My take is that not having the moderator moniker on his profile makes for less confrontational communications in regard to problematic behaviors. Sarting with the lightest touch that might work is probably better in the large and over the long run.

Once the [mod] tag is invoked the communication is to some extent out of band and fully public. It's a potential gasoline pour.

I really like the mechanism where a moderator can choose to add the [mod] tag to posts that they want to, but by default they just appear as a normal user.

For example, in the past dang has posted some really interesting content, but that should not be distinguished with a [mod] tag. Similarly interesting but non-moderator comments should not be distinguished.

Obvious solution: the moderator account should be called goddang.

People might also confuse non-"dang" users for him if they have a similar username.

I think a "mod" tag makes sense.