Staff Markers in MetaTalk

October 4, 2011 2:46 PM

We just added (staff) markers in the bylines here in MetaTalk if the commenter is a mod.

With the addition of taz last week we realized that we now have six admins. So to help identify who is speaking for the site we added little staff boxes next to admin's names in MetaTalk only.

Sadly, jessamyn's gold star is no more.

posted by pb to Feature Requests at 2:46 PM (279 comments total)

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, testing...
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:47 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Looks pretty boss
posted by 2bucksplus at 2:49 PM on October 4, 2011

A moment of silence, or

.

for the lost star.
posted by cgc373 at 2:50 PM on October 4, 2011 [15 favorites]

* cries *
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:50 PM on October 4, 2011 [116 favorites]

I still see your star in Recent Activity, jessamyn! (I don't know if it's a bug though and soon to be squashed.)
posted by cgc373 at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2011

Jessamyn, you'll always have a star in my heart.
posted by chara at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Weird, the grease monkey script for the same purpose still works redundantly with pb and matthowie but no longer works for jessamyn.
posted by Blasdelb at 2:52 PM on October 4, 2011

Sadly, jessamyn's gold star is no more.

/ponyrequests the return of jessamyn's star.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 2:52 PM on October 4, 2011 [47 favorites]

Just to explain a bit, especially if you think this is an awful change...

I was skeptical of the need for this at first, but as we've added a few more mods we have seen people get confused by who the new mods are, and also new users of the site often don't know which answer in MetaTalk is the one they should take as the official mod answer.

I've seen this feature in place on Vimeo for years, any staff member gets a small staff icon next to their name, no matter what they are doing on the site (most often I see it in comments where they are saying something looks cool) but it still helps members find help through specific users.

It's only on MetaTalk since we're only speaking semi-officially most often on MetaTalk and it's kind of rare on other subsites, so we'll just have it here.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:53 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I should have rolled up a fighter character, I didn't want to be stuck with a staff like the rest of you wizards.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:53 PM on October 4, 2011 [54 favorites]

I just realized that the Greasemonkey problem and the missing star problem are complementary. TO THE BATCAVE
posted by Jpfed at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

cgc373, yeah squashed.

We're not going to add staff markers to recent activity. We'd like to keep RA clean and simple, and generally new users don't hang out in Recent Activity.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:54 PM on October 4, 2011

Weird, the grease monkey script for the same purpose still works redundantly with pb and matthowie but no longer works for jessamyn.
Still works for me.

Anyway, we don't need a star by jessamyn's name to know she is one.
posted by dg at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

It looks crappy for me at the default zoom level on Chrome version whatever on a Mac. Maybe use a pixel font if it's gonna be tiny like that? Zooming up one level makes it look better.
posted by silby at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2011

I like this operator symbol better: ⊡
posted by Horselover Phattie at 2:58 PM on October 4, 2011

But I don't get staff training until black belt!
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 2:58 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

huh, it should look like this silby. We'll probably be forcing this to a small, but readable pixel size in the next few minutes.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:59 PM on October 4, 2011

Looks crappy for me on chrome also, but it's more of the font color blending in with the box color.
posted by Big_B at 2:59 PM on October 4, 2011

Hopefully this will carry over to meet-ups and other public appearances where you'll all wear STAFF t-shirts. It will sort of make you look like camp counselors or Batman villain henchmen.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:01 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ah, the vagaries of font rendering.
posted by silby at 3:01 PM on October 4, 2011

Do the mods have an opt-out button for when they're not making official policy statements but just spitballing or talking something out? Although perhaps that's not really an issue.
posted by elephantday at 3:02 PM on October 4, 2011

Example
posted by Big_B at 3:03 PM on October 4, 2011

Crappy here too. Maybe a Mac vs. Windows thing? Windows does not like to look good.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:03 PM on October 4, 2011

But overall a fantastic idea.
posted by Big_B at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2011

I'm seeing a yellow background with tiny grey writing. It's kinda hard to read. Not a big issue, as it doesn't change, I guess. Good idea, though.
posted by Solomon at 3:04 PM on October 4, 2011

Do the mods have an opt-out button for when they're not making official policy statements but just spitballing or talking something out?

Within MetaTalk that seems like too fine a distinction - since we really almost never Dictate From On High anyway, there's not a bright line to cross one way or the other.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 3:05 PM on October 4, 2011

It now looks correct to me on the default zoom level.
posted by silby at 3:05 PM on October 4, 2011

Here is chrome on mac (snow leopard).
posted by andoatnp at 3:05 PM on October 4, 2011

If the text looks weird we could maybe give everyone a gold star in MeTa.....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:06 PM on October 4, 2011 [47 favorites]

Looks fine on Chrome using the professional white background.
posted by deezil at 3:06 PM on October 4, 2011

We just pushed out a new version that sets an explicit font size. So it should look a little better if you have your MetaFilter smaller font size set below 9 in your preferences.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2011

Yeah, no opt-out/modal thing with it. It's just there as sort of a helper for the cases where someone is (a) not aware who the mods actually are or (b) is doing a quick scan of the page, since those are the main use cases we've run into. I'd personally go nuts if I had to explicitly bucket all my comments into either Mod or User mode, I'd rather just try and make my intent clear in the odd cases where it's likely to be ambiguous by choosing my words carefully.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2011

we really almost never Dictate From On High anyway

For the times when you do, just add an "ex cathedra" marker!
posted by kmz at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, whatever you just did fixed it.
posted by penduluum at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2011

I think every mod should have their own icon, like monopoly pieces.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2011 [17 favorites]

Looks better now.
posted by Big_B at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2011

It's clearer now, yeah.

Is there a space inside the box before "staff"? It seems like there is a space inside the box before "staff."
posted by Sys Rq at 3:08 PM on October 4, 2011

Is there a space inside the box before "staff"?

Yeah there are parentheses in the box so if people end up quickly copying and pasting the entire byline, they'll get [username] (staff) instead of username staff. It's a small detail, but we felt like the slightly larger box was worth it.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:10 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

For the times when you do, just add an "ex cathedra" marker!

We can just terminate those comments with a variant exclamation mark where the vertical dash is replace by a teeny little mitre.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2011 [10 favorites]

Can we have eBay-style stars for the number of favorites you have? Or how long you've been a member?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2011

It's a bit yellow.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2011

柺 an old man's staff

⚕ staff of Aesculapius

☤ two-snake staff of Aesculapius

⚚ staff of Hermes

(staff) staff of Metafilter
posted by Zed at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2011 [8 favorites]

I think every mod should have their own icon, like monopoly pieces.

