# A Moderator's badge



## Gemmenita

Hi Mike,

Don’t you think that it would be better that Moderators have a badge?

You know, by opening a Forum we can see the list of its Moderators, but there are times that we would like to know that of which Forum a Moderator is responsible. In that case how can we find it out?

If there is a way, I would be very obliged to know it (of course other than searching in the list of each Forum or starting a conversation with that Moderator !)

If not, I suggest that_ their gender _and_ their Forum_ be written _below_ their title or _instead_ of their title (in case of lack of space) _as their badge._
Because these two options are very important, necessary and helpful as the identity of a  Forum Staff Member.



Many thanks in advance


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## Loob

What makes you ask the question, Gemmenita? Does it worry you that, for example, people who are moderators in the French-English forums also post in 'English Only'? If so, _*why*_ does it worry you?

PS. And why do you feel the need to know what gender a moderator is, given that it's open to all members not to state their gender?


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## Gemmenita

I answer to these questions because I think they could be other members' questions too and also my replies would also be helpful for Mike !



Loob said:


> (...) Does it worry you that, for example, people who are moderators in the French-English forums also post in 'English Only'?



I don't get what you mean and I have never thought about such things !!! Everybody can post in any forum no matter he is a Moderator or a Member.



Loob said:


> If so, _*why*_ does it worry you?



Nothing worries me at all upon this subject. I am talking in general and not about myself !
And it goes without saying that *a badge is required for administrative purposes. It is professional as well.*

But I explain what made me think of a badge  :
When we are interested in a Moderator who has replied in a satisfactory way to our question, *that's very natural *that the first thing which comes to our mind
(at least it is so for me) be the Forum this Moderator belongs to and _the domain of his activities_ in Forum.
But unfortunately no professional information about Moderators even in this page which is designated to them ! (Even here - in the page which is specially made for _presenting_ Moderators - they are presented _as members and not as moderators _! )




Loob said:


> PS. And why do you feel the need to know what gender a moderator is, given that it's open to all *members* not to state their gender?



Again, my suggestion about the gender in a badge is also in general and personnally I have not had any problem with the gender of dear Moderators I am dealing with since it is mentioned in their profile.
But I explain it too :
Yes, I know that it's _not obligatory_ to *Members* to state their gender but I think it _should be_ for *Moderators* as administrave staff to whom members write and tell their problems, therefore if the gender of a member _is not necessary_, in the other hand, the gender of a moderator _is critical_ to consider both cultural and linguistic rules of writing to a man or a woman in an administrative message !


However a badge for Moderators and its content was a suggestion that I found good and suitable for our well organized Forum...
It goes without saying that Mike's final decision is always respectful.


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## Loob

Do you just mean, then, that when you read something written by someone with a moderator title, you become curious about which forum(s) he or she moderates in?

If so,  the simpler solution would surely be to add that information to the page you linked to - provided that doesn't cause Mike problems. I, for one, would be extremely sad to see the quirky mod-titles go. And wouldn't a list of forums under each person's name quickly become unwieldy, since some mods moderate in several forums?

As regards the gender issue, mods are first and foremost members: it would, to my mind, be quite unacceptable to subject them to additional disclosure requirements.
(I have the feeling that's come up before - I'll see if I can find the thread.

Added 
No, I'm sorry, I've drawn a blank.  I think I must have been thinking of this brief discussion on whether mods are encouraged to have avatars.)


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## Tunalagatta

If you are really that curious about moderators who post outside their 'territory,' just click on their profile, look at their posts, and you can work out where they moderate.


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## wildan1

Hello Gemmenita,

All moderators are first and foremost WR members. We are recruited on the basis of our participation and helpfulness as members--no one becomes a moderator without first being an active and helpful member.

Our "badge" is that under our member name we display our moderator identity, rather than "Senior Member." 

As a team that likes to be playful with language, most of us have adopted a title that includes "moderator" in a clever linguistic way.


