# Admin versus Moderator and Groups
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** moderation
**Created:** [December 10, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539 "2015-12-10T19:19:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/1 "2015-12-10T19:19:14Z")
OK, strange question here. With the upcoming improvements to group messaging, I am wondering if there is/will be a built in system for messaging _just_ the moderators (not all staff). To go with that, does the admin/moderator system fit the rectangle square analogy (All admins are moderators, but all moderators are not necessarily admins.) With that, if a user is an admin, but not a moderator, do they lose access to anything?
The potential use case is when your site uses moderators and admins for different purposes. In my case, all admins are employees of the company, where the moderators are volunteers. Right now, when a user spots a topic in the wrong category or duplicated, they type a random assortment of moderators into their post to ask for it to be recategorized, or merged. It would be really nice if they could type something like `@moderators` and notify all moderators, without bothering the admins.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/2 "2015-12-10T22:27:12Z")
This should be possible since there is a built in group for moderators, correct @sam?
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/3 "2015-12-10T23:03:30Z")
Sure is, all you need to do is change the value of this dropdown
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2015, 4:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/4 "2015-12-11T04:54:31Z")
Continuing this discussion, I am curious how this would work with flags. If I am correct, both moderators and admins are notified (by a red indicator) when there is a flag, and both have access to the flag page in the admin menu. My concern, however, is how the “Something Else” flag would be treated. Right now it appears that that action create both a flag, and sends a message to the “Moderators” group. If the admins are removed from being a moderator (right now all admin are moderators too), will they lose access to this discussion?
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/5 "2015-12-11T04:57:31Z")
admins always have access to all messages and content on the site
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/6 "2015-12-11T04:59:02Z")
So having an admin be a moderator is meaningless (other than for group purposes)? Admins can do everything a mod can do, and more?
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/7 "2015-12-11T05:00:20Z")
Yes, except that admins are slightly less “visible” than moderators, you need to be a moderator to get a shield.
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### Author:  [@patrickemin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/patrickemin)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/admin-versus-moderator-and-groups/36539/8 "2024-08-09T20:14:09Z")
This is a point not clear to me, I am the only admin on my site, I do not have moderators, who is getting notifies for queued post for approval, only the moderators, or the admins as well? Thanks.