i don’t see any #announcements about the new volunteer moderators? what are they moderating?
AI-generated summary
The discussion revolves around the recent, unannounced introduction of volunteer moderators on the platform. Users Lilly and NateDhaliwal expressed confusion regarding the lack of official announcements and noted that these new volunteers appear to have “Leader” status rather than the standard moderator shield, despite accessing the review queue. itsbhanusharma questioned if this was an internal test.
User HAWK clarified that the Community Team is indeed rolling out a volunteer moderator program as part of a new community strategy. They explained that the initiative is in its early stages, with Danielle currently preparing the details. Consequently, a formal public announcement is expected once the program is fully underway and Danielle returns from leave.
In response to Lilly’s criticism regarding the lack of transparency, HAWK reiterated that the program is extremely new and details were only finalized recently. They expect the public announcement to coincide with the volunteers settling in and Danielle’s return.
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Same question here. I noticed they don’t have the shield now, only Leader status (and yet can access the review queue).
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I believe some were granted category moderator status? Is this something internal being tested?
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Well spotted @Lilly. The Community Team are rolling out a volunteer moderator program this quarter as part of our new community strategy. We’re excited about giving meta an overhaul to better serve both builders and customers.
@Danielle is in the early stages of getting things underway and we will make a formal announcement at some point very soon.
If you have questions before that happens I am happy to answer them.
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wasn’t hard to “spot” nor did i go looking. i flagged a post and they were already handling it and i surprisingly received one of the automated messages, but from a member who i didn’t know was a moderator. i have no questions other than why would you not announce this initiative to inform the community first? i mean, you certainly don’t have to announce anything, but the transparency would be appreciated. 
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It’s an extremely new initiative and we haven’t yet had a chance. We were still finalising details last week and now Danielle is enjoying some well deserved PTO. I imagine she’ll announce the program publicly when she returns and the volunteers have settled in.
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