I think we actually discussed that idea at one point.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:13 PM on October 4, 2011

For better or worse, it draws a lot more attention to the mod comments.
posted by maryr at 3:14 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is great. Thanks!
posted by Kimberly at 3:15 PM on October 4, 2011

Yeah there are parentheses in the box so if people end up quickly copying and pasting the entire byline, they'll get [username] (staff) instead of username staff. It's a small detail, but we felt like the slightly larger box was worth it.

Right, but is there one after it? It doesn't look centered, is what I'm saying. Maybe the f is autokerning or something?
posted by Sys Rq at 3:15 PM on October 4, 2011

For MeFiNavigator users:

Go into your script manager of choice. Edit MeFiNavigator.

Near the top you'll find a line that starts with the text

var mfn_admins =  

replace that line with

var mfn_admins = ["jessamyn"];

Next, find the three or so lines that begin with

mfn_adminNode

select all of those and replace them with

mfn_adminNode = document.createElement("span");
mfn_adminNode.innerHTML = "★";
mfn_adminNode.setAttribute("style","margin-left:1%");

This solves the redundant staff marker problem and gives Jessamyn her star back.
posted by Jpfed at 3:15 PM on October 4, 2011 [21 favorites]

Right, but is there one after it?

No. You can select and copy/paste to see for yourself. The entire contents of the box is "(staff)".
posted by pb (staff) at 3:18 PM on October 4, 2011

This is going to be great fun for cortex fans when MetaTalk threads devolve into Markov chains, misguided alphabet streams, William Carlos Williams deviants and wayward haikus. And outsiders will be all, "what exactly are the hiring criteria over at MetaFilter???"
posted by iamkimiam at 3:18 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

When will MetaFilter Gold be rolling out?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:19 PM on October 4, 2011

I think we actually discussed that idea at one point.

jessamyn: star
cortex: eighth note
mathowie: bike wheel
pb: floppy disk
vacapinta: cocktail glass
restless_nomad: ninja star
posted by villanelles at dawn at 3:19 PM on October 4, 2011 [14 favorites]

Very unattractive, maybe just half a step down from a blink tag. Why not make all the mods stars?
posted by alms at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2011 [9 favorites]

> When will MetaFilter Gold be rolling out?

I'm rolling some right now. It's sticky.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 3:20 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Hrmmm. How does one edit a userscript in Chrome? They're more easily accessible in Firefox.
posted by eyeballkid at 3:21 PM on October 4, 2011

I like that it links to the "Who's in charge here?" section of the FAQ.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:21 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nice! Although Jessamyn's star was cooler. ;)
posted by zarq at 3:23 PM on October 4, 2011

Can you turn off the <a> underline? Looks janky (chrome/win @ work) like a chunk out of the little gold box.
posted by misterbrandt at 3:23 PM on October 4, 2011

I agree that it doesn't look so good. Instead of a colored block with white text, why not just make it look like this:

posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:23 PM on January 1 [+] [!]

Make the "(staff)" part display in the same font and size as the username, with no background, but a more attention-getting text color. Wouldn't that be just as effective?
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 3:25 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I appreciate the idea, but I liked the star. In my world all the mods would have that (only jessamyn's would be gold, naturally), and mousing over it would reveal the word [staff] for anyone confused.

Just purely from an aesthetic point of view, I think it would look better.
posted by quin at 3:26 PM on October 4, 2011 [13 favorites]

I was losing track of who the moderators are now that there is a small army of them, so this is a useful feature for me.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 3:27 PM on October 4, 2011

Can you turn off the <a> underline?

Done!
posted by pb (staff) at 3:28 PM on October 4, 2011

This has become sadly necessary now that there are so many mods.

I like that I can quickly search through the page for staff comments by searching for "(staff)." I dislike that it is ugly. This is prime bikeshedding territory. I'd say something more unobtrusive that still can't be impersonated by the plebes would be great.

The star is great except that new users won't know what it means.

The staff icon doesn't show up in preview.

Also, I would like a GreaseMonkey script that replaces "(staff)" with "(cabal)" and makes the link go to this page. I would also like a pony.
posted by grouse at 3:29 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Why not make all the mods stars? --- Probably because that's not as intuitive as actually spelling it out.
posted by crunchland at 3:30 PM on October 4, 2011

Aw. Another vote for giving all the mods stars.
posted by Space Kitty at 3:31 PM on October 4, 2011

The Winsome Parker Lewis: "Make the "(staff)" part display in the same font and size as the username, with no background, but a more attention-getting text color. Wouldn't that be just as effective?"

Cue half the site signing up for a (staff) branded sockpuppet.
posted by jack_mo at 3:32 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

If the star linked to "Who's In Charge" it would be perfectly intuitive.
posted by maryr at 3:33 PM on October 4, 2011

The staff icon doesn't show up in preview.

Thanks, added.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:33 PM on October 4, 2011

Could it possibly be a white box instead? White box would still stand out without looking so gosh darn offensive to the eyes..
posted by royalsong at 3:34 PM on October 4, 2011

According to my calculations, at the rate they're creating mods, we'll all be moderators by 6:27am July 9th, 2033.
posted by crunchland at 3:34 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

For MeFiNavigator users:
Go into your script manager of choice. Edit MeFiNavigator...
Won't this change the behaviour of the script on all parts of the site, removing the 'admin' notation across the board, even where the 'staff' note isn't there?

jessamyn's mum: star
cortex: eighth note
mathowie: bike wheel
pb: floppy disk
vacapinta: cocktail glass
restless_nomad: ninja star

YOU FORGOT TAZ!
posted by dg at 3:35 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

eyeballkid:Hrmmm. How does one edit a userscript in Chrome? They're more easily accessible in Firefox.

Go into Tools > Extensions under the Wrench menu.

Click on the arrow to the left of the script name to reveal the extension ID.

On Windows: go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\{extension ID}

Edit the script.js file.

I think then you need to restart.
posted by elephantday at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

taz gets the scottie terrier.
posted by crush-onastick at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

The staff box has its own CSS class. So if you use something like Stylish, you could give it your preferred look. To hide it completely, you could use this:

.staff {display:none}
posted by pb (staff) at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Now that the star isn't being used, can you award it to members that are consistently awesome? You can? Great! I'd like it to the left of my name rather than the right, thanks.
posted by jbickers at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2011

Maybe baby jessamyn could get the star now, that would dry her tears up right quick.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 3:37 PM on October 4, 2011

So.

You guys are all wearing uniforms now, huh?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:39 PM on October 4, 2011

Are pajamas a uniform? I mean I guess I wear them to work every day.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:40 PM on October 4, 2011 [6 favorites]

I hate this and I think it's awful, mostly because it is completely hideous. Seriously, nobody on TeamMod could design something prettier? I'd hate to see the rejected ideas. I'm going to have to break down and install greasemonkey or something to get rid of this.
posted by nooneyouknow at 3:40 PM on October 4, 2011

I think it looks ugly and I miss the star, but I really dislike it when people pretend to be mods with the small text and the [couple comments deleted] and all, and that wins out over aesthetics and star-missing.
posted by sweetkid at 3:42 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I hope someone else makes an awful staff infection joke so I'm not tempted to anymore.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 3:43 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

You guys are all wearing uniforms now, huh?

