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I keep on hearing people referring to the 'hammer' in the chat rooms, and just generally everywhere (not necessarily on this or other SE sites, even in every day life), so what is this 'hammer'? I hear phrases being thrown around like the mod-hammer and give them the hammer, but what is this 'hammer'? I don't understand... Is there a general meaning for it? Or are there some common meanings for it? I really have no idea what this so called 'hammer' is about...

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It is the Banhammer, the show of ultimate force from an admin or sysop to a regular user. It is a metaphor for the ability of individuals with higher privileges on the system to silence ("mute") or remove ("kick" and/or "ban") other individuals.

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  • I think you've nailed it.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 8, 2015 at 21:53
  • I saw what you did there.
    – deadrat
    Commented Sep 8, 2015 at 22:50
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    To add to this, on some sites the moderators have next to their IDs an icon representing a judges gavel, suggesting that they have decision-making authority.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Sep 8, 2015 at 23:18
  • +1 for Ignacio. However, let us not forget The Hammer and Hammer pants in our haste:google.com/… "The hammer" probably still gets used in that context occasionally.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Sep 9, 2015 at 0:46

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