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I am curious to know about the rules which Meta Stack Exchange moderators need to follow before featuring a post or removing the tag from a post.

For example, let's say that some maintenance post is posted by a Stack Exchange employee but they forgot to feature it. So can Meta Stack Exchange moderators feature the post or should they ask the permission of the OP (i.e., the employee) before featuring it?

What if it is some other kind of post? For example, let's take the example of Updates to Privacy Policy (September 2021). Since the Privacy Policy post is about a legal subject, can Meta Stack Exchange moderators feature it on their own or do they need the permission of the OP (i.e., the Stack Exchange employee) before featuring it?

When a normal user (without mod privilege) tries to add the tag to a post, they get an error like this:

'featured' can only be used by moderators.

Do moderators get any error if they try to feature posts of staff? Like this:

'featured' can only be used by staff.

Can moderators remove the tag if the post (of staff) no longer needs the tag? For example, the maintenance window has ended and Planned SEDE maintenance scheduled for Oct 15, 2021 and Oct 16, 2021 15:00-17:00 UTC (11am-1pm ET) no longer requires the tag. So can the moderators remove the tag from the post on their own or should they take the permission of the OP (i.e., the Stack Exchange employee) to remove the tag?

Do moderators get any warnings like normal users when they try to remove the tag from a post of staff which is featured? Like this:

The staff tag 'featured' must be present.

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    NP. I doubt that they see an error when using that tag on staff posts because we see that warning with all mod tags, not just that one. I'm unsure of the rules, but I have seen mods (AFAIK) feature a post when enough people agree that it should be tagged as such.
    – Ollie
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 18:15
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    It might carry a bit more weight because those posts appear in the bulletin...
    – Ollie
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 18:15
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    "The first rule of the featured tag is we don't talk about the featured tags"
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 3:00
  • @JourneymanGeek Why the quotes? Is this a statement said by someone?
    – Random Person
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 17:33
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    @RandomPerson: Presumably JG is referencing a classic Fight Club quote. :)
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented Oct 18, 2021 at 20:40

2 Answers 2

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Do moderators get any error if they try to feature posts of staff?

The MSE mods can add the featured tag, we can also remove the tag. It doesn't matter if the post is from staff or not.

The only posts we can't edit are the ones that are policy locked, so we can't add or remove any tags on those either.

I am curious to know about the rules which Meta Stack Exchange moderators need to follow before featuring a post or removing the featured tag from a post.

Basically, the only rules I'm aware of are here, and they're not specific to MSE only.

Unofficially, the common sense rule is that we just don't touch that tag and leave flags asking for the addition or removal of a featured tag for CMs/staff. On rare occasions, we may have a chat with one and do the edit ourselves, but that's an exception.

We've all been aware that the featured tag on MSE is special from the beginning, and we've never done anything stupid with it. So, there was never a need for additional rules for MSE moderators to follow with regards to the tag, except the unofficial one described above.

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  • Did both the mods (you and Glorfindel) click the "Post Your Answer" button at the same time? ๐Ÿ˜…
    – Random Person
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 19:10
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    @RandomPerson can't check the timestamps but I think I was a few seconds faster
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 19:24
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    @RandomPerson This answer was posted four seconds before Glorfindel's answer.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Oct 17, 2021 at 18:38
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For science, I've blinked the tag on the maintenance post. That worked, so nothing prevents us from removing or adding the tag.

However, it's obvious that this is a special tool only to be used by staff members. It affects the entire network. I can't explain it better than @MonicaCellio did here:

SE appointed us as moderators of this site. They didn't appoint us as arbiters over network-wide advertising.

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    Did both the mods (you and Tinkeringbell) click the "Post Your Answer" at the same time? ๐Ÿ˜…
    – Random Person
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 19:05
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    There are very rare occasions where Meta.SE mods will add / remove a [featured] tag, but that hasn't been necessary in a while.
    – Mithical
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 19:06
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    @RandomPerson Tinkeringbell was four seconds faster and wrote a better answer. Hats off to her!
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Commented Oct 16, 2021 at 20:19

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