Does a uniform require pants?
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:43 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I prefer the star, the ...yellowness of the block is distracting.
posted by The Whelk at 3:49 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can we get a "staph" so we can tell which members have MRSA and should be avoided?
posted by klangklangston at 3:49 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Now I'm wondering if any of the mods are actually dressed.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 3:52 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

how else would they fit into those suspended gels they need to run the basestars?
posted by The Whelk at 3:52 PM on October 4, 2011 [4 favorites]

If all the mods get a star, then Jessamyn should get two stars.

Or maybe Jessamyn, restless_nomad, and taz should all get two stars. Then Jessamyn would have to have a stripe, or something, as well.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 3:55 PM on October 4, 2011

Does a uniform require pants?

You could wear a kilt in a special Metafilter tartan.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:55 PM on October 4, 2011

We tweaked this for a couple hours today and threw out a bunch of ideas with new colors introduced, and I think people can get used to it pretty quickly but if anyone wants to mock up any more subtle versions feel free to post ideas here and we'll think about changing to something if we see a better option. Remember, the goal is that it's clear and simple to understand for new users without being too distracting.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:55 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

now I am just imagining that pb is a spacing guild navigator
posted by silby at 3:55 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

You could wear a kilt in a special Metafilter tartan

I WILL BUY THIS
posted by villanelles at dawn at 3:57 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

The blue box looks great on the spiffy professional white background
posted by pointystick at 4:02 PM on October 4, 2011 [4 favorites]

It's a blue box like you each have a TARDIS!
posted by pointystick at 4:02 PM on October 4, 2011 [4 favorites]

Obviously familiarity creates bias, but MeFi Navigator's "Admin" in a white box looks much, much better to my eyes.
posted by SpiffyRob at 4:04 PM on October 4, 2011

mathowie: if anyone wants to mock up any more subtle versions feel free to post ideas here

Reversing the normal (not yellow) text and background colors would be a nice subtle way to put it in. So, light gray background (what's the text color here, CCCCCC?) and dark gray text (666666?).
posted by carsonb at 4:05 PM on October 4, 2011

Screenshots of what you guys mean is most preferable.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:07 PM on October 4, 2011

Why not a gold star for all the staff, with an explanation for it in the FAQ?
posted by jgirl at 4:08 PM on October 4, 2011

Or just use [staff] in the same yellow font as the user name, but a notch smaller. The yellow box seems unnecessarily intrusive.
posted by mediareport at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2011

A star isn't intuitive, doesn't explain anything.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I should have rolled up a fighter character, I didn't want to be stuck with a staff like the rest of you wizards.

You could always dual-class as a ranger. Then you'd even get to wear armor while casting Bigby's Big Banhammer!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:10 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

mockup
posted by carsonb at 4:10 PM on October 4, 2011

(er, done in MSPaint in about 5 seconds, so)
posted by carsonb at 4:10 PM on October 4, 2011

mathowie [staff] in yellow, to be clear.
posted by mediareport at 4:12 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Since it's well known that the nipple is the only intuitive interface, maybe they should all have nipples.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 4:18 PM on October 4, 2011

I kind of assumed they all did.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:19 PM on October 4, 2011 [11 favorites]

Not to keep harping on it, but what if the star had hover over text that said 'staff'? Or mod. Don't know why, but 'mod' sounds friendlier to me than 'staff.'
posted by Space Kitty at 4:20 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

The staff box has its own CSS class

cool. I have now created my first style sheet. I see why we need it, but boy is it intrusive in the plain theme.
posted by Jahaza at 4:21 PM on October 4, 2011

Oh, this makes me a little bit sad, although I see the need for it, and I'm glad that new users will be able to figure things out more quickly.

I'm glad it's confined to MetaTalk for now.
posted by OmieWise at 4:23 PM on October 4, 2011

I kind of assumed they all did.

But we can't see them.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 4:25 PM on October 4, 2011

I predict that in three weeks you'll hardly notice this change, and it will be beneficial to anyone who isn't intimately familiar with the workings of the site (those people being, of course, the least likely to show up here and weigh in on it.) This is a good idea, and the way it's implemented is perfectly fine.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:26 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 4:26 PM on October 4, 2011

But we can't see them.

Get used to disappointment.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:27 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

I think this feature is good. Not everyone stops by MetaTalk several dozen times a day, so it's quite easy not to realize who the staff are. I mean, I assume that is the case, being one of the "stops by MetaTalk several dozen times a day" types, myself.

I hate to say it, but the yellow background looks awful to me. It's a fine colour for text on a blue/green/grey background, but the reverse is just way too intense I think. And yet I can understand wanting to use the same colour that link text and other elements of the site use. The same goes for the new look of the post comment and preview buttons, unfortunately.

What about using the "visited link" colour instead? Would that be any better? Or maybe blue on white (like the "Meta" in the logo)?
posted by FishBike at 4:32 PM on October 4, 2011

You know who else wanted to identify people with yellow stars?
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:34 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Kindergarten teachers?
posted by The Whelk at 4:34 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'm all for the concept, but I hate the yellow box. It's an eyesore.
posted by tzikeh at 4:35 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's a blue box. ;)
posted by zarq at 4:37 PM on October 4, 2011

(or maybe style it like the favorite and flag buttons...)

For example (sort of, because I can't do grey text or a small "posted by" in a comment):

posted by FishBike [staff] at 7:37 PM on October 4 [+] [!]

posted by FishBike at 4:38 PM on October 4, 2011

Greasemonkey script to bring back Jessamyn's star
posted by Flunkie at 4:51 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

It's really ugly in the professional white background. The box looks wonky... like somebody cut a little rectangle out of paper, freehand.

Could you maybe do a little bigger gold star with the word "mod" in it? I think that "staff" sounds weird and kind of cold. I also really like Space Kitty's idea for a gold star with a hover tag.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:52 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Test, 1 2 3
posted by Meatbomb at 4:53 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

WTF?!
posted by Meatbomb at 4:53 PM on October 4, 2011

I see yours Meatbomb, but only with my third eye.
posted by carsonb at 4:54 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

Budget cuts, you know how it is. You can still collate the TPS reports, though. Saturday would be great.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:55 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is what I see:

(brother) Meatbomb
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 4:56 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

This change is fine by me, but the solid yellow box is kind of over powering imho. Maybe a yellow outline instead? Just my 2 cents. Cheers though - I'm sure I'll be used to it in no time :)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:05 PM on October 4, 2011

I'm cool with the yellow box as long as we can run underneath, bump it with our heads and a star pops out the top.
posted by mannequito at 5:06 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Poor MB.
posted by subbes at 5:07 PM on October 4, 2011

For a staff marker, I was expecting an accidental or a clef. So disappointed.
posted by plinth at 5:08 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

Greasemonkey script to bring back Jessamyn's star

The star should always be gold. As it is, if you've clicked on her profile it shows up in visited-link-color. Also it should replace the (staff) badge, I think.
posted by jedicus at 5:20 PM on October 4, 2011

Screenshots of what you guys mean is most preferable.

