[SnowTroll]

You need to know your staff in the real world. You have to know their real names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and have real life contact information for them, preferrably have interviewed them over the phone, and maybe even reviewed a resume or two and checked a couple of references. I know that's a lot to ask for a free, hobbyist game, but you can't just get a private message on the topmudsites forums from "Cyberrpdude47" saying "hi i want to code on ur mud," exchange a few e-mails with this guy's free e-mail address, grant him unrestricted access to your creation, then be surprised when he deletes or changes a bunch of stuff. I know there are other safe ways to go about this, various levels of administratorhood that can be progressively earned with time and trust, and that this guy was probably pretty well vetted, or so it seemed, but my point still stands. You have to know your staff in the real world, because when cloaked in the anonymous nature of the internet, people are tools.