I'm not making any critique towards the mods here or how things are done; we are relatively new and not experienced enough in the forums to say what is or isn't working. I will however respond to your specific comment, from the point of view I had from being a moderator of a debate group of over 10,000 members. Maintaining control is critical for being a successful mod and very often mods are forced to make honest judgement calls. Most groups have multiple mods and each person has their own points of view on what is or isn't allowable. But we all had an agreement that if someone dealt out a punishment, the other mods would respect that punishment. More to the point, bannings were absolutely necessary, and it was often enough that they were permanent bans. You want to avoid being seen as "ban-hammer heavy", but at the same time if it looks like Lord of the Flies because mods don't want to get into the mix and moderate, then the forum becomes a shitshow.
Again, not critiquing anyone here. Just my two cents![]()