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View submission: Announcing Online Presence Indicators
This is an important call-out and is something that we’ve thought about and discussed further during broader discussions with moderators. These indicators are currently not planned to show within the mod list, so users will not be able to see at a glance if all mods are online.
This doesn't solve the problem. Not only can users quickly click into moderator profiles to check their status, if the indicator is accessible in any way, malicious actors can automatically collect the data -- say, via a browser extension a la RES -- and display it in the location most convenient for them. It would probably take an hour for one person to write.
Even better, the data could be hosted externally, let's say, on "are-the-mods-asleep.com," where it could be permanently stored, analyzed to determine patterns of activity, and so on. This will take a few more hours of one-time effort for the bad guys, so you can expect it to happen within a couple of days after this feature is launched, and it will bypass all of your proposed safety features, since the information can be collected via a sleeper account that is not banned or blocked.
I think you're making a bunch of mistaken assumptions: that the bad actors are unsophisticated, that they don't plan or coordinate their activities, that they lack software engineering skills, that they are just bored kids who will give up immediately upon encountering the tiniest inconvenience. Maybe some are, but they aren't the ones who matter.
If "we hear you on the safety aspects" is not mere words, please choose an option that actually stops the bad guys. Your proposed fixes don't. They just make them say "huh! that's annoying" for a day or two, until they have built the tools to get around the problem permanently.
There's nothing here!