Whither Wizzen?

Wizards and Why

Some people think that wizardship is a "reward" given to people who have been on the Palace a long time. This is not true, and it is one of the reasons wizardship typically isn't awarded to people who ask for it. Wizards exist for one principle reason:
To help make the Palace a better place.
- Jim Bumgardner, Originator of The Palace

This phrase by jbum, "To help make the Palace a better place," has been oft-quoted by members and wizards alike

and interpreted in as many ways as the story of Genesis.

Upon reflection, I really haven't got a clue what it's supposed to mean. It general seems to work, but YMMV.

Revealed: Sekrit Sooper Powerz!!!

I will take this opportunity to tell you some of the things that a wiz can do that other member's can't, because I just love writing lists

Wizards can listen to all ~page messages (in iptscrae, SUSRMSG sends a ~page message). Because of this, wizards on multi-wiz sites often use ~page as a secondary "CB" channel, a sort of über-ESP. In addition, the system itself often sends many ~page-style messages such as "Ben-X denied wizard access and auto-warned by system" or "saintj has logged off, 7 wizards remain (including you)."
Wizards can run scripts in any room, even rooms that are tagged as "Cyborg-Free Zones." So an easy way for a non-wiz to catch an "undercover" wizard is to ";finger" them in a cyborg-free zone and watch their script kick in.
Wizards can enter rooms that are supposedly full. Other users can't get in when the limit is reached, but a wiz can (Wizards cannot enter locked rooms, however).
Wizards can start their name with a "badge" an asterisk. No other users are allowed to start their name that way (a fact that's used by some scripts, such as allscray).
Wizards can (if the palace creators have allowed it) alter room states for example, turn off painting in a room, or turn on scripting. Furthermore, they can change, delete, or create new room scripts.
Wizards can send "global messages" messages that appear in white like a ROOMMSG but that appear in every room of a palace at the same time.
Wizards can clone your props, copy them right off of you at any time.
Wizards have x-ray vision. They can see your IP address and DNS lookup, they can see a unique registration key signature, they can tell if you're a guest, member, wiz or god. They can tell the server to automatically track you whenever you log in, if they think you're making trouble.
Wizards can do all that much-sought power-trip stuff: `gag, `pin, `kill and `ban. These are what attract most wizard wanna-be's, who confuse Palace with Quake or Diablo. Actually, there are palace sites that encourage that sort of behavior, and sponsor regular "wiz wars" of varying sorts. Communities.com Mansion's not one of those sites, so there's little need for even more people running around hatcheting guests.
Wizards at Communities.com get a lot more junk e-mail than most people.