# Questions about moderator shield badge
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [November 30, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098 "2017-11-30T16:58:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@maniacalmorgan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maniacalmorgan)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/1 "2017-11-30T16:58:55Z")
I poked around, but couldn’t find the right answers to my questions.
I see that you can edit the title badges, but I haven’t quite figured out how. As an example, both admins and moderators have the shield icon next to their name. I haven’t been able to locate where this association lives within the settings. I would like admins and moderators to have different badges since for us admins are staff while moderators are not.
Second use case might be answered by the above, but we will be introducing VIP users and as such, would like to give them a custom title badge. Is there a way to automate this? I’m not on the development side, but our discourse is connected to our platform’s back end in some way. Would it be as simple as associating a title badge with a user group and then using our back end to apply that group to all the users meeting the VIP condition?
Edit: As an edit, I’m a business user. Not sure if that changes my available options/preferences.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/2 "2017-11-30T17:29:17Z")
> [@maniacalmorgan](#):
>
> As an example, both admins and moderators have the shield icon next to their name. I haven’t been able to locate where this association lives within the settings.
Those are the default indicators of moderators and there isn’t actually a setting to change it, although you could use CSS I imagine.
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### Author:  [@maniacalmorgan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maniacalmorgan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/3 "2017-12-01T17:57:16Z")
And the second question - is there a way to add a similar icon to a specific user group?
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### Author:  [@MakaryGo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MakaryGo)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/4 "2017-12-01T18:53:55Z")
Yup, using css. All posts have `group` class attached to it.
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### Author:  [@maniacalmorgan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maniacalmorgan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/5 "2017-12-01T19:08:15Z")
Great! I had assumed so based on what I read, but just wanted to check. Now, do you know if the API would allow for us to assign users to a usergroup through our back end?
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### Author:  [@MakaryGo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MakaryGo)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/6 "2017-12-01T19:10:27Z")
I’m a bit confused. Do you want to assign users to a group _via API_ or _via backend_? Or do you have in mind any custom backend? (Still, I believe that in any case an answer is _Yes_)
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### Author:  [@maniacalmorgan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maniacalmorgan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/7 "2017-12-01T19:13:50Z")
Through our back end, not Discourse back end. Sorry for the confusion. I’m on the marketing team, so the technical stuff is a little beyond me.
We’d want to change assign a user group to specific users through our company’s back end. Essentially, we’re trying to create a VIP program where users who spend $X with us become VIP. One of the perks we’re looking at is a title badge. The last question is so that we can aggregate all the users meeting that critera on our side and use the API to move them into the VIP user group. Hope that makes sense.
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### Author:  [@MakaryGo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MakaryGo)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/8 "2017-12-01T19:18:06Z")
You most definitely can. Full documentation on all API functions can be found [here](http://docs.discourse.org). Also, if you want to distinguish visually group of customers, wouldn’t it be easier (and more fun! 😉 ) to use built-in option to display a group flair on user avatar (as you can see on @HAWK’s example)? 
Cheers!
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### Author:  [@maniacalmorgan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/maniacalmorgan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/9 "2017-12-01T19:25:18Z")
Yes! That would be neat and would work to designate staff over moderators too. Is that built into the options, or does it need to be done through CSS?
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### Author:  [@MakaryGo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MakaryGo)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/10 "2017-12-01T19:34:04Z")
Its built in ☺ You just have to set it in the group settings (either as Font Awesome glyph or as your own picture), and check ‘set this as default user group’
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### Author:  [@BurtHerman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BurtHerman)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 8:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/11 "2019-12-10T20:16:05Z")
Can you set group settings on an existing group? I don’t see how to get to the settings once a group is already created, just the options when you create a new group
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### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/12 "2019-12-10T20:33:44Z")
> [@BurtHerman](#):
>
> Can you set group settings on an existing group?
Yes, go to the group’s page and click the Manage link:
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### Author:  [@BurtHerman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BurtHerman)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/13 "2019-12-10T21:15:58Z")
But these are the only options I see below - seems it doesn’t work to edit the groups that are created by default:
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### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/questions-about-moderator-shield-badge/75098/14 "2019-12-10T21:34:23Z")
> [@BurtHerman](#):
>
> seems it doesn’t work to edit the groups that are created by default:
RIght, if you are trying to add an avatar flair to a group, you will need to create a custom group. That’s how we set the team avatar flair on Meta. Have a look at [Create a group that automatically adds associated flair to its members’ avatars](https://meta.discourse.org/t/create-a-group-that-automatically-adds-associated-flair-to-its-members-avatars/82700) for details about setting it up.