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Is there a list of privileges that users have on any Stack Exchange chat rooms, and which lists the minimum reputation required for each privilege?

If such list doesn't exist, what is the reputation required for the chat privileges?

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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:

Site Moderated Stack Exchange chat Stack Overflow chat Meta Stack Exchange chat
Stack Overflow

Meta Stack Exchange

All other SE sites

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:
    1. talk in any room if invited
    2. ignore users
  • 20 reputation:
    1. participate in chat, i.e., talk in any public room
    2. invite another user to a room one's currently in (provided their room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
    3. star messages
  • 100 reputation:
    1. bookmark a conversation
    2. create a public room (provided one's room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
  • 1,000 reputation:
    1. 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a room where messages are public but only specific users can talk (provided one's room creation privileges haven't been revoked)
    2. 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:
    1. be notified of spam/offensive flags (the number of active flags appears in a circle on your gravatar)
    2. view deleted rooms (read access only if allowed)
  • room owner:
    1. have read and write access to the room
    2. edit the room name and description
    3. pin or unpin a message (a pin is a super-star)
    4. remove stars from messages
    5. grant explicit read access
    6. grant explicit write access to users with at least 20 reputation
    7. 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)
    8. grant and remove room ownership
    9. create and remove feeds
    10. move messages to any room in which they can post messages
    11. schedule events
    12. kick-mute users (three successive kick-mutes in a 24-hour period will revoke the user's room creation privileges)
    13. put room in timeout (must specify a reason)
    14. talk in the room even if it's timed out
    15. 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):
    1. all the above[1]
    2. edit or delete any message at any time
    3. view deleted message stubs in transcripts
    4. purge a message's history
    5. view moderator flags
    6. mark flags as valid or invalid
    7. grant explicit write access to any user regardless of reputation
    8. super-ping users (ping users even if they're not pingable in the room or don't have a chat profile)
    9. trigger a refresh of the user's profile from their parent site
    10. change another's user parent site (chat.SE only)
    11. suspend users from chat
    12. destroy chat users[2]
    13. anonymize a user's messages to their user ID[2]
    14. annotate user profiles and view users' annotations
    15. put a room in timeout without having to specify a reason
    16. freeze/unfreeze room
    17. delete/undelete room, list deleted rooms
    18. be able to chat in frozen or deleted rooms
    19. be immune to being kicked or suspended from chat
    20. restore room creation privileges to a user who has had them revoked
    21. view a list of recent chat flags raised across all rooms on the chat server
    22. various other abilities and access to information
  • ♦︎ moderator on the site associated with the chat room[3]:
    1. create private rooms (where only specific users can read content)
    2. see and access private rooms
    3. change the access level of the room to or from private
    4. change which site is associated with the room
    5. 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"):

Hollow diamond for Teachers' Lounge

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:
    1. super-ping users (ping users even if they're not pingable in the room or don't have a chat profile)
    2. 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.)

(Source)

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  • The privileges page covers the big ones too: participation, create a room, create a gallery Commented Apr 17, 2011 at 23:24
  • 10K users should not then see the "blue badge" that reports there are flagged posts. Is that correct?
    – avpaderno
    Commented Apr 18, 2011 at 4:38
  • @kiamlaluno: That's an undocumented feature. I've made that answer CW so it can serve as a chat privilege FAQ. One thing I don't know is what reputation is taken into account on chat.SE: the total amongst all the relevant sites? or the largest on any relevant site? Commented Apr 18, 2011 at 7:21
  • I am getting blue bubbles in the English chatroom; I have 9500ish rep on English, but about 10500 on all SE sites. I think it is related to total rep on SE? Commented Apr 18, 2011 at 13:48
  • @Cerberus - Yes, this is correct. More accurately, these stats are related to your chat user. Notably, this applies to moderator accounts: If your chat user has a parent account of a site where you're not a mod, then you won't get moderator privileges. Commented Dec 2, 2011 at 17:09
  • @Makyen RE your edit: your removal of one line from the moderator privilege list moved the super-ping privilege from number 8 to number 7. The section on moderated private rooms refers to the super-ping privilege as number 8. Please be sure to update the number whenever you make an edit that moves that slot. Commented Jun 9 at 23:11
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog Then put it at #2, so it never moves, or put a note in the list saying that its number is referenced elsewhere. While numbered lists do allow for referencing things within the list by number, the way that Markdown auto-numbers means you need to be clear if there's actually a need to keep the numbers consistent. In particular, the fact that the lists here consistently use "1." on every line to indicate a numbered list specifically indicates that the order of the list doesn't matter (i.e., that individual ones are not referenced elsewhere in the post).
    – Makyen
    Commented Jun 10 at 2:36
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog As it turned out, it was more appropriate to just re-list it in that area, rather than reference it.
    – Makyen
    Commented Jun 10 at 2:36
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    @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog "Staff appointed moderator" is the actual title of that role in such rooms. Please leave it as such. Personally, I wouldn't have used that name, but that's what SE chose.
    – Makyen
    Commented Jun 10 at 3:58
  • @Makyen I was using the name Mithical used in this post, which links to the original CM announcement of moderated private rooms, which also uses that name. I thought based on those posts that that was the official name. Commented Jun 10 at 4:02
  • Also, I don't see what is confusing about the part you removed in your most recent edit. Links to deleted messages' histories are indeed only shown to non-moderators in the live room, and not in the transcript. Can you please point out exactly where the confusion lies, so we can be on the same page? Commented Jun 10 at 4:09
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog It's confusing because it's not that the link isn't shown. It's that the deleted message isn't shown, which, of course, prevents the user from opening the deleted message's menu popup to find the history link. Saying that the link is only shown in the live room implies that the link is actually shown in the page, when it's not what's shown or not shown. It's the deleted message stub that's shown/not shown.
    – Makyen
    Commented Jun 11 at 15:53
  • @Makyen If I replace the word "shown" with "available" in the phrase, will that resolve the confusion? The link may not be shown in either the room or the transcript, without clicking a dropdown in the former, but it is available in the former by doing so, while altogether unavailable in the latter since the message stub isn't present. Commented Jun 11 at 19:41

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