The XenForo forum platform has two different types of staff members called moderators and administrators. They do completely different jobs with different permissions. When someone becomes an administrator, they do not automatically become a moderator. The forum owner must give each role separately. Moderators help manage what other users post on the site. They can delete posts that break the rules, move discussions to better places, and give warnings to users who misbehave. The forum owner decides exactly what each moderator can do when setting up their account. Some moderators have power in all forums, and others only have power in specific forums they look after.
Users must be officially made moderators through the Groups & Permissions section. Just putting someone in the Moderating user group does not make them a real moderator. All moderators see a special bar at the top of their screen. This bar helps them check posts waiting for approval and items other users have reported. Administrators can use the control panel behind the scenes. Making someone an administrator does not automatically give them extra powers on the main forum pages. Some administrators have full power over everything, including adding or removing other administrators. Regular administrators only have the specific powers given to them by the super administrators.
The XenForo forum platform needs strong security for staff accounts. Bad people might try to break into these accounts to delete things or damage the site. All staff should use different passwords for the forum than they use anywhere else. Most account break-ins happen because people use the same password on many websites. Staff should turn on two-step checking, which means they need both a password and a special code to log in. Forum owners can force staff to use this extra security before letting them access important areas. Staff members appear on special lists shown to regular users.
The system automatically marks moderators and administrators as staff, but the forum owner can change this if needed. The forum owner can also mark regular users as staff just for display purposes without giving them any special powers. This helps users know who works for the forum, even if those people cannot change or delete posts. The XenForo forum platform makes these staff settings easy to manage through the user profile section of the control panel.
Users must be officially made moderators through the Groups & Permissions section. Just putting someone in the Moderating user group does not make them a real moderator. All moderators see a special bar at the top of their screen. This bar helps them check posts waiting for approval and items other users have reported. Administrators can use the control panel behind the scenes. Making someone an administrator does not automatically give them extra powers on the main forum pages. Some administrators have full power over everything, including adding or removing other administrators. Regular administrators only have the specific powers given to them by the super administrators.
The XenForo forum platform needs strong security for staff accounts. Bad people might try to break into these accounts to delete things or damage the site. All staff should use different passwords for the forum than they use anywhere else. Most account break-ins happen because people use the same password on many websites. Staff should turn on two-step checking, which means they need both a password and a special code to log in. Forum owners can force staff to use this extra security before letting them access important areas. Staff members appear on special lists shown to regular users.
The system automatically marks moderators and administrators as staff, but the forum owner can change this if needed. The forum owner can also mark regular users as staff just for display purposes without giving them any special powers. This helps users know who works for the forum, even if those people cannot change or delete posts. The XenForo forum platform makes these staff settings easy to manage through the user profile section of the control panel.