I can't seem to get the img tag to work.

I am going to vote that all mods get the stars. These staff boxes are ugly and slightly annoying. Maybe I will grow to tune them out, but right now they are glaring and distracting.

I think the star was a nice touch and is subtle and pleasing and I think the meaning is clear without being blatant.

Just my two cents.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:21 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

IMO the Mefi Navigator "Admin" marker looks much nicer. It's black text on a white background. See it here.

(Yes, I am using the Better Contrast Stylish script.)
posted by IndigoRain at 5:22 PM on October 4, 2011

cjorgensen: " I am going to vote that all mods get the stars. These staff boxes are ugly and slightly annoying. Maybe I will grow to tune them out, but right now they are glaring and distracting."

I disagree. Mefi Navigator uses stars to indicate contacts. Using stars for mods would make things more confusing.
posted by IndigoRain at 5:24 PM on October 4, 2011

Presumably, the astral mod's (staff) only shows up on astral metatalk.
posted by Jahaza at 5:25 PM on October 4, 2011

I keep looking but I don't see anything next to my name.
posted by The Whelk at 5:32 PM on October 4, 2011

The idea seems fine as long as its just in MetaTalk, but the word staff makes it feel like we're hanging out in a hotel lobby or something. On the other hand "mod" doesn't really apply to pb or mathowie. Anyway, can someone refill my drink?
posted by Justinian at 5:38 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cortex, would you be a lad and bring the hooptie around?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:42 PM on October 4, 2011

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:43 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

The yellow box seems unnecessarily intrusive.

At least on the grey background, it jumps out rather unattractively. Something a bit more low key would be visually much nicer.

(And I also like "admin" better than "staff," but that may just be me.)
posted by Forktine at 5:43 PM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]

Greasemonkey script to bring back Jessamyn's star

The star should always be gold. As it is, if you've clicked on her profile it shows up in visited-link-color. Also it should replace the (staff) badge, I think.

New version uploaded to keep the star perma-gold.

Doesn't do anything about the staff badge, though - that seems like a different thing to me, best handled by a different script if so desired.
posted by Flunkie at 5:47 PM on October 4, 2011

Setting aside the fact that the current design is visually intrusive and butt-ugly, how did you all decide on the word "staff"? Why not "mod"? "Staff" sounds like "employee". It's just a weirdly formal word that connotes a financial relationship with the corporation more than your actual role in MetaFilter community and in the MetaTalk discussions. It makes this place feel more like Wal-Mart than MetaFilter.
posted by alms at 5:53 PM on October 4, 2011 [7 favorites]

fancy! May I humbly suggest a 2px border radius on them badges? If not, I'll just keep it in my user style. Helpful change either way.
posted by potch at 5:56 PM on October 4, 2011

Sometimes I've wished for an AskMe style margin marker for mods in MeTa, but this will do too.
posted by telstar at 5:59 PM on October 4, 2011

for anyone playing along at home- I classed these up with the following CSS:

.staff {
    border-radius: 2px;
    -moz-border-radius: 2px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 2px;
    padding: 0 2px 1px;
    position: relative;
    top: -1px;
}

posted by potch at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Good Idea! I came across a comment by taz

[that used the classic small font in brackets that mods use.]

and I was getting ready to add a note saying "Hey, it's a bit presumptuous for you to use that style". Then I remembered reading about taz's addition, and it just saved me from being the complete fool.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:01 PM on October 4, 2011

Here's the answer.
posted by crunchland at 6:05 PM on October 4, 2011 [14 favorites]

Heh.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:07 PM on October 4, 2011

Here's two slightly different ideas.

They place the word 'staff' in brackets, similar to how the favorites and flag symbol are set off. I would also suggest that the word staff be hyperlinked and take the user to a staff box page, listing the entire staff and perhaps a link to the contact page.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:11 PM on October 4, 2011

Oh apologies if those idea have already been linked, haven't read the whole thread.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:12 PM on October 4, 2011

Why not "mod"? "Staff" sounds like "employee".

Ooh, how about "Admin", designated by a tiny A with a circle around it?

*hopes nobody notices that this is an anarchy symbol...*
posted by quin at 6:15 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

needs more blink tag...
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:17 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Another new version of the Greasemonkey script - previous versions didn't pick up all instances of links to Jessamyn's user page (was missing those on pages like "Activity from jessamyn").
posted by Flunkie at 6:21 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think this is fine; additionally, it should be able to be invoked when a staff member is leaving an official comment in a mefi or ask thread.
posted by maxwelton at 6:29 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

designated by a tiny A with a circle around it?

I LIKE THIS IDEA

you know quin, people can read small text.

it should be able to be invoked when a staff member is leaving an official comment in a mefi or ask thread.

We've talked about that and for now we're not going that direction for now. We usually use the smalltext/brackets thing when we're saying something that needs to be seen as official, but the rest of the time we really want to be able to interact on the site like other users. There's not a bright line between when we're putting our mod hat on and when we're not and introducing the "choose every time" friction into us commenting was going to be a non-trivial change into how we do things. If it seems that this is something that really needs to happen we'll revisit it, but for right now, we're sticking with this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:40 PM on October 4, 2011

Ok I installed the Gold Star script, and that works fine, now how do I edit the Navigator Script so the white Admin box goes away?
posted by wheelieman at 6:43 PM on October 4, 2011

So just out of curiosity, what instigated this change? Was it getting to be a real issue that no one knew who was a moderator?
posted by crunchland at 6:48 PM on October 4, 2011

Someone suggested it via email right after taz came on and I think someone else mentioned it in another MeTa thread and it just seemed like with six active staff members and especially two coming on in such short succession it was probably a good idea to start being a little more official about some of this stuff over here where we discuss policy. We've seen it on other sites where it seems to work well and it seemed like something that would go okay here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:52 PM on October 4, 2011

taz and vacapinta weigh in so we can have a full mod showing in one thread.

And you too meatbomb! Golden insignia or no, your role is important!
posted by madamjujujive at 6:58 PM on October 4, 2011

Ok that looks terrible and it's really distracting on the professional white background.
posted by doublehappy at 7:00 PM on October 4, 2011

"I kind of assumed they all did."

