Can Mods post as regular members in a PFI thread?

[Fern]

Originally posted by: thepd7
I understand and agree with Mods being able to post as regular members, however I am wondering whether this goes for PFI as well.

To me, the setting of PFI and seeing a Mod tag under someones name makes me thing they are speaking/acting as a Mod and in turn representing the other Mods and forums.

What say you oh wise ones?

I think that's an exellent question.

I've never thought about it. I've always assumed when a Mod replies here, it's an official "Mod" reply even though they don't use their bolded Mod signatures.

I suppose this is why, on occasion, when I've posted in PFI and didn't feel comfortable speaking on behalf of the Moderator team I've put a disclaimer in my reply.

I can see how this may be confusing - we (Mods) must place our 'Mod sig' on posts elsewhere to indicate official Mod comments, but not here? It does muddy the water a bit IMO.

Fern

 

[esquared]

If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

It would make me feel better.

There have been times where I have scratched my head and wondered, particularly in the Video forum. BFG10K likes to engage his fellow members there, particularly the NV marketing guys. I'm not complaining that he does it (I appreciate it in fact), however I often wonder why he doesn't lock the threads he posts in. It's because he has been posting as a member and is not allowed.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

I think it would clear up A LOT of things if Mods were required to post all Mod activity on BOLD to clearly show the intent. That way other users can be assured that the Mod is intending to post as a Mod, not as a user.

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

I think it would clear up A LOT of things if Mods were required to post all Mod activity on BOLD to clearly show the intent. That way other users can be assured that the Mod is intending to post as a Mod, not as a user.

Wouldn't it be nice if the forum software had another little extra Options checkbox for mods, say "Post as a mod", that automatically changed their post to be in a different font/color/style. That way they could make their intentions unambiguously known.

Maybe I'll submit that idea to Fusetalk so they can use it for a few weeks before the VB switch.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: SickBeast

however I often wonder why he doesn't lock the threads he posts in. It's because he has been posting as a member and is not allowed.

Yep, exactly. In any given thread a mod can decide to post as a member or as a mod, but not both. So moderating a topic we?ve posted in as a member is a no-no.

Since I'm quite active in video as regular member, it's very rare that I can actually lock threads because I post in most of them. But Amber is usually around and if not, I can always ask for help from the senior mods.

The only exception to this I can think of is if we move an off-topic thread to the correct forum but then decide to join the conversation. From my understanding this is okay.

As for the topic question, my understanding is that if we post as a mod we should bold the content and also sign our name at the end, which is what I always do in video. With PFI however it?s probably not needed as much.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

I think it would clear up A LOT of things if Mods were required to post all Mod activity on BOLD to clearly show the intent. That way other users can be assured that the Mod is intending to post as a Mod, not as a user.

Every time I post as a mod I bold my post, plus I sign it with my full username, not just my initials like I normally do. I think most of the time it's pretty obvious when people are posting as mods or as users, but a little bolding helps to make it even more obvious.

KT

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

I think it would clear up A LOT of things if Mods were required to post all Mod activity on BOLD to clearly show the intent. That way other users can be assured that the Mod is intending to post as a Mod, not as a user.

Every time I post as a mod I bold my post, plus I sign it with my full username, not just my initials like I normally do. I think most of the time it's pretty obvious when people are posting as mods or as users, but a little bolding helps to make it even more obvious.

KT

Your post states the problem: when YOU do it you do, but not every mod does. And even those that usually do, don't always.

 

[Pulsar]

It's amazing - I've never had a run-in with a mod, even though I post on several sites on a semi-regular basis. (Aside from a Snafu over a user name).

I have to wonder: perhaps if people could act with a modicum of integrity and self-restraint, would we be having this conversation?

I think that people who have to ask if someone is posting as a mod or not probably just need to re-evaluate what their posting. If you suspect that you're being an asshole to the point where a mod may be calling you on it, well then in all likelihood you KNOW you're being an asshole.

This BS about asking the Mods to draw a line in the sand so you can try to toe it gets old really fast, and is pretty darn childish to boot.

 

[esquared]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

I think it would clear up A LOT of things if Mods were required to post all Mod activity on BOLD to clearly show the intent. That way other users can be assured that the Mod is intending to post as a Mod, not as a user.

Every time I post as a mod I bold my post, plus I sign it with my full username, not just my initials like I normally do. I think most of the time it's pretty obvious when people are posting as mods or as users, but a little bolding helps to make it even more obvious.

KT

Your post states the problem: when YOU do it you do, but not every mod does. And even those that usually do, don't always.

We are getting off topic here. This thread arises from when a mod post within the PFI thread. We are discussing the POSSIBILITY of mods making their posts bold within PFI threads.

Not to be further discussed here but I will mention this as our rule for mods:
The mods are ONLY required to bold their posts when EDITING a thread. I don't think there is any sort of that problem elsewhere. In my recent memory, I have not seen a mod edit a post and NOT bold it. If that ever happens, send that to the mod PM and we will take care of it.

 

[allisolm]

I think that, in PFI, TFI and Suggestion Box, people are generally ASKING for some kind of moderator input. I don't think those replies need to be bolded. If someone posts that there's a spammer in Hot Deals and I reply that I've taken care of it, that post needs to be bolded and signed. I'm posting THIS to give my opinion as a moderator but I don't think it should be bolded because I'm not taking any moderator action, just answering your questions.

When out there in the rest of the forums, I try to bold and sign any moderator actions with a name that includes the word moderator. This is because a regular member can bold parts of a post and sign their username and it has no moderation meaning. So I am hoping that using "moderator" in the signature leaves no room for confusion.

 

[MotF Bane]

Originally posted by: esquared
If it would make the membership feel better, we (mods) could always make the post in bold. This would insure to the membership that the post the mod made was that of a mod posting as a mod, and not a member. Did I make sense?

Do you mean bold for the entirety of the post? I've done that myself on a different forum (as mod), and the general membership reaction from that was negative, they thought it looked "stupid". If you mean just bold for the "Esquared Anandtech Moderator", disregard this please.

 

[Number1]

If a mod is moderating, his/her sig block should say so.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The sig blocks are dynamic, not static.

When they are changed, the change shows for every post created by a person.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: Pulsar
It's amazing - I've never had a run-in with a mod, even though I post on several sites on a semi-regular basis. (Aside from a Snafu over a user name).

I have to wonder: perhaps if people could act with a modicum of integrity and self-restraint, would we be having this conversation?

I think that people who have to ask if someone is posting as a mod or not probably just need to re-evaluate what their posting. If you suspect that you're being an asshole to the point where a mod may be calling you on it, well then in all likelihood you KNOW you're being an asshole.

This BS about asking the Mods to draw a line in the sand so you can try to toe it gets old really fast, and is pretty darn childish to boot.

I created this post as a hypothetical question, I have not had any run-ins with the Mods in a long time (and even then it was just a warning or two).

I definitely appreciate all the input Mods!