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## Gemmenita

Loob said:


> (...) the simpler solution would surely be to add that information to the page you linked to - provided that doesn't cause Mike problems. I, for one, would be extremely sad to see the quirky mod-titles go. And wouldn't a list of forums under each person's name quickly become unwieldy, since some mods moderate in several forums?



Yes, exactly, me too, I think that page is the best place, specially that there is vertically*** enough space without being obliged to remove the titles ( that I like very much too )!
(When in my first post, I suggested to replace the title - in case of lack of space - I was thinking to that _small_ black window opened when clicking on one's username, but while we have this special page for the Moderators, so much the better to have all together, title, gender, name of Forums,...)

I don't think the list would become unwieldy if the abbreviated form of Forums' name is written like ;
*fr-en/es-fr/...*

*** I think horizontally there won't be enough space since in all informations it is not continued after Native language:



Loob said:


> As regards the gender issue, mods are first and foremost members: it would, to my mind, be quite unacceptable to subject them to additional disclosure requirements.


Yes, I agree with the fact that mods are first and foremost members - which is mentioned in the rules too - but there is another fact that once someone gets a new post, _any new post requires new conditions appropriate for that post _!
(However still I think « the discussion about obligation or not of a Moderator's gender» is debatable but since there is no rule regarding it,
for the time being it is _useless to continue this discussion _! )



Tunalagatta said:


> If you are really *that curious * about moderators who post outside their 'territory,' just click on their profile, look at their posts, and you can work out where they moderate.


'Curious' / 'that curious' is not a good word ! You'd better say : *eager* to know more about moderators you appreciate ...
And then why to go around the Forum for getting to know Moderators where there is already a wonderful page designated to them !



wildan1 said:


> Hello Gemmenita,
> All moderators are first and foremost WR members. We are recruited on the basis of our participation and helpfulness as members--no one becomes a moderator without first being an active and helpful member.
> Our "badge" is that under our member name we display our moderator identity, rather than "Senior Member."
> As a team that likes to be playful with language, most of us have adopted a title that includes "moderator" in a clever linguistic way.



Hello wildan,

Yes, of course, the qualities of selected members as Moderators are undeniable !

And I love the actual badge of Moderators with their lovely titles, but how can I know that Wildan1 is the Moderator of French-English forum or
maybe other Forums too (?) from his title ?

I prefer this one :




 



That's what befits our lovely organized Forum !


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## Paulfromitaly

Gemmenita said:


> how can I know that Wildan1 is the Moderator of French-English forum


For example you check the French/English moderator list

*French-English moderators*


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## Gemmenita

OH, NO, you have misunderstood me ! Please read carefully all above ! I _know_ already that he is French-English moderator. That question was an example !
( I = any member in general)
And the complete question - that you have omitted the most important part - was :


> how can I know that Wildan1 is the Moderator of French-English forum or
> maybe other Forums too (?) *from his title* ?





Anyway... I am waiting for Mike's opinion...


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## Loob

Gemmenita, are you saying that you would find it difficult to discover the information for a mod you don't know? If you don't know Ghabi, for example, would you find it difficult to work out the forums in which he moderates, using Tuna's and Paul's suggestions?


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## Gemmenita

Loob said:


> Gemmenita, are you saying that you would find it difficult to discover the information for a mod you don't know? If you don't know Ghabi, for example, would you find it difficult to work out the forums in which he moderates, using Tuna's and Paul's suggestions?


Please read again and carefully my replies above and you will get your answer ! 

However once again :
Paul's reply was a mistake ! Tuna's suggestion was not a professional way !
Therefore, yes, Loob, we conclude that all the ways except consulting that page are rather difficult !


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## Loob

Gemmenita said:


> Please read again and carefully my replies above and you will get your answer !