Never mention the tragic nipple fire of '04.
posted by klangklangston at 7:02 PM on October 4, 2011

Why not make all the mods stars?

Halos might be appropriate. At least lately.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:04 PM on October 4, 2011

Three words:

Matching. Blue. Jumpsuits.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:09 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I must be getting old but the text is pretty unreadable for me but that is probably because of what ever I've done that turns the flag drop down text into mice type. However I don't really find it glaringly ugly.

Anyone want in on the pool for how long before the first metatalk asking why the staff box isn't working (with the poster's unknown selection bias of metafilter/ask)? I've got 18 days.
posted by Mitheral at 7:14 PM on October 4, 2011

I think you're being generous - I pick 9 days.
posted by dg at 7:16 PM on October 4, 2011

pb, the staff icon doesn't show up after your name in the original post, is that something to be fixed?
posted by pwally at 7:19 PM on October 4, 2011

I think it's only for comments, pwally, but I don't see why it couldn't be extended to posts in MeTa?
posted by carsonb at 7:21 PM on October 4, 2011

I classed these up with the following CSS...

slick potch, I like that.

is that something to be fixed?

We're not including it on posts right now, only comments. I guess it's something we can think about.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:22 PM on October 4, 2011

It's a text-based site. Keeping the mod identifier text-based is perfect. No distracting boxes, please.
posted by mediareport at 7:44 PM on October 4, 2011

pb: "We're not including it on posts right now, only comments. I guess it's something we can think about."

Worth noting that that is how the MeFi Navigator script does it. Not that you're necessarily looking to exactly replicate that functionality, but a lot of people are familiar with it.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:44 PM on October 4, 2011

I'll be an outlier here, but I like it a lot just the way it is. On MeTa, a lot of my activity is "Ooh, a pony request/question/issue. I wonder what The Powers That Be think of this." The gold box with grey text makes it AMAZINGLY easy just to scroll down and find those comments. Making the staff part just a smaller gold-text link makes it blend in with the page.
posted by specialagentwebb at 7:55 PM on October 4, 2011

The gold box with grey text

Sigh, it's uggo blue with white text on the professional white background. Don't make me go back!
posted by sweetkid at 7:56 PM on October 4, 2011

Now I can't decide whether our next mod should be named "Fal" or "Flag".
posted by Curious Artificer at 7:58 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

The gold box is ugly, the motivation is good.
A less in your face option, like carsonb or Brandon Blatcher suggested? Or crunchland's, which is awesome.
posted by bystander at 8:09 PM on October 4, 2011

BB's mockup (either option therein) seems cleaner to me. I think the general idea of marking your modliness is good - just not too wild about the yellow box in particular.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:31 PM on October 4, 2011

So to help identify who is speaking for the site we added little staff boxes next to admin's names in MetaTalk only.

Sadly, jessamyn's gold star is no more.

You guys need to get organized, and you need to do it NOW!
posted by hal_c_on at 8:33 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Perhaps just the outline might be less obtrusive? Mockup.
posted by en forme de poire at 8:43 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I like it, particularly that I can use Control+F to search a thread to see if/where a staff member weighed in.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:44 PM on October 4, 2011

I can see why it is becoming necessary, but as implemented, it is way too much.

A gold star would be an improvement, and traditional, but many of the suggestions work okay. I guess after the gold star, the grey square brackets with the yellow small text "staff" seems to be not too bad.
posted by Chuckles at 9:17 PM on October 4, 2011

If I take the name Moses and become a mod, I'll feel like the I've arrived. Moses' Staff. There's some authority in that!
posted by SpacemanStix at 9:17 PM on October 4, 2011

There's not a bright line between when we're putting our mod hat on and when we're not and introducing the "choose every time" friction into us commenting was going to be a non-trivial change into how we do things.

This right here--the thoroughgoing rejection of bright line distinctions in favor of intuitive reaction to the situation at hand--pretty much sums up what I love about MetaFilter and the way it is moderated.
posted by moss at 9:18 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is great. Be sure to let me know when its time for the Rods and Wands part of the distribution table.
posted by never used baby shoes at 9:27 PM on October 4, 2011

jessamyn earned that star. I think it's a shame it's been taken away. I'm serious about this.
posted by Daddy-O at 9:30 PM on October 4, 2011 [15 favorites]

When will I get my "NOT FUNNY" marker?
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:31 PM on October 4, 2011

Daddy-O: "jessamyn earned that star. I think it's a shame it's been taken away. I'm serious about this."

Wasn't it only supposed to be for a month, though?
posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 PM on October 4, 2011

Flunkie: "Greasemonkey script to bring back Jessamyn's star"

I couldn't see jessamyn's star. I have the right font, etc., but it didn't happen. I adjusted the script as Jpfed suggested and it still wouldn't show up. I don't know what you did, Flunkie, but you are my hero. I can now see the star. My cup runneth over.
posted by deborah at 9:47 PM on October 4, 2011

I like it, particularly that I can use Control+F to search a thread to see if/where a staff member weighed in.

That's a lot of F-ing control.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:49 PM on October 4, 2011

Gosh PB. This along with the Greasemonkey script that already added the Admin box AND a Poster box, you look like an army General or something.
posted by Deflagro at 9:56 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Wow that's ugly.

And whoever suggested going with 'mod' rather than staff was dead on. Staff makes you guys out to be lifeguards or something.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:00 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

cortex is totally the hoff
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:03 PM on October 4, 2011

I am also a lifeguard!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:05 PM on October 4, 2011 [3 favorites]

And whoever suggested going with 'mod' rather than staff was dead on. Staff makes you guys out to be lifeguards or something.

Ahh, but you have to remember the long history of MetaFilter misnomers! "Favourite", "Best Answer"..
posted by Chuckles at 10:05 PM on October 4, 2011 [4 favorites]

SEEK THE STAR
posted by The Whelk at 10:05 PM on October 4, 2011

I just wanted to say that I think the idea is great, and the execution as well.

I find the complaints a little odd, considering that this isn't something that makes usability any harder for the site, and it's pretty much entirely within the normal established style. I'd hope we would not play armchair designer for an entire thread.
posted by chimaera at 10:14 PM on October 4, 2011

Why not? People have to look at it and some refinements have already been made based on feedback.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 10:16 PM on October 4, 2011

I'd classify the refinements under "cross-browser compatibility/display" rather than design changes. Besides, a lot of the requested changes undermine the purpose of the badge, namely, that users can

a) see who a mod is in Metatalk
b) copy/paste the name and the signifier of "staff" remains with the text.

