Yuku free message boards

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I'd also like to point out that the places in which I see this in use are generally very large boards, particularly by comparison to this, on which mods have to close and move threads, issue warnings to unruly users, bring threads back to their original topics several times per day. On boards that get high traffic, you'll get many users that haven't kept track of who moderates what forum, and you'll sometimes get users who need to be clearly reminded that the moderators are just doing their jobs as moderators and don't really have a great deal of say in what the rules are. I've been to boards on which the admin were forced to make a policy of reminding users to take up any questions about moderations DIRECTLY with the moderation staff or admin and summarily ban those who refused to abide because they'd had so many problems with people totally unhinging threads with arguments over petty moderator decisions. I've even been to places in which proper use of the chain of command had to be enforced because the admins had been getting many complaints that should have been addressed to the mods before being taken to the admin level.

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I can see the use of red text or mod tags being a neccesity in these situations. But what's described above is pretty much everything the guild isn't.
We don't have too many members, we are a very close community and our members are generally aware of who the mods and admin are, as they are very clearly listed beside the forums.
I also have faith in our members to do what they're asked to do. Apart from a few rouges or people with trollish or stubborn tendancies we get in every now and again (a lot of whom don't even know they're being trollish) we are all able to follow rules without having to resort to something which is clearly a tactic of larger communities with a much much higher turnover rate than ours.

Another very important point, one does not have to be a mod at the guild in order to steer newer members away from bad behaviour, and remind them of the rules, or say that a post is in the wrong forum. Many of our more seasoned members do this. I'd hate to see it come to the point where we didn't listen to anyone unless <mod> was in their post. Of course, like I said, I have more faith in the guild than that.

I think that in cases where a member is doing something wrong and refusing to do as asked, then saying "I'm telling you as a MOD..." is called for. I know I'd take that a lot more seriously than I would something which imitates an html tag, as these sorts of things are generally done in a lighthearted way, like </stupid>. I think writing <mod></mod> is also done in a lighthearted way, and it's a good bit of comic relief to whatever the mod is saying. You know, like, "I'm correcting you about this, but chill, it's all good, we're not here to be mean, now let's have fun."

As for red, well, I never want to have to see that here. Red provokes frustration and anger, and for someone who is bitter and stubborn, I'm sure it would antagonize the situation. Serious matters should always be handled in a relaxed and calm manner, with intelligent words and a relaxing attitude, and compassion. I never want to see *serious* matters handled with BIG NASTY RED WORDS

The wonderful thing about not being a community with 5000 active members is that everyone knows who everyone is. It's like living in a little village. We know who the admin are, we know who the mods are. Therefore it's not required that we state who we are in order to get attention. However, I do like the badge idea you came up with. It might be a nice idea for mods and admin to have a little mark, perhaps at the top of their signature, but it really would just be for the benefit of newbies, to get to know their mods and admin.

It's not something I would force (If you hadn't guessed, I'm admin) but I'd be willing to make up a few little standard 'badges' that mods could put in their signatures if they wanted to. Just depends on the interest the idea receives.

Buuuttt.... if we did do that and made it optional for mods to have a tag in their signatures, and it took off, then and mod without one wouldn't be immidietly recognized as a mod by newbies. So it would probably have to be mandatory, and I don't like forcing people what to put in their signatures.

Thoughts?