No, sorry, if the answer were evident, I wouldn't have asked the question

Added: perhaps I should say that I agree that showing forums on the list of moderators would be a "nice to have", if it's not too much trouble for Mike. But I'm not sure it's a high priority, given that it's possible to find the information relatively easily.

.....

EDIT.  You've edited your post 11 since I replied to it - hence the discrepancy between your "rather difficult" and my "relatively easily".


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## Tunalagatta

Gemmenita said:


> 'Curious' / 'that curious' is not a good word ! You'd better say : *eager* to know more about moderators you appreciate ...
> And then why to go around the Forum for getting to know Moderators where there is already a wonderful page designated to them !



Sorry to misunderstand your meaning. It seems you think that moderators are very special people who you want to know better, and you want a particular place where you can find out all about moderators.


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## DearPrudence

Basically, you would like the Notable Members to be as it used to be in vBulletin, where the forums that moderators moderated were written clearly + another line in the profile that would be displayed under every post?
Let's wait for Mike for an answer now...


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## cherine

I think adding a line under the profile is unnecessary as it would take more space than the rest of the forum members. But mentioning which forums we moderate is actually not a bad idea. After all, this information was already dispalyed in the moderators list in the old vBulletin forum.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Out of, erm, curiosity, can moderators only moderate in the forum(s) of their native language(s)?


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## Peterdg

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> Out of, erm, curiosity, can moderators only moderate in the forum(s) of their native language(s)?


Short answer: no.


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## Kelly B

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> Out of, erm, curiosity, can moderators only moderate in the forum(s) of their native language(s)?


Peterdg is right, and it's very useful if a moderator sees that a spammer has managed to post garbage in several different forums while the moderators dedicated to those forums are off line. It makes sense to just clean it all up at once. Otherwise, though, they mostly avoid it as a matter of courtesy, since there are some variations in rules, customs and style across the forums.


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## Loob

Oh - I thought ain't was asking a different question: do you have to be a native speaker of X to be a moderator in a forum where a primary (or the sole) language is X? To which the answer is also "No".


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## Kelly B

Oh, sorry, you're probably right.


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## Loob

I expect he'll tell us


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## Gemmenita

DearPrudence said:


> (...) as it used to be in vBulletin, where the forums that moderators moderated were written clearly (...)





cherine said:


> (...)mentioning which forums we moderate is actually not a bad idea. After all, this information was already dispalyed in the moderators list in the old vBulletin forum.



Many thanks DearPrudence and Cherine !

I am happy to hear that such information existed in vBulletin, and I hope it will in Xenforo too specially in this page
where there are other flaws such as incomplete sentences left ! I think a radical reform in the whole page would be nice !


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## Gemmenita

Hi to all those who waited for Mikes's answer,

Today, I saw by chance that _Mike_ has removed incomplete sentences in that page.
That's a good sign! 
However, I still have problem in knowing which Moderator belongs to which Forum that I needed a few days ago...
Therefore I wonder whether only removing useless informations in that page is possible and not adding useful informations about Moderators!!!


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Loob said:


> Oh - I thought ain't was asking a different question: do you have to be a native speaker of X to be a moderator in a forum where a primary (or the sole) language is X? To which the answer is also "No".



Yes, Loob, that was what I wanted to know: "Are moderators allowed to moderate in forums other than ones in their own native language(s)?" So, the answer is "No, moderators do not have to be native speakers of the language of a forum to be authorized to moderate in it; they can moderate in forums in other languages than their mother tongue(s)." For instance a native  Finnish-speaking moderator can moderate in a Hindi forum, or a native Hungarian-speaking moderator can moderate in a Spanish-Portuguese forum, right? And the native language of moderators is given to the left of the their messages, under their avatar. To the moderators who have contributed to this thread discussion (wildan1, Paul from Italy, Dear Prudence, cherine): Can you and do you intervene as moderators in other forms than ones including English, Italian, English, and Arabic, respectively?


