The description says "Served as a pro-tem moderator for at least 1 year or through site graduation". I do not know what the phrase "pro-tem" means. In what situation would this even occur? Does it warrant a badge? I feel that it is akin to Area 51. It wouldn't occur nearly enough to warrant having a badge.

Also: The Sheriff badge description ends with a period. No other description has ending punctuation. The badge-earners page has two periods now. http://stackoverflow.com/help/badges/3109/sheriff at least 1 year..

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Pro-Tem (pro tempore), in a non-SO context at least, is a temporary fill-in typically for a leader, such as the President Pro-tem of the US senate who fills in for the VP (who is the nominal leader of the Senate, with duties related to running sessions, and may cast tiebreaking votes) when needed. –  Joe Jul 9 '13 at 16:39
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I'm surprised nobody has been awarded that badge –  puretppc Jan 30 at 1:42
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1 Answer

up vote 22 down vote accepted

A pro-tem moderator is someone assigned to the role by Stack Exchange until an election can take place. This is the usual procedure for new beta sites, where the community is still forming.

pro-tem literally means "for the time being".

The badge is one of honour; those who received one were there in the beginning and carried the burden of moderation until the site and its community was mature enough to carry on on its own.

See Moderator Pro-tempore on the Stack Exchange blog.

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