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I've always found the name of the Teachers' Lounge to be mildly condescending, as if those who inhabit it see themselves as holding a superior position over the common users. This isn't what was originally envisioned with moderators being "human exception handlers", but a system in which moderators are implied to be smarter and/or more educated than ordinary users and are expected to use pedagogical and/or disciplinary tactics to mold users into better users.

Let's get rid of this unnecessary social metaphor and rename the room. To be clear, I'm not proposing that we get rid of the room, but that we change the name to something like:

  • Moderators Lounge
  • Moderators Confidential Chatroom
  • Moderation Discussion Center
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    I think that Teacher is an great term for a moderator. They are here to help users to learn how to participate on the site and maintain order. There is an implication that they know more, but that implication is generally true: They typically know more about how a site works and how it is run.
    – Nathan Merrill
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 13:59
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    People seem to think the TL is somehow far more significant than it is. Yes, a conversation in there was directly connected to the current situation, but apart from that, the TL is nothing but a smaller version of the Tavern. It really is just a chat room in which a few mods hang out. Trying to convert it into something larger than it is seems pointless.
    – terdon
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 13:59
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    Perhaps this will disappoint you, but "Tavern on the Meta" isn't really a tavern either.
    – Bart
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:01
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    But... But... The Tavern contains users...
    – user351483
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:08
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    .... THEN WHAT HAVE PEOPLE BEEN DRINKING?
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:13
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    Given all of the "If you can't do, teach" rhetoric that gets bandied around these days, I wonder how many people would consider teachers to be 'superior' in any case. Most of the teachers I know just feel battered down and assaulted from every side, be it from students, parents, school administrators, education boards or government policies etc.
    – Mark Booth
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:28
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    @MarkBooth that sounds rather apropos considering the current climate that moderators are confronted with here ...
    – Vogel612's Shadow
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:53
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    @NathanMerrill I strongly disagree (and I'm a moderator). Mods might in general tend to have a good knowledge of the SE system, but that doesn't usually make us "teachers" of anyone else, except maybe in support meta posts. It's also not true in general, as I've seen some mods with shockingly poor knowledge of how SE works. I don't want my mod diamond to imply I know more than others; I'm perfectly willing to be mistaken, to be educated by other users, and all mods should be.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 15:20
  • "Mods with shockingly poor knowledge of how SE works" sounds like a poor mod. I agree that mods can be mistaken, but I'm also think that teachers can be mistaken as well.
    – Nathan Merrill
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 15:28
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    The position of teacher is not a condescending one; being a teacher doesn't evoke a superior position. It's really more interesting and instructive when both learnee and teachers do not see teachers as superior.
    – Félix Gagnon-Grenier
    Commented Oct 29, 2019 at 3:03
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because I think naming their chat room is something only the participants of a chat room should decide.
    – PolyGeo
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 7:49

3 Answers 3

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38

Uhm.

Quite honestly?

You're never going to see it until you become a mod. Most people spend their entire lives not knowing it exists.

Also, If we're going to ever rename it.

It should be...

The Mod Squad.

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    No. "The Bat Cave"
    – user351483
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 13:58
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    Fortress of Moditude? Okay, that was bad.
    – fbueckert
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:00
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    (@fbueckert to be clear--my upvote on the comment is for "Fortress of Moditude," not for the assessment that it's bad word-play.)
    – nitsua60
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:13
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    Modern Family.
    – nitsua60
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:14
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    "Most people spend their entire lives not knowing it exists." this wording unfortunately sounds quite bleak. It suggests there are many, many people there with lifespan less than (roughly) a decade. They've been born and died all while TL existed.
    – VLAZ
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 14:40
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    The Mod Squad? And not "The Diamond Mines"?
    – Thomas Owens
    Commented Oct 28, 2019 at 15:49
  • I could prefer "principal's office", a bit more business-like.
    – ChrisW
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 10:11
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I have no skin in this game and no strong opinion either way, but as the person who invented this name in a distant past, I thought I'd leave my two cents here.

For me, my experience with teachers has rarely been one of "having power and showing it". The best teachers I've had, both here in Germany and in my 12th grade exchange year in the U.S., always tried to be collaborative with their students and made class about mutual learning.

And my limited exposure to actual teachers' lounges has seemed much more of a social hangout, and less of the place from the Simpsons where teachers make fun of the students and plot how to best make their lives worse.

So anyway, that's the perspective from which I created that name. But I do acknowledge that probably not everyone has had the same experience with teachers.

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-4

Rename the Teachers' Lounge

This will never happen as the name fits, and there is a bit of tradition here.

But if they were to do so, I think a better name might be Simm City. Sin City sounds cool, but may offend some. Best leave it be.

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