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## cherine

Yes, we do. I moderate in the Indo-Iranian forum, the Korean forum, the Other Languages forum and the All Lanaguages forum. As well as the Cultural Discussion and Cultural Café forums. For the languages I don't speak, I use the help of native speakers and, sometimes, machine translation. But you don't really need to understand every word to know that there's a lacking context, SMS/chatspeak writing style, bad titles...etc.


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## Gemmenita

ain'ttranslationfun? said:


> (...)To the moderators who have contributed to this thread discussion (wildan1, Paul from Italy, Dear Prudence, cherine): Can you and do you intervene as moderators in other forms than ones including English, Italian, English, and Arabic, respectively?



Oh, I love your question ain't... Exactly what was needed in this thread! 

Yes, if Wildan1, Paulfromitaly, Dear Prudence and cherine had already a suitable badge (at least in their own page: which is designated to Moderators), ain't would have his answer much earlier!
This can be _one example_ among many others, which could explain the need for a Moderator's badge and its benefits, an example fırst and foremost for those who may question my suggestion at first!


By the way, congratulations, cherine! I appreciate your competences!

...


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## Loob

Gemmenita, I think your (revised) request to Mike keeps getting lost.....

I think your question is "Mike, could you please add to the moderator list an indication of the forums in which each person listed is a moderator?".

Over to Mike


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## mkellogg

Sorry, I see that I never posted in this thread and so haven't seen anything other than the first post!



Loob said:


> Mike, could you please add to the moderator list an indication of the forums in which each person listed is a moderator?


I looked into it at one point and found that it was too hard to make that work. What we did do is add a list of moderators to each forum.  I see a link above the thread list on the right. I think it is visible to everybody.


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## Gemmenita

WELCOME Mike!



mkellogg said:


> *I looked into it at one point* and found that it was *too hard *to make that work.



Thanks a lot for tying it!

Therefore, only one way remains:
I think if dear Moderators kindly add themselves in their _profile page_ the name of the Forum(s) they moderate in, it would be a great solution for this informative option
which is missing in their own page where it is impossible to be added!
And I and all members like me, would be very _grateful _to them!


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

When you go to "WR Forums", there's a list of moderators who are on duty. When you go to a forum, click on 'Moderators' to find a list of the mods who are authorized to intervene in that forum as mods (like us mere mortals, they can _contribute_ in any forum). You can click on their username to find out their native language...if you think this info is necessary.


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## Gemmenita

... Well...Thanks for your reply, ain't.

But regretfully I shall say that these are not the problem discussed in this thread!


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## Ghabi

Gemmenita said:


> I think if dear Moderators kindly add themselves in their _profile page_ the name of the Forum(s) they moderate in ...


Hello Gemmenita. I added the info under my name. I will keep that if you think this is useful to others. Cheers.


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## wildan1

I have also added my moderating responsibilities to my profile.



> Moderator for WR French-English, Culture Café and Comments & Suggestions Forums.



wildan1


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## JamesM

Please note, though, that if a forum is being flooded with spam and no regular moderator is available for that forum, any moderator may step in and deal with the attack.  We are all capable of intervening in any forum, but we take on responsibilities only for specific forums unless there is an emergency.


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## wildan1

Yes, that's true, James, as the FAQ about Moderators already state:





> _Where can moderators moderate?_
> Each moderator is responsible for one or two forums or subforums. All moderators have the ability to moderate in any forum, but they generally moderate only in their assigned forums.


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## Gemmenita

Hello _Ghabi, wildan, James,_

Wow! Perfect! GREAT! Yes, that's it!

I am _more than thankful _to you all!

I love your both ways of informing in our lovely Moderation team which really befit it and *very useful* indeed.

All the best to you!


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## JamesM

wildan1 said:


> Yes, that's true, James, as the FAQ about Moderators already state:



I just wanted to make sure that people in this conversation were aware of the fact.  I know that I've had a question or two over the years from members when they see me moderate in another forum.


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