Logos, stars, special graphics, and rollovers all subvert these two things, and clearly are coming from a place of blindness/not being able to imagine oneself in the shoes of a noob who might not realize they're badmouthing an admin in Metatalk.
posted by chimaera at 10:21 PM on October 4, 2011

*Walks in with Nunchuks hanging over shoulders*

... OH SHEEIT! I DIDN'T...

*Runs out*
posted by P.o.B. at 10:22 PM on October 4, 2011

*Walks back in with Bo Staff*

LET'S DO THIS!
posted by P.o.B. at 10:23 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think (staff) should be written in comic sans.
posted by nat at 10:30 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

love the idea, am pretty lukewarm about the implementation. I use the white background. Either no color box replaced with brackets, [staff], or perhaps a grey color box.

Word choice doesn't really matter to me, staff, mod, imp, grand poo-bah, vizier....
posted by edgeways at 10:36 PM on October 4, 2011

and it's pretty much entirely within the normal established style

Actually the only other place on the site where we have square color blocks with inverted text is buttons.

And certainly I don't see anything remotely blocky while scanning threads. The closest we get are some brackets and those are done in a tasteful color.

Ah well. They didn't abandon the hideous iPhone 4 form factor today either. I'm going to go grump.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:49 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

If they're mods are we rockers? Are there Teddy boys too?
posted by villanelles at dawn at 10:50 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I agree that the gold box is pretty visually intrusive. I like Brandon Blatcher's first proposal a lot; it's true to the existing style, and the white brackets make the [staff] stand out just enough. And it's ctrl-f'able.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:04 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

I used to have a user CSS which used the links to the user pages of the mods, but with the staff class it's much easier! Or at least saves some space & doesn't need manual updating every time there's a new mod.

.staff { content:'★'; color: #cbcb00 !important; background:#046 !important; border-radius: 3px !important; padding:0px 2px 0px 2px !important; font-weight:normal !important; font-size:inherit !important; }

And this is what it looks like.
posted by bjrn at 11:17 PM on October 4, 2011

Second Brandon Blatcher's first proposal:
-It's visible but not quite as obtrusive as the gold box (or blue box, on the professional white page.)
-It's just as easy to Ctrl-F.
-It fits much better with current formatting
-The white brackets make it clear that "staff" is separate from the username (important, since some (older, at this point?) usernames include unexpected symbols and whatnot.)
-Making the "staff" designation more visibly separated is also good because it makes it clear that "staff" links to some other staff-related page, not the mod's profile.
-Varying slightly from the proposed version by keeping the text size of "staff" the same as in the username might help make it more visible.

Also: the current implementation is b0rked in Dolphin Browser HD on Android. The box is not centered behind the text, and the top of "f" runs off the top of the box, while there is extra blank gold box at the bottom. Minor, yet annoying!
posted by ubersturm at 11:29 PM on October 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

My opinion: I like the idea but not the implementation.
Suggestions:
1. People seem to miss the star: what's wrong with [star] staff? It adds more length but explains the star...
2. I do like "mod" or "moderator" rather than "staff"
3. Instead of the highlighted "staff" box, what about an alternate color background for mod comments (similar to the ones used for asked in AskMe)?

Or, I dunno, leave it as-is? Not like my opinion carries much weight here.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:29 PM on October 4, 2011

Or better idea: change the part BEFORE the mod name. So it would read "posted by moderator mathowie" for example. Mod name stays yellow, but the word moderator is white like the rest of the "posted by" text. Coupled with alt-color backgrounds for mod comments, it might be quickly noticeable, but more in line with how things are formatted in other sections of the site (specifically AskMe).
posted by caution live frogs at 11:36 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

the yellow box kind of reaches out and pokes you in the eye though. Good idea, I had no idea that there were more mods than jessamyn, cortex and mathowie. (Well, I did, but only if I really thought about it.)

Also, would metafilter tartan be blue, green and grey, with thinner stripes of white and yellow?
posted by titanium_geek at 11:41 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Whichever mefi plugin I have, it already displays Admin after the mods' names thusly.

I personally think Admin is the preferable term for the web and I believe the black on white is easier on the eyes than the yellow background. (is that maybe because Admin is bolded??)

2c.
posted by peacay at 12:14 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Remember, pb isn't a mod or admin, hence the use of the word staff. Yeah, it does sound kinda bland, but the term is well understood and gives flexiblity to the current and future situations.

Personally, I'd love something a bit more friendlier, but won't lose sleep over it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:04 AM on October 5, 2011

pb isn't a mod or admin? What?! The contact form emails go to him. He nixes comments and posts from time to time and he answers questions as an authority.

Sure, it's not really an important thing in the great picture, but the name Admin means more to more people with respect to a community. Staff doesn't really have the history so it's just as likely to confuse people, especially people who are knew, and it's those people that this change is primarily intended to assist.
posted by peacay at 1:30 AM on October 5, 2011

I think the initiative is good, but the yellow boxes are too intrusive. I like crunchland's suggestion so far. "staff" is ok for the word, but I'd prefer "admin" or "magical helper".

Please bring back Jessamyn's star, she earnt it and deserves to keep it.
posted by arcticseal at 1:55 AM on October 5, 2011

Why does PB not have a special yellow box? He's staff. Unless he's working for donuts!

That said: yay. I am cool with this. I would however like the CSS elf to sort out the padding issue. It's uneven, at least in chrome, with 7px on the left and 6px on the right and it is making me twitch. Really, 4px would be sufficient. Thank you, CSS elf.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:02 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm another who just doesn't like the look of them. I don't really mind when there's just one of these things, but two or three in different colours, side by side? Too obtrusive.

Some specific observations:

• The 'S' in 'staf'f needs to be capitalised for consitency.
• The text should probably be the same colour in all three markers. Having one different is weird.
• The padding ought to be the same for all of them. Again, the inconsitency is weird.
• There's no abvious reason why 'Poster' and 'staff' have a different background colour than 'Admin'. Either give each its own colour, or use the same colour for all.

I also like Brandon's first suggestion. It's classy, like the man himself.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:33 AM on October 5, 2011

Hey all! I'm taking more of a back seat now that Matt has brought a Euro-mod onboard. I'm still here to pitch in though on the occasional mod blackout conjunctions.
posted by vacapinta at 2:49 AM on October 5, 2011

pb isn't a mod or admin? What?!

I had thought pb had said something along those lines at one point, but perhaps I'm thinking of this comment by vacapinta.

Anyway, I'm fine with admin being used, just thought there were practical reasons to go with something else.

And yes, I too miss Jessamyn's star.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:23 AM on October 5, 2011

I made the tartan. (Posted it to projects, hope it's not too meta/jokey. :) )

here and alternate
(my flickr)
posted by titanium_geek at 3:50 AM on October 5, 2011 [4 favorites]

pb isn't a mod or admin? What?!

