EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Kennigit/BanlingsBanner.png)
The beta is almost over, and what a ride we’ve had. Over the past five months our community has expanded and grown into one of the largest e-sports communities in the world. As most of the TL staff have taken on new roles in organizing events for the community and general site maintenance, those left to moderate the forums have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of new users in our community.
While new users are a wonderful thing for our community, we do need to maintain the high forum standards that attracted them to TeamLiquid in the first place! So, what we’ve decided to do is change how the staff structure works around here. You may have already noticed how almost every active staff member has a red name now – this now means a staff member who has a particular task beyond moderation. These tasks are things like writing, TLPD, coding, event organization and planning and whatnot. They won't be expected to moderate as heavily anymore.
First Wave
Starting today, moderation responsibility will be jointly shared between Reds and select veteran users, affectionately called "Banlings”. They will receive a Red Hammer icon like this one –
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/tlnew/hammer.png)
We invited a number of veteran users to be the first wave of Banlings. They were chosen through nomination and voting by Reds based on who we believed would do a good job. Since some of these users already have positions and icons on other staff teams, all banlings won’t necessarily have the red hammer icon and may have instead choose to retain their old staff icon. The following users have been inducted as the first wave of TeamLiquid banlings:
| Boesthius CTStalker Empyrean H Harem | iNcontroL IntoTheWow Jibba JWD Kau | Kwark mahnini micronesia mikeymoo mrmin123 | Mystlord Nyovne Puosu SoMuchBetter TheMango |
We have complete confidence that every one of them will uphold the values which make TeamLiquid the best Starcraft community on the Internet. As of this news post, they are now the front line of defence against forum garbage, trolls and terrible posting. We wish them the best of luck!
New Blue
While the majority of staff were promoted to Red recently, a number have retained their Blue names. This is because we’re changing what a Blue name means. A person with a Blue name on TeamLiquid is a user who has contributed a lot to the TeamLiquid community over a considerable amount of time. In many ways, a Blue name is now a forum star on steroids. Blues are truly exemplary members of our community, and are well worthy of emulation.
As a part of our recent structure change, we are giving this status to one more person; Silversky. Silversky has been one of the most consistent Graphics team contributors TL has ever had the privilege of having. Since his recruitment in late 2008, he has produced non-stop content for the OSL, TSL2 and SC2Beta coverage teams. He is also well known for his countless TLFE banners. Today, he earns his TL Blue. Congratulations, Silversky!
Looking Ahead
So what’s going to change for you? Not much hopefully! TeamLiquid is only going to grow upon the retail release of Starcraft 2 and the banlings will help keep the forum the way you remember it. TL will never sacrifice its commitment to a quality, happy community regardless of how big it grows. We believe our new staff structure will allow us to better serve you and ensure that everyone gets the most out of our forums.
-- TeamLiquid Staff
