How are chat privileges granted?
Stack Overflow and Meta Stack Exchange each have their own chat; the rest of the network (Stack Overflow in non-English languages, Super User, Server Fault, [other topic] Stack Exchange, etc.) has a combined chat site (Stack Exchange chat).
For non-moderator users, privileges apply based on your total reputation on the associated site(s):
- On Stack Overflow and Meta Stack Exchange chat, privileges apply based on your reputation or moderator status on the associated site.
- On the combined Stack Exchange chat site, privileges apply based on your total reputation over all sites. The exact reputation calculation changes based on whether you have the association bonus, and if not, whether you have 20 reputation on a single site.
Moderators of any Stack Exchange site will have moderator privileges on Stack Exchange chat and on the respective site-specific chat server on which they're a moderator:
Note that moderator privileges do not apply to certain special types of rooms known as moderated private rooms - see the Special Note at the bottom.
What are the privilege levels?
The privilege levels are:
- public: read messages in non-private rooms
- registered:
- talk in any room if invited
- ignore users
- 20 reputation:
- participate in chat, i.e., talk in any public room
- invite another user to a room one's currently in (provided their room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
- star messages
- 100 reputation:
- bookmark a conversation
- create a public room (provided one's room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
- 1,000 reputation:
- create a gallery room, i.e., a room where messages are public but only specific users can talk (provided one's room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
- be able to change the access level of a room where you're a room owner from public to gallery and vice versa
- 10,000 reputation:
- be notified of spam/offensive flags (the number of active flags appears in a circle on your gravatar)
- view deleted rooms (read access only if allowed)
- room owner:
- have read and write access to the room
- edit the room name and description
- pin or unpin a message (a pin is a super-star)
- remove stars from messages
- grant explicit read access
- grant explicit write access to users with at least 20 reputation
- change the access level of the room from public to gallery and vice versa (only if you have 1,000+ rep or are a moderator)
- grant and remove room ownership
- create and remove feeds
- move messages to any room in which they can post messages
- schedule events
- kick-mute users (three successive kick-mutes in a 24-hour period will revoke the user's room creation privileges)
- put room in timeout (must specify a reason)
- talk in the room even if it's timed out
- view histories of deleted messages (note that non-moderators can only see deleted message stubs, and thus the history links, in the live room)
- ♦︎ moderator (on chat.SE, moderator on any site, even SO or MSE; your parent site must be set to one where you're a moderator; doesn't apply to "moderated private rooms" - see the Special Note below):
- all the above[1]
- edit or delete any message at any time
- view deleted message stubs in transcripts
- purge a message's history
- view moderator flags
- mark flags as valid or invalid
- grant explicit write access to any user regardless of reputation
- super-ping users (ping users even if they're not pingable in the room or don't have a chat profile)
- trigger a refresh of the user's profile from their parent site
- change another's user parent site (chat.SE only)
- suspend users from chat
- destroy chat users[2]
- anonymize a user's messages to their user ID[2]
- annotate user profiles and view users' annotations
- put a room in timeout without having to specify a reason
- freeze/unfreeze room
- delete/undelete room, list deleted rooms
- be able to chat in frozen or deleted rooms
- be immune to being kicked or suspended from chat
- restore room creation privileges to a user who has had them revoked
- view a list of recent chat flags raised across all rooms on the chat server
- various other abilities and access to information
- ♦︎ moderator on the site associated with the chat room[3]:
- create private rooms (where only specific users can read content)
- see and access private rooms
- change the access level of the room to or from private
- change which site is associated with the room
- view which user raised a spam/offensive flag on a message (provided that the moderator is in the room where the flag was raised and viewed the flag while it was active)
[1] When moderators create a scheduled event for the chat room associated with the SE site where they are moderators, the event will be published also in the main site.
[2] Moderators can only take these actions on users who've posted fewer than 1,000 messages. For users who've posted 1,000 or more messages, only Stack Exchange developers can take these actions. Developers also have access to a modified anonymize messages tool that removes the user's ID from public view.
[3] For rooms which don't have a parent site set (i.e., are general network rooms), being a moderator anywhere on the network will give you these privileges there as well.
Special Note: Moderated private rooms
To facilitate internal discussion of moderation, most moderator tools are disabled in this special type of private room. One such chat room is the Teachers' Lounge (note the "hollow diamond"):
These rooms are similar to private rooms but operate differently from other private chat rooms:
- All moderators have read and write access.
- Only a designated list of "staff appointed moderators" (also referred to as "room moderators") have access to the full list of moderator and room owner privileges described above, aside from being able to grant and remove room ownership.
- Only Stack Exchange staff can create this special room type and change the list of room owners and room moderators.
- Users with moderator privileges on the chat server who aren't explicitly room owners or room moderators will only have the privileges given to chat users with 10,000+ reputation above, and the abilities to:
- super-ping users (ping users even if they're not pingable in the room or don't have a chat profile)
- edit or delete any of their own messages at any time
(Within the Teachers' Lounge, room moderators are decided by election within the Moderators' Team.)
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