Hello, readers and contributors of /r/linguistics! I write to you today of some exciting new changes for the subreddit.

The mod team has recently decided that the state of the flairs on /r/linguistics needs to change. We’ve got two tags, [linguistics neophyte] and [linguistics amateur] that are being used by actual neophytes and amateurs and also some quite knowledgeable and extremely modest contributors. We’ve also got a profusion of other tags for subfields which are used by both specialists with lots of post-secondary education and undergraduates who are interested in a particular field. While we're not an Ask* subreddit, we do get an awful lot of questions, and these are exactly the sorts of tags that Ask* subs use to give some legitimacy or authority to contributors. While many of you regulars are perfectly capable of distinguishing between specialists and laypeople with an interest, people who come here for the first time are not, and we worry that they might mistake the flairs to mean more than they do. With that in mind, we’re adopting an flair moderation system based on what they’ve got over at /r/askscience and /r/AskHistorians. The gist of it is thus:

What does flair mean?

• If you’re asking for flair, you’re stating that you have expert knowledge of your chosen field(s).
• You have meaningfully engaged with the research in your chosen field, and can cite sources if asked for them.
• You are not at all restricted to only posting on topics relevant to your flair.

How do I get it?

• Flair-seekers should credential themselves (in the soon-to-come panel thread or in modmail) with any degrees they hold or are pursuing, whether it’s a bachelor’s, a doctorate, or somewhere in between.
• Flair-seekers should permalink to a few comments they’ve made on /r/linguistics that they’re particularly proud of and that are relevant to the area they’re seeking flair in.

What if I don’t have a degree or anything? We’ll be shamelessly stealing borrowing the ‘Quality Contributor’ flair from /r/AskHistorians. You can get it one of two ways:

• The mods notice that an unflaired user is consistently making high-quality posts.
• Another user notices the same, and nominates you in modmail with a few good comments.

Users who get the Quality Contributor flair can specify a field of interest whenever they’d like, and can decline the nomination through modmail if they would like.

Look for the first Panel of Linguists to come soon!

Edit: The Panel is up!