Just got another one of these today. I've lost count how many I've gotten. Honestly, I have absolutely no clue why they think I'm a mod. My completely wild guess is maybe they're looking under Moderator section of the "Top Members" where I just so happen to be (currently) #2 (which, by the way, I think these moderator points are kinda lame because the real moderators aren't getting points for actually doing real moderating).

I'm not sure what to do about it. I always just report the PMs to bring a mod to the attention of their request. But I'm trying to think of a way new people can more easily contact a moderator if they need to. Or at least know the people in the Moderator section of Top Members aren't actually moderators.

So, good people of GameDev (and especially anyone new! I'm making this thread with you in mind), how can we help new people know how to contact a moderator if they need to?

They could just give you a Moderator title. That way the PMs would be completely legit. :D

They could just give you a Moderator title. That way the PMs would be completely legit.

I thought we were all voting for Servant of the Lord as the new mod of GD.net

Must be your obscene amount of rep points. I'll gladly take some...

Aw, come on, I'm not Hodgman

The PMs I get usually are just hobbyist team invites from developers, programming help requests from beginners, or spam from robots.

How do you have the ability to move threads without being a moderator?

I don't. That's the funny thing. I get requests to move threads, people letting me know about links in threads going to bogus/adult sites asking me to clean it up, someone saying someone hacked their computer based on a link to a bogus site in a profile website url, etc...

Aw, come on, I'm not Hodgman

I get requests to move threads, people letting me know about links in threads going to bogus/adult sites asking me to clean it up, someone saying someone hacked their computer based on a link to a bogus site in a profile website url, etc...

I get requests to move threads, people letting me know about links in threads going to bogus/adult sites asking me to clean it up, someone saying someone hacked their computer based on a link to a bogus site in a profile website url, etc...

Heh, that's kind of a positive feedback loop then, because I'm guessing you do the right thing, which is pressing the report button, which in turn grants you "moderator points", pushing you to the top of the "top members / moderator" list... making people think you're a moderator, PMing you... GOTO 10.

You nailed it :) There's no escaping this loop, so I created this thread trying to figure out where/how to break it.