On Reddit, moderators can comment as regular users by default, and only display the green MOD badge when they intentionally “distinguish” a comment as an official moderation response.

It made me think about how this works across the Fediverse — particularly with PieFed.

PieFed supports opt-in mod distinction, allowing moderators to choose when they’re speaking officially versus when they’re just participating in a discussion as a regular community member.

That distinction can meaningfully affect tone, power dynamics, and how comfortable users feel engaging in open conversation.

By contrast, Lemmy (at least currently) does not support this feature at the protocol level, so this suggestion is not for Lemmy users.

Feature Suggestion (PieFed Users Only)

Would it be possible for Summit to support PieFed’s opt-in moderator distinction system?

Specifically:

Allow PieFed moderators to comment as regular users by default

Provide a clear, intentional toggle to mark a comment as “mod voice” when speaking officially

This would:

Help preserve conversational tone when Piefed mods are participating casually

Reduce unintentional authority signaling

Maintain transparency when acting in an official capacity

To be clear, this request applies only to PieFed users, since Lemmy does not (at least not currently) support this capability.

EDIT: Apparently Lemmy now supports the feature?

Or at least Lemmy.world does?