Wow.

Well, all I can say is that I wish some of you could be a fly on the wall during our moderation team discussions. EVERY SINGLE decision is preceded by a long discussion with MULTIPLE points of view, precisely about whether a decision would be 1) fair, and 2) consistent. And after the action has been taken, one of the mods/admins always follows up in the discussion with whether they PMed the member(s) and if they don't explicitly say so, one of us will ask to make sure.

Can we try harder? I don't know. Maybe I can. But I will say that NO, the other mods/admins cannot try harder -- they are working extremely hard and are already giving their best at all times. We don't always see eye-to-eye, but we are ALWAYS are guiding our decisions by whether they are being fair and consistent. If we're failing in that, it's not because we're not trying. The other mods and KD are working exceedingly hard -- much harder than any volunteer should have to work, and I'm not about to back up any criticism that they aren't doing a good job. They are doing a FANTASTIC job in what is often a brutal environment with little appreciation.

It's interesting that 'fair and consistent' is the biggest complaint. Those who are outraged at moderation actions are often those who demand that we make exceptions for them, and that we make inconsistent and unfair decisions at the expense of another member who has irritated or angered them.

Before I was a mod or admin, I was one of the more vocal members and I have ALWAYS been very up-front with authority figures. When I didn't agree with a decision or policy, I was one of the first to speak up about it. When asked to become a moderator, I saw it as an opportunity to make it MORE fair and LESS restrictive.

But once I started walking a mile in a mod/admin's shoes, I realized how idealistic I had been as a regular member. The complaints that most of you have... you're asking us to be unfair and inconsistent. Whenever you 'demand' that put one of your posts back after you've crossed the line, or that we ban a member because you don't like what or how often or to whom they write, you're asking us to be unfair and inconsistent. When we refuse to do so, it's because we WON'T be unfair and inconsistent. Yet some of you can't take 'no' for an answer, or you can't accept a point of view that's not your own, and start accusing us of control freak behavior.

Am I cut out for this job? Maybe not, because some of the posts in this thread, frankly, are pushing me beyond my limits for what I am and am not willing to put up with as a volunteer.