In a discussion titled “Anonymous Moderator” under the Support category, NewMod asks if it’s possible to hide the moderator icon in Discourse so moderators can post without revealing their status—mirroring their current practice of using two separate accounts. codinghorror notes there’s no built-in way besides switching accounts, suggesting browser profiles as a workaround. jomaxro questions the rationale, prompting NewMod to explain that anonymity helps avoid personal conflict when posts are deleted. jomaxro counters that Discourse doesn’t typically reveal deletion details to users, and transparency with clear rules has worked well for their community. Mittineague offers a CSS workaround to hide the shield icon but warns that some moderation actions (like “Closed by”) still reveal moderator identity, concluding that dual accounts remain the only foolproof method. Mark_Schmucker shares their use of the discourse-anonymous-moderators plugin by @david, which allows seamless switching between public and anonymous moderation identities. ariznaf describes using a shared moderator account for sensitive actions but prefers personal accountability. Finally, JimPas reveals that moderators can set their title to “None” in preferences, which hides both title and shield icon—effectively anonymizing their identity in posts. The thread concludes with gratitude from NewMod and a mix of technical workarounds and philosophical reflections on moderation transparency.
Hi. I moderate for a message board site which is possibly going to switch to Discourse.
The moderators at this site post, but regular members are not aware of which other posters are moderators. We do this by having two accounts, one regular, and one with moderation abilities.
Is there a way to hide the moderator icon so that we can use the moderator account to post, without it being visible that we are moderators?
Thanks.
Interesting, I don’t think there is any way to do this other than switching between two accounts. Browser profiles are useful for this, e.g. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2089364/how-to-create-and-manage-multiple-user-profiles-in-chrome.html
@NewMod, I am curious, if you don’t mind. Why do you keep who is a moderator private?
Thank you. I will look.
We will probably end up using two browsers, as we currently do.
Good question. When I started, that was the protocol, so I can only guess why it was implemented that way.
My guess is that if a member knows that I deleted his/her post(s), that will cause some bad feelings, and it will be difficult to keep an amicable relationship.
Interesting. To the best of my knowledge, Discourse does not reveal to a user that their post was deleted, let alone who deleted it (but I’d ask @codinghorror to be sure). In the site I help moderate, we (the mods) participate as regular users, and moderate as needed. It has never caused an issue for us, and part of the reason why (I think) is that we maintain clear rules/guidelines so no one is confused when something happens.
You could try using CSS
i.fa.fa-shield {
display:none;
}
Not sure about the About page that lists Admins and Moderators. Or the Groups page.
Non-Moderator members won’t see the “post deleted by” posts, but they will still see “Closed by” and “Pinned by” etc. posts.
So I think you could make it less likely for members to find out who the Moderators are, but the only sure way is to have two accounts and remember to not post something while in non-Mod mode that will give it away.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”
Thanks for your help.
We have the same situation- smallish community of a few hundred active users, where everybody knows everybody. We’re starting to use GitHub - discourse/discourse-anonymous-moderators · GitHub by @david. It makes it easy for mods to switch between their public and anonymous identities.
We do normal moderation using our name and user account, but have a common moderator account and admin for cases were web have to impose sanctions and don’t want to make public who did it.
I tend not to use it and use allways my own account.
But that plugin that lets you moderate anonymously without changing accounts sounds interesting.
In the moderator’s preferences, they can scroll down to Title and select None. A Mod has the choice of None, Leader or Regular. While I myself am an Admin and a Moderator, I have chosen None in my personal preferences and nothing appears after my name… No title or shield… nothing. If you wanted, you could choose Regular and that would appear.