The Mods Should Always Wear their Mod Hats

About This Message Board
#1

Because you look more stylish that way. :wink:

More seriously, in the IMHO thread, “I’m not anti-guns. I’m anti-bulletholes in my patients”, at post 57, Asimovian told The Lurking Horror not to troll.

At post 58, The Lurking Horror apologised, but asked if Asimovian was speaking as a moderator.

At post 64, Asimovian said he was, but acknowledged that the “moderator” description didn’t always show up on mobile devices.

All very polite and civilised on both sides, but I think it would always be helpful if a Mod expressly states if they’re acting as a Mod, or as a poster, especially since the “moderator” descriptor doesn’t show up on mobile platforms.

A newbie might not realise they’re being given a gentle nudge by a Mod, and old posters may not always appreciate that the Mod is posting as a Mod, not just as a garden variety poster.

There’s several classic styles of Mod hat to choose from, depending on each Mod’s personal style sense:

“Mod hat on”;

“The Moderator Clears His Throat”; or, in extreme cases,

“I am the fucking hall monitor!”;

followed by “No warning given” when it’s just a gentle Mod reminder of the rules.

Just a thought. :slight_smile:

#2

I miss “sparkling jack boots activated”. :frowning:

#3

I’m okay with it being customizable to the mod and situation. (For example, on mobile, they may just want to type “modding” or something.) But, yeah, an indicator is good.

I mean, one can guess that someone actually saying the world troll out loud and not getting a mod after them is probably moderating, but that’s more effort than needed to figure out.

#4

Northern Piper, I agree with you, but I think you misunderstand what I was saying in that thread. I always put either “Moderator Note” or “Moderator Warning” in the “Title” portion of my post when I’m acting as a mod because I do believe that it’s important to have that clarity. What I recalled after The Lurking Horror’s question was that I’d heard once before that post titles don’t necessarily show up on people’s mobile devices. So I don’t mean my profile title; I’m talking about a title on an individual post.

In other words, anything I moderate should look like this:

Apparently, in The Lurking Horror’s case (and in my own case, looking at my note via my phone), the “Moderator Note” portion doesn’t show up at all. I don’t think it’s just a Tapatalk issue since I don’t use Tapatalk. I don’t know if it’s tied to using the Sultan theme.

At any rate, in order to avoid that confusion in the future, I may just start putting my Note/Warning messages inline with the post.

#5

Yeah, that’s why I switched from entering Mod Hat On in the title field, to bolding it the message body. I realized it didn’t show up on mobile using Tapatalk.

#6

You should make it look exactly like that, word for word, because that would be amazing.

#7

It’s an issue because the mobile skin has a number of flaws. I see no changes coming on that front so I don’t recommend using it.

I also end each moderating post with a [/moderating] tag as well so even if you don’t see the title due to the poor skin/theme, that will be visible in the body.

#8

In the Sultan theme, using Chrome on Android, the title will show up if you rotate to landscape view.

Also, Join Date, Location, and Posts. But I realize just about everyone reads in portrait mode.

#9

Asimovian, I wondered if that’s what you meant, but I just double-checked post #57 using Safari on my iPhone and there’s no post title showing up.

That may be a mobile Safari glitch, but either way I look at the thread on my iPhone, there’s no indication that it’s a Mod post.

ETA: just read Leaffan’s post - yes, if I turn it Landscape in Safari the Moderator note does show up.

#10

I’ve seen mods use red text for modding.
It didn’t suck.

#11

This is a good strategy with the mild downside that it kinda means you have to tell everyone else not to use red text.

#12

I don’t look good in hats.

#13

In hats.

Yeah. That’s it.

Hats.

#14

In practice red text is tough to do on mobile.

#15

The Mods Should Always Wear their Mod Hats

That’s how I always imagine them. But, nothing else.

That’s why I drink.

Regards,
Shodan

#16

I’ve got that Chris Isaak song stuck in my head now. :frowning:

#17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ugAdGI2l8U

Just sayin’.

:smiley:

Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator

#18

The next time I have cause to moderate you, you may count on it. :smiley:

#19

I do wish there was a consistent style guide for mod warnings/instructions. Red bolded text (or whatever color) would be good. Yes, it means the rest of us would have to avoid using red bolded text, but I think we’d manage.

I don’t think any particular mod is necessarily unclear with their own personal version of [mod hat on], but consistency is never a bad thing when it comes to authority.

#20

Personally, I use different styles for different moderations. A friendly reminder as to the rules just gets [Moderating]. Boldfaced [Moderating] is a bit stronger. And if it’s red too, [Moderating], it’s either a warning, or just barely avoided being one.

I don’t think we need to prohibit users from using bold or color or whatever-- You guys are pretty mature about that, and don’t generally use color without good reason.

And I’ve never put my [Moderating] label in the title field, but that’s mostly just because I never use the title field for anything. I hadn’t realized it was problematic in the Buggy Theme.