Suggestion: Allow Moderators to anonymously view chat.

Question

I don't know if they can do this already, but what I mean is, allow Moderators to view chat without making their prescence known to everyone. This can be useful to check for spammers and rule breakers in chat, especially because a lot of users seem to think that if Moderators aren't around they can get away with it. It could also lessen the intent to spam in chat because you never know if a Moderator is watching or not.
Another option is to simply put a "Join Chat" icon in the Chat Room. This way everyone can view the chat, and if they want to join the chat and their prescence known, they click the "Join Chat" icon.
This doesn't have to be exclusive to Moderators, it can be useful for regular users too, it would also solve this suggestion.

Comments

One reason mods even have the ability to kick users is intimidation. Viewing the chat annonymously cancels that and basically just sets users up.

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I said it doesn't have to be solely for catching rule breakers, it can be useful for regular users as well, if made available to everyone.

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This would be weird, but what if banned users were to only be able to view chat? In the similar way to you saying if all users got the ability. Like, if a banned user signed in and went to chat, they would read but not type. This would probably be a horrible idea, as a banned user might constantly be watching you talk about how terrible he is  XD

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What if banned users couldn't view chat at all? That solves that potential flaw.

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That's already happening. Banned users can't see chat.

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yeah lol

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*gasp* The DB  is turning into a surveilance state! lol
Maybe you could have something like a 'chat ban', where someone can access the rest of the site, but not chat? Of course, there's no need for this if 'kicking'  (it will always be synonymous with banning to me) time can be adjusted.