It gets into the fine parsing that we all like to do around here, but I'd say that pb is an admin (he admins the hell out of the site), isn't so much a capital-m Mod even though he still does mod-type stuff in a pinch. That sort of slightly complicated overloading of "mod" is I think how we ended up fooling around with "staff", but it's definitely something we're chewing on for a possible change. "Admin" does seem like a maybe better choice.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:43 AM on October 5, 2011

le morte de bea arthur: "The 'S' in 'staf'f needs to be capitalised for consitency."

Yes—please, please make "Poster," "Admin," and "Staff" all initial-capped, or my eye may twitch right out of my head. And we can't have that!
posted by theredpen at 4:58 AM on October 5, 2011

I like the idea, but am not crazy about the implementation. The word isn't well centred in the box on the default Android browser and the blue-on-white box used by the professional colour scheme is visualy unpleaseant. It contributes an extra kind of visual noise to the display that wasn't there before. It looks like someone has been going through metatalk with a highlighter.

I'd prefer either of Brandon Blatcher's solutions. I think the brackets are enough, but not as jarring as the coloured rectangles. Not a big thing, but there it is.
posted by bonehead at 5:11 AM on October 5, 2011

It looks terrible - illegible and awkward. Just give stars to everyone on staff, with a tooltip that says "Moderator" if you hover over it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:13 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think it's clear. If you admins think you need a little visual indicator, you should have just written a greasemonkey script for it.
posted by crunchland at 5:17 AM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

chimaera writes "I find the complaints a little odd, considering that this isn't something that makes usability any harder for the site, and it's pretty much entirely within the normal established style."

Are you kidding? We once had a long rambling debate on what form the unfavourite dash should be.
posted by Mitheral at 5:33 AM on October 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

Please add to .staff:

{position: relative; top:-1px}

Or whatever works on all the browsers (I got chrome) ... Because I gotta say the baseline offset is DRIVING ME INSANE.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:46 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like this bikeshed.
posted by subbes at 5:51 AM on October 5, 2011

Only on Metafilter could there be a 200+ thread about a little intrusive box.

It looks fine. Simple and clear. Nice to have something to indicate official mod responses.
posted by bondcliff at 5:53 AM on October 5, 2011

I think that this is a great move (though as I said above, it should be "admin" and with a less ugly presentation). But it raises more issues than just the aesthetics; the more that the administrators are flagged as such, the less fluid the boundaries between their participation here as individuals and their role as administrators.

A good recent example was over in this thread, with Taz's strongly-worded comment about torture descriptions in FPPs. For all the disclaimers further down the page about embracing ambiguity, I certainly read that comment differently when it has a yellow "staff" label than I would otherwise.

So there's a clarity being added here, especially for new members, which is great, but I think it brings with it changes for the administrators that perhaps haven't been fully thought through.
posted by Forktine at 6:02 AM on October 5, 2011

I think all the mods should have stars, but they should be sheriff stars.
posted by dogmom at 6:03 AM on October 5, 2011

I like it, and on the 'professional white background' version of the site, the [staff] marker looks pretty sharp in deep blue.

I'd recommend expanding it to the other areas of the site, or at least using it when mod comments are left under the "mod hat" (ie the small text convention etc) -- I think for new users it's not entirely clear who is telling them to "knock it off", and the sense that there are indeed staff members actively reviewing what's going on in a thread may help to pre-emptively limit some of the occasional nastiness that can arise as new members come to grips with the prevailing site-wide norms about what's appropriate and what's not on all the different subsites.
posted by modernnomad at 6:16 AM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like it, and on the 'professional white background' version of the site, the [staff] marker looks pretty sharp in deep blue.

I was going to say jarring. Perhaps it could be transparent so that it works on all the color schemes?
posted by odinsdream at 6:18 AM on October 5, 2011

Staff meeting.
posted by Abiezer at 6:44 AM on October 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

OH, FINALLY, A STAFF MEMBER AROUND HERE! HEY HEEEEY EXCUSE ME yes hi, can you find an AskMe for me? I forget when it's from or who wrote it or what it's about, but I remember it had a green background.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:50 AM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

Admin is far preferable to staff. Admin certainly includes developers, moderators, and owners.

How about "sysop"? (One can dream.)
posted by grouse at 6:53 AM on October 5, 2011

I speak for the 99.99% of Mefites who haven't commented in this thread (seriously, they Memailed me this morning) who say we are very neutral on the 2011 Great Staff Box Controversy. We are much more concerned about getting the kids dressed and getting to work on time. We like mods and also whatever pb is.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:07 AM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I think it brings with it changes for the administrators that perhaps haven't been fully thought through.

Yeah, I think we've thought through a lot of this stuff but it's mostly taz finding her sea legs and getting used to the fact that any opinion she expresses about the site can now be seen through Mod Goggles and adjusting appropriately. We've all been there, it's an odd though not that tough adjustment. I'm fairly certain there is no way to avoid that sort of occasional frisson if people are allowed to be themselves [i.e. if there's not some back room punishment for mods who talk out of turn or presume to speak for the site which, of course, there's not] so we appreciate people's patience, as always.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:14 AM on October 5, 2011

It's really quite jarring on the white background-- perhaps something like

.staff { background-color: #c2d1e1;}

would work better. Adding a border radius definitely helps too.
posted by Static Vagabond at 7:39 AM on October 5, 2011

How about "sysop"? (One can dream.)

If we go in that direction I've got dibs on [BOFH].
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:58 AM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Professional MeFite" has a nice ring to it, but I guess that's much too big for this purpose.
posted by FishBike at 8:43 AM on October 5, 2011

In my reader the staff label does not look too hot.

I propose a ban hammer icon.
posted by bukvich at 9:01 AM on October 5, 2011

An animated ban hammer icon.
posted by zarq at 9:13 AM on October 5, 2011

I think it looks great on the white background. It stands out - you want it to stand out - but it's still tasteful.
posted by Acheman at 9:19 AM on October 5, 2011

Aww... my fonts don't include the unicode banhammer.
posted by Zed at 9:20 AM on October 5, 2011

The yellow background is too bright. If the big block has to stay, dialling it back to #BB0 makes it less worse, in my opinion.

The word "staff" looks off-center. This might be perceptual, due to the final f's open counter, but it might be the spacing around the parentheses.
posted by zamboni at 9:23 AM on October 5, 2011

I think this thread is my favorite thing ever.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 11:15 AM on October 5, 2011

Um, if people are still debating what the block should say, why shouldn't it just say "mod"? They're functioning as moderators, it's the term the site uses anyways, and they can do a group photo wearing parkas and driving Vespas.
posted by benito.strauss at 12:01 PM on October 5, 2011

benito, this was discussed upthread. pb and mathowie aren't really mods.
posted by zarq at 12:05 PM on October 5, 2011

re: Comment on appearing on metatalk

I'd like to comment way down here and suggest that this staff icon should *never* be moved to another subsite besides metatalk.

