Can someone help me understand difference between Moderator and Staff?
AI-generated summary
The discussion revolves around the differences between Moderators and Staff in a Discourse forum. According to Arkshine, Staff includes moderators and administrators, while Moderator refers only to moderators.
Plabforum also asked about the difference between Whisper and Staff notes. jericson explained that Whispers are private conversations visible only to staff, while Staff Notices are visible to everyone.
Arkshine clarified that Staff notes refer to a plugin that allows staff to add notes to specific users, whereas Whispers are private conversations added to posts.
Regarding Staff Color, Moin explained that it adds a background color to a post to make it stand out, as seen in this example.
The discussion also touched upon the differences between Moderators and Category Moderators, with Lilly suggesting that Category Moderators may not be considered staff. Plabforum requested clarification on this point.
Additional resources were shared, including this guide and this table for understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions.
The “Staff” includes moderators and administrators. “Moderator” includes only moderators.
Okay makes sense! And difference between Whisper and Staff notes? Are they the same thing?
Well, they are almost the opposite:
- Whispers are private conversations only visible to staff:
- Staff Notices are shown to everyone:
The screenshots don’t really tell the story. These are what staff (or whoever is configured to see Whispers) sees, but the ordinary user is only going to see Staff Notices.
By Staff notes, are you referring to this plugin: Discourse User Notes?
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Whispers are notes that you can add to posts. They are private conversations. You might be interested in the
whispers allowed groupssetting to control what group can create/see those private communications. -
Staff notes from the plugin allow the Staff to add notes to a specific user. You can look at the plugin topic for more details.
Yes, this gave me better understanding. What about the Staff Colour for a post, what’s the use of that?
Staff color adds a background color to your post like GDPR outside of the EU - #37
Maybe Discourse Moderation Guide also answers some of your questions
To make a post stand out, it is highlighted with a background color.
Moderators and Admins are staff, but I don’t think Category Moderators are staff.
I’m confused, could you tell me difference between Moderator and Category moderator?
Search is your friend 
There’s also a bit more info in Understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions that you may find useful. 
