DEV Community

DEV Tag Moderation Guide

The DEV Tag Moderator program gives select users the ability to help organize content across dev.to, making DEV members’ feeds more relevant and the site easier to navigate.

Tag Mods work with each other and DEV staff to ensure that content on the site is tagged appropriately, while also politely educating DEV users on how to follow tag guidelines.

You can see who the moderators of each tag are by visiting a tag's landing page. (e.g. the #ruby tag page).

To sum up a few Tag Moderator abilities, they can:

  • Remove/add tags that they moderate from/to certain posts
  • Update their tag's sidebar (i.e. add a description, submission guideline, etc).
  • Update their tag's 'pretty name' and colors.

In addition, Tag Moderators are also granted Trusted Member abilities, these privileges are described in the DEV Trusted Member Guide.

If you're interested in becoming a Tag Moderator, please apply via our Tag Moderation Application Form!

How to Remove or Add Tags

If you are the moderator of a tag, you have the ability to remove that tag from posts that should not contain it. Likewise, if you see a post that fits your tag and isn't using it, you can add your tag to it. These actions help us keep content categorized appropriately, so that people can confidently follow tags, knowing that they'll see the subjects they're interested in.

  1. Visit an article you'd like to add or remove tags to.
  2. Click the Mod Panel button in the lower-right corner.
  3. Click on Adjust Tags.
  4. Choose the tag you wish to remove (indicated by a red "minus" icon) or add (indicated by a green "plus" icon). If you'd like, you can include a reason for removing/adding your tag from/to this post — remember to be positive and polite. The author will receive a notification that the tag has been removed/added, along with your message. If you don't include a reason, a generic message will let the author know that a tag has been removed/added to their post by a DEV Tag Mod.

adjust-tags

Note: once you remove the tag, the author will not be able to add it back. Only remove tags when you are confident they are inappropriate, and please do not remove tags simply because you did not like the post.

How to Update the Tag Sidebar, Pretty Name, & Color

  1. Visit: https://dev.to/t/tag-name/edit (e.g. https://dev.to/t/discuss/edit)
  2. Update the form. See the image below for a reference of each field. All fields accept Markdown except the pretty name and summary.
  3. Click save changes!

tag-edit-form
example-tag-page

Tags & Tag Features that Require Admin Support

Note that some tags and tag features are limited to admin and cannot be adjusted by tag mods.

Examples of Admin-only Tags:

Some tags on DEV require special support from DEV staff as they have specific mechanics or are related to events with particular requirements. While we occasionally accept help outside of the org with these tags, we typically reserve these for the DEV team to moderate.

Tag Features Only Available to Admin

There are a couple of features related to tags that are only open to admin.

  • Tag Aliasing — Admin can alias 2 related tags together. If #x is aliased to #y, then any posts shared under #x are automatically tagged with #y. Also, in this scenario, dev.to/t/xwill automatically redirect to dev.to/t/y. An example of this would be how #js is aliased to #javascript... see what happens when you try to navigate to https://dev.to/t/js.

  • Tag Badges — Admin have the ability to add badges to different tags. These badges are automatically rewarded to authors who shared the top post of the week under the tag.

If you all have feedback in regards to the above — maybe you know of 2 tags we should alias together — please contact us via yo@dev.to!

How to Become a Tag Moderator

If you're interested in becoming a tag moderator, you can apply via our Tag Moderation Application Form. Note that we have a lot of applicants, so it may take us a while before we get a chance to look at your application. If you are accepted, we'll send you an automated email letting you know which tags you've been given moderator privileges.

Of course, if you'd like to get in touch with us directly to ask more questions, provide feedback, or anything else, don't hesitate to email us at yo@dev.to.