Moving it to metafilter.com would prevent the "Staff" from being able to comment as civilians on the other subsites.

If the display of the staff icon was able to be chosen by the mods on a level of each comment (they have the ability to display or not display the staff icon next to their name on each of their comments) then I still think this is a mistake as there will be a conceptual leak of the purpose of metatalk into the non metatalk subsites.
posted by sleslie at 12:08 PM on October 5, 2011

.... pb and mathowie aren't really mods.

Oh. Never mind. Missed that in catching up with the thread.
posted by benito.strauss at 12:50 PM on October 5, 2011

I like "admin" over "staff" or "mod".

I would like a slightly less saturated background color. (Using professional white background.)

In any case, this is a fantastic pony.

OMG UNICODE BANHAMMER
posted by epersonae at 1:05 PM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think its OK the way it is now, the yellow box is a bit distracting but you do want people to notice it.

Could the text be changed to [super admin] just for Jessamyn as compensation for losing the star?
posted by Lanark at 1:46 PM on October 5, 2011

I feel like the blue area (it's blue on the white background version of the site) is smaller now and the corners are rounded? (Or I am completely losing my mind.)
posted by kate blank at 1:50 PM on October 5, 2011

some refinements have already been made based on feedback.

Did the corners go from square to round in Firefox?



Anyway, it looks like there are no arguments against grey square brackets with yellow linked text. Regarding the choice of word.... I'm not going there :)
posted by Chuckles at 1:51 PM on October 5, 2011

I like Brandon's suggestions. The yellow box is pretty ugly, but I support the idea of identifying mods in Metatalk.
posted by Gordafarin at 3:07 PM on October 5, 2011

Yes, we slightly tightened up the margins and rounded the corners.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:11 PM on October 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

I would also like to say that this thread reminds me of this great comment by cortex, even moreso than most other MetaTalk/feature threads.
posted by kate blank at 4:11 PM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yes, we slightly tightened up the margins and rounded the corners.

I thought maybe you'd all had some work done.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:22 PM on October 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like the staff box better now. :) The reason it looks so garish even though it is the same colour as the other (RGB 204 204 0), the text is skinny and has anti-aliasing (in a beige-y colour) that makes it look softer and a little more orange, while the staff box is all yellow. But the rounding makes it look better, and the larger you put the font size (ie zoom in) the box looks closer to the text.
posted by titanium_geek at 5:01 PM on October 5, 2011

I like the box. I particularly like that it says "staff" because it means I can dream of one day being at a meetup and seeing someone in a grey shirt that reads "I [staff] MetaFilter"
posted by nickmark at 5:18 PM on October 5, 2011

I agree with the folks who say the yellow box is garish and pretty much pokes you in the eye, but perhaps that should be considered a FEATURE, rather than a bug. After all, when a moderator needs to yell at someone, grabbing attention like that should help make the mods calling-out more efficient.
posted by easily confused at 5:46 PM on October 5, 2011

Yes, we slightly tightened up the margins and rounded the corners.

It is surprisingly effective at lightening the impact. You could dial it down further though ;)
posted by Chuckles at 6:54 PM on October 5, 2011

Can you animate it, give it a nice optical flare effect?
posted by Brocktoon at 8:04 PM on October 5, 2011

Maybe the blink tag?
posted by Chuckles at 9:31 PM on October 5, 2011

the revised box is a lot less distracting and more pleasing, BTW
posted by The Whelk at 9:31 PM on October 5, 2011

I heard teal and orange is all the rage these days. Maybe you guys could give it a whirl?
posted by P.o.B. at 10:06 PM on October 5, 2011

I like it obvious the way it is. Making it just bracketed text would decrease the obviousness and I think that would be regrettable.
posted by that girl at 1:47 AM on October 6, 2011

Box 2.0 is much more proactive. It's a totally outrageous paradigm.
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:34 AM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

New badge looks great!
posted by en forme de poire at 8:03 AM on October 6, 2011

I still think it's ugly.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:13 AM on October 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

I like the rounded box much better, but I still think a white box would look better.
posted by royalsong at 10:07 AM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

For better or worse, I took advantage of the "staff" indicator with that closed metatalk thread from yesterday about the closed thread on ask metafilter. I scanned the thread for comments by the moderators, and pretty much ignored everything else that other people had written. If that's the purpose of the little indicators, then they work great.
posted by crunchland at 10:12 AM on October 6, 2011

er, not the ask metatalk thread... the amanda knox thread.
posted by crunchland at 10:13 AM on October 6, 2011

I think the badge is great. A slight preference for Admin over Staff, but that might be because I got used to it in MeFi Navigator. Whichever you choose, thanks.
posted by JiBB at 10:23 AM on October 6, 2011

late to the party but I'm with everyone else who says this thing looks horribly glaring, buttugly and distracting as hell on the professional white background. As well as making the PWB look, you know, just that bit less professional. And "staff" makes it sound like you guys are a bunch of janitors or something. Which, well, yea ok trainwreck threads notwithstanding, is totally NOT the impression that I have.
posted by lonefrontranger at 2:30 PM on October 6, 2011

crunchland, you got all the fraac comments in there, right? Because, comedy gold. *sarcaustic face*
posted by carsonb at 4:25 PM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Make it a preference, on by default. It's way to distracting, and it's a bit authoritarian for those of us who don't swing that way.
posted by doctor_negative at 12:38 AM on October 8, 2011

What's funny about the 'make it an option' plea coming from a self-described anti-authoritarian is the reliance on authority to fix it. A real rogue makes it optional without any help, as described upthread. Don't mean to pick o you, doctor_negative, just strikes me as a bit silly, your request as it stands.
posted by carsonb at 5:54 AM on October 8, 2011

My staff is a good one, but here is how it goes

1. post message in the room
2. LOOK IT OVER
3. dont report anything, i might get in trouble :)
and 4. Have fun!!!
posted by ephemerista at 7:52 AM on October 8, 2011

not a bad tartan.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:38 PM on October 8, 2011

The front page of Metatalk uses bold white to mark the new comment counts, and I just noticed how much better that looks, without the box. As a mockup:

$20, same as in town.
posted by cortex (staff)

The Winsome Parker Lewis suggested this above, without the mockup.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:08 PM on October 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

I agree with Pronoiac.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:02 AM on October 21, 2011

Here's how you could do that with Stylish:

.staff, .staffp {
   padding:0;
   color:#fff!important;
   background-color:inherit!important;
   font-size:inherit!important;
   font-weight:bold;
}
posted by pb (staff) at 10:12 AM on October 21, 2011