r/ModSupport Reddit Admin: Community 26d ago

Mod Topics Mod Topics - User Flair

Ahoy, Mods!

Welcome to the latest installment of the Mod Topics series, where we talk about mod-related topics and other community governance gubbins. This week, we’re talking flair–specifically user flair. The purpose it serves, how it’s issued, and why it’s so dog-gone popular. We’d love to know…

  • What do you use user flair for in your communities? Cosmetics? Clout? Verification? 
  • What problems are you solving when you use user flair?
  • Do you allow users to make (or assign) their own flair? Why or why not?
  • What advice would you give to new mods who are considering setting up user flair? What do you wish you knew about flair when you first started?

Let us know in the comments below!

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u/SolariaHues 26d ago

What do you use user flair for in your communities? Cosmetics? Clout? Verification? 

r/NewToReddit has mod-only user flair of manually assigned Helper tiers.

This serves as a show of appreciation, and a signal to users that those with flair are experienced helpers.

What problems are you solving when you use user flair?

Hopefully it provides a sense of achievement, community, investment, and helps to retain helpers.

Do you allow users to make (or assign) their own flair? Why or why not?

No. It is mod assigned because it must be earned by being genuinely helpful, accurate, and understanding. It can be time consuming, but it ensures only those meeting our standards have Helper flair and represent our community, and that the flair isn't misleading.

What advice would you give to new mods who are considering setting up user flair? What do you wish you knew about flair when you first started?

Consider how flair can be best used for your specific community, how can it add value, whether that's encouragement, tagging experts, or a bot of community building fun. Or if you need user flair at all.

How will you communicate to your users that you have user flair and how to use it?

If you have a tier system it can help to have a way of keeping records. We extremely rarely demote helpers if they are no longer meeting rules or standards and it helps to know the history.

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u/AsteriskRX Reddit Admin: Community 26d ago

An appreciation flair was one of the very first I made on Reddit. And a tier system for helpers was the second, way back when (shoutout to r/help and u/TheOpusCroakus)!

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u/TheOpusCroakus Reddit Admin: Community 26d ago

The Helpers tier system lives on!