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There are times when people are under personal attack when some kind of instant moderation is desperately needed, because for all the 'it's only the internet so it doesn't matter' cries, this is still a community of people who are real, whose feelings on the internet are largely the same as in 'real life'. If you feel that you have formed even one or two friendships here then that's proof of that fact.
User moderation is not the answer though; as chabib says somewhere, this forum is largely successul as somewhere where people gather and hang out. Perhaps (probably) it's to do with my politics, but I can't understand why people want to be monitored, edited and admonished by a higher power; other boards on the internet actually, for the most part, have more instances that require moderation, and the fact that they have a moderator is a part of that. The presence of power encourages naughtiness, for want of a better word.
Also beware of that fact that the actions of moderators are as likely to offend as they are to please.
I believe that there have been times since the new board was set up that we have very much needed a moderator to warn or serve a temporary suspension, but we have gone without. But in the most part this is a nice place, and it really is easy enough to ignore those users or threads that cause you irritation or offence.
On a slightly irrelevent note, I also don't want a user moderator for a more personal reason; I think I know who it might end up being, and I would have to leave the board if I were right (by choice, as a rather silly 'protest', but I would have to). I don't really want to do that, as I feel I have a few friends here too.
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