[wp-forums] The "moderator" hat

[bc workz]

I'm afraid a simple label change is not going to cut it. Most forum users
are not capable of parsing the subtle semantics implied by various labels.
Apparently the general perception is anyone with more rank than member
presumably has complete admin access to everything, is capable of directly
modifying official core code, and can summon plague and pestilence upon
anyone violating the rules.

Because of this perception, moderators basically cannot offer any personal
opinions because such statements will be perceived as official policy of
the WordPress organization and possibly that of Automattic as well. The
only ways I see around this is:

1. Anytime opinion is offered, it must be accompanied by a disclaimer along
the lines of "The following is my personal opinion and does not represent
official position or policy of WordPress, Automattic, it's subsidiaries,
management, or employees." Or other such obtuse legalistic jibber jabber.

Or 2. Maintain a separate account with mere member privileges from which
one may freely exposit in any way they see fit within the forum rules just
as they apply to anyone. Of course this means if you are logged in as such
and see any spam or other moderator issues, you must log out then back in
as moderator in order to do anything. Or maintain two separate browsers and
switch between them.

Ridiculously extreme? Yes. And #2 is in a way a variation of the dreaded
sock puppet that is so vilified! Anything less will continue to confuse the
masses.

- Glenn (bcworkz)
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On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 00:14:45 -0600
Drew <xoodrew at gmail.com> Wrote:

What do you think about "Forum Volunteer" instead of "Volunteer Moderator"?
I think the former may be closer to "member".

Also, did anybody point this guy to the Update Control plugin?


On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 12:06 AM, andrew nevins <
andrew.nevins.misc at gmail.com> wrote:

> *I don't actually have a solution to this*
>
> I've noticed if I post in a thread about a core WordPress request/
feedback
> some people may be interpret me as a core developer who is saying Nay to
> their idea.
>
> I've ignored this suspicion for a while until someone pointed it out again
> recently,
>
>
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-auto-updates-please-give-us-the-option?replies=22#post-5460869
>
> As some of you may know I'm not keen with the "volunteer moderator" label
> anyway because it's so different from "member" when we are not so
> different, but I'm not sure if there's a better way of describing us.
>
> I'm sure a lot of thought was gone into the "volunteer moderator" label
and
> maybe this is the best we can do, but just wanted to raise this in case
> anyone had some thoughts on other labels.