn't trade at all is an AI (artificial intelligence) bot. The key word here is "artificial" because that AI bot hallucinates. Its name is "System."
The overwhelming majority of Moderators are unpaid volunteers. Yes, most of them actually donate their time to supporting traders who use Metaquotes' trading platforms. Most Moderators are simply long-time users of the Forum, and they are not employees of Metaquotes Ltd. As a former volunteer moderator who resigned from a trading forum, I feel like mql5.com Forum Moderators should be compensated.
Administrators are employees of Metaquotes Ltd. Although they contribute in the Forum and might even moderate from time to time, Administrators primarily handle backend tasks like programming platform updates and executive management. While they likely have the knowledge to help users with just about everything, that is not their job.
The Service Desk mainly handles financial (or at least financially adjacent) issues. This includes mql5.com account/registration issues, Market billing/payment issues, and complaints outside the scope of Arbitration mostly from Market Buyers. You will know if you're barking up the wrong tree if the Service Desk bot sends you to the Forum--or otherwise refuses to open a Ticket.
The problem is that Moderators and the Service Desk likely don't have the same level training and therefore, are not always in lockstep. (When I was a moderator elsewhere, there was zero training). For example, my cell phone carrier doesn't support international text messaging for mql5.com Market use, so I openly requested that the Service Desk change my registered phone number to a free VOIP number. The Service Desk did so within their quoted timeframe.
Then another user had the same problem posted in the Forum, so I coached them through switching to a free VOIP number in my Reply. Soon thereafter, the AI Moderator temporarily banned me for 2 weeks. I basically said to myself, "Whatever. This doesn't affect my trading." I understand that there was no malicious intent--the Moderator simply lacked the knowledge that the Service Desk employees have. When I moderated elsewhere, all bans were permanent.
* The AI Moderator sends direct Messages under the name of "System" to users--which is the same name that automated code validation Messages come from. On many other websites, "System" means system administrator which an mql5.com Forum Moderator is not. Unfortunately, this only increases confusion as to who does what.
At the end of the day Metaquotes Ltd. provides free trading platforms to traders, and Forum contributors provide free platform support to traders. Unpaid Moderators have to keep the Forum clean and organized, and no one is perfect. Even Moderators temporarily ban each other from time to time. It is what it is.
