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Recently, many staff members who lack moderator diamonds have been posting here. Such staff members have a secret "staff" flag on them, which allows them access into the staff-only chat rooms on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, as well as the ability to edit moderator-only tags.

However, these staff members don't have the ability to make binding edits to posts. This leads to odd circumstances where a staff member has to suggest an edit in order to apply a moderator-only tag.

Now, you could argue that it might just be better to give all staff members moderator diamonds, but according to another non-mod staff member, "the Community team has tightened up internal policies regarding who gets one and who doesn't." I'm not gonna argue with that.

It's also worth mentioning that on per-site metas, non-moderator staff members do have the ability to edit moderator-only tags. This request would match it up for MSE.

Can we please give non-moderator users with the staff flag the ability to make binding edits here, without needing to suggest edits?

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    Wouldn't this be better handled by a discussion within the company? Exactly what are the users supposed to respond with here, and why should they care about this?
    – Masked Man
    Jul 20, 2018 at 17:48
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    @MaskedMan Normal users have to review suggested edits made by these non-mod staff members, so it's relevant for the community as well.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 20, 2018 at 17:49
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    While it is tempting to reject all those edits for science I don't think it causes much friction or goes blatantly wrong (just one reject vote so far on 8 suggested edits). And as the suggested edit queue isn't particularly congested on MSE I think the regulars can work with SE staff to make this work without the need to give staff more privileges then needed just to overcome this nuisance at best.
    – rene
    Jul 20, 2018 at 17:55
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    @rene On per-site metas, non-mod staff members can edit moderator-only tags. This request would match it up for MSE.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 20, 2018 at 17:57
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    I'm not too concerned with whether or not "non-moderator staff members" have this privilege, but it seems odd for them to have the priv on site-specific metas but not MSE. One way or the other, I suggest that this difference be reconciled.
    – 3D1T0R
    Jul 20, 2018 at 19:01
  • Why can't staff members have an icon like e.g. a staff? Then it is clear that they are staff and have the necessary rights.
    – Thorsten S.
    Jul 22, 2018 at 15:17
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    Was updated at some point. See here
    – Yaakov Ellis StaffMod
    Feb 26, 2020 at 22:19
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    Does this answer your question? What privileges and tools do staff members without a diamond have access to?
    – Luuklag
    Jul 26, 2020 at 18:45
  • @Luuklag Not a duplicate. This is a completed feature request with an official response; the other is a support question.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 26, 2020 at 20:38
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    @SonictheMaskedWerehog then its a dupenof this one albeit not obvious: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/331654/… as it is pointed out in comments that staff have extended access compared to regular users
    – Luuklag
    Jul 27, 2020 at 5:11
  • Does this answer your question? Employee profiles are now marked with a “Staff” indicator
    – Joachim
    Mar 15 at 12:01
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    @Joachim How is this a duplicate? This was a bug that was fixed; at the time this was posted, staff didn't have the ability to make binding edits. The above posts which claim staff can make binding edits were published after this one.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Mar 15 at 19:47
  • As per Luuklag's comment, the privileges of staff members are mentioned there. But you're right, I hadn't noticed that that thread was posted after yours. My apologies, I retracted my VTC.
    – Joachim
    Mar 15 at 19:50

1 Answer 1

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The confusion it will create is worse than the benefit, in my opinion.

I can totally see several bug reports: "How did this user edit with less than 2k rep?!?!", "MSE got hacked!1!!", etc, and going over and over to explain "But hey, this is SE employee, see their twitter!" is.. bothersome.

If SE employee is active on a site, doesn't have enough rep, and/or needs mod privileges of any kind, they should just get a diamond there. It's matter of seconds for a dev/CM to give them one, and with diamond it's clear they're not hacking anything.

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  • I would have asked for them to give all staff members moderator diamonds, but I refrained from that because of the staff member who commented that SE has tightened up internal policies for staff members getting diamonds.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 20, 2018 at 21:56
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    Well, a marketing person who just answer phone calls doesn't need diamond. Same for a chef cooking their meals. So... only those who need should get it.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 20, 2018 at 21:57
  • If you want SE to relax their policies a bit so that employees like Anita Taylor and Aaron Shekey get diamonds more quickly, you should file a counter-request.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 20, 2018 at 21:58
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    @Sonic sorry, lost you there. No idea who are Anita and Aaron, and like I said, as far as I know, giving diamond is done by a dev/CM clicking some buttons. If I'm wrong and you have proof that giving diamond is more complicated, edit this into the feature request as it's crucial and I'll reverse my vote.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 20, 2018 at 22:01
  • Edited my comment to add last names. Those are the staff members involved in the links in my post. If you want SE to change their policy so that employees like them get diamonds, you should file a separate request.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 20, 2018 at 22:03
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    No, I don't want SE to change policy. I don't care about their internal affairs. I want that if someone needs mod privileges, they should get a diamond to show it, not have secret power.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 20, 2018 at 22:10
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    Eh, the fact that they can even suggest these tags in edits without diamonds is confusing (I've been caught by it in the past). Being able to edit without suggestion might be less noticeable since no one is going to have to approve those edits... that said, edits are a way of earning rep.
    – Catija StaffMod
    Jul 21, 2018 at 0:53
  • @Catija thinking about it, I suspect they can edit without approval any "ordinary" edit, and need approval just for those "mod only" edits. Don't ask me why, just my suspicion. If that's really the case, I'll change my mind about the request here, but we need SE staff with low rep and no diamond to test it first. :-)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 21, 2018 at 8:34
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    That's not the case; it was confirmed by Shog in the Tavern that staff members can bypass the restriction against selecting mod-only tags when retagging, but not bypass the restriction that non-mod, <2k rep users can only suggest edits.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 21, 2018 at 17:12
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    Changes in the site design (adding the staff button to the profiles of staff members have largely invalisated the concerns raised in this answer.
    – Luuklag
    Jul 26, 2020 at 14:07
  • @Luuklag that's true, I'll think if to edit the answer or delete it, since edit like "due to the change the answer is not longer relevant" will pretty much be a too radical change.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 26, 2020 at 18:19
  • I think we should just close this question all together, an make an editors note at the top of your answer.
    – Luuklag
    Jul 26, 2020 at 18:44
  • @Luuklag not my decision whether to close it or not, feel free to flag asking for this, and we'll see.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 26, 2020 at 19:46

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