if an ageing (late30s) geek may share his experiences, in light of the recent slagfest on mods and banning and how bans need to be justified, etc.
i joined my first internet forum in the late 80s, on what were then called BBSs. so i can say i have some experience at this. i have participated in hundreds (possibly over a thousand) forums/fora. in how many have i moderated? ONE. why? because i don't need the trouble.
those who criticize the mods, i'm sure you guys have reasons to be pissed off, but try looking at things from their perspective: they're not getting paid, they devote several hours a week/day to annoying administrative tasks (while we're looking at pix of pretty girls) and then they have to deal with personal attacks (justified or not). oh, and they're not paid.
i, too, have been perplexed by some of the things going on. but the mods are only human and will make mistakes -- or what we think are mistakes. if they've done anything you disagree with, point it out, in private, and if they don't listen, instead of engaging in a slagfest, contact the admin.
as for whether they should explain their actions, the trouble with that, in my experience, is it only opens the door to more arguments, ie, more time the mods have to devote to administering the forum (instead of looking at pretty girls). having said that, it would be good if there were clear-cut rules, prominently posted. at least clearly say what we can't do.
when i was a mod of a napoleonic figurines group (yes, i was and am a complete geek), i had to deal with all sorts of unbelievable shit -- and this is from a group of people who share a genuine love for something as non-threatening as painting little men made of lead and lining them up to be shot by imaginary grape shot fired from a miniature replica cannon. i still can't look at a setup of wellington at quatre bras without getting a cold sweat. you can only imagine the sort of crap mods of a mongering site must have to deal with.
so, again, if there's a mod who you think is out of control, contact the other mods or the admin and lay out your case. privately. or even try talking to the mod in question, again, privately. and we can save our energy for mongering.
just some advice from a flame-war vet who doesn't want to see his number-two favoritesite shut down.
gong hei fat -- i mean happy new year everyone.

unfortunately there are many clueless who won't agree with you;

they think they have all the rights in the world when they particpate in a forum; post whatever hey think it right without any due consideration; and to quote part of your post

QUOTE
"they devote several hours a week/day to annoying administrative tasks ............................. oh, and they're not paid."
UNQUOTE

In addition to many forums, I also participate in public and private newsgroups; I provide voluntary support to MS's newsgroups; Although there are no moderators in ngs, things work the same way; there are unnamed moderators. However I am no longer active in the newsgroups simply for the same reason; I provide free technical support and I get pissed at.
But things are better in the private newgroups; the participants share a common interest and everyone offers assistance unlike here; there's a bunch who only want to take without giving;

and btw I was browsing another forum and found this which I think is rather interesting;
instead of rules, they called it Etiquette

Part of it goes like this;
=======================================================
The following rules can be summed up as "Please try and be friendly" but here they are in more detail!

No personal attacks!  From time to time, discussions may grow heated.  This is to be expected and reasoned, passionate debates are fine.  Personal insults have no place here though, so please desist.
Give people the benefit of the doubt - sometimes people can write something which you may find offensive.  Before launching into a public condemnation though, please consider that the person may not have intended  to cause offence.  It is also worth noting that English is not everybody's first language here which can sometimes lead to further confusion.  At the very least, it is only polite to explain why you are offended without resorting to insults.
No Trolling!  What is a troll?  Its a person who posts something which is bound to stir people up and then sits back and watches as dozens of people jump in and start arguing.  A good example would be something like "Chinese is a stupid language, it doesn't have an alphabet!"  Sometimes trolls get their friends to join in or post under different names. Generally they will do anything it takes to get attention. If you see a message like this, please try and refrain from replying to it - it will soon be deleted anyway.
Don't post e-mail addresses in your main message! This is a relatively new one and it is perhaps not obvious why this is a Bad Thing. If you post an e-mail address in your main message, spammers are likely to pick it up (using automatic spam "harvesters" which trawl the web for addresses) and start using it.  Note that it is OK to supply your e-mail address in the box that specifically asks for it, as that will be protected by the forum software against spam harvesters.  If you need to post extra e-mail addresses do it like this:  
yourname @  yourdomain . com (notice there are spaces between each part)
Some people like to do something like this:
yourname@***REMOVE THIS*** yourdomain . com
If anyone disregards these reasonable guidelines please don't be surprised if one of the following happens:

The post may be edited...
...or it may be deleted altogether
The author might be banned from posting
The forum may be restricted so that no new posts appear until approved by the moderator.
I would like to stress that I hate taking any of these measures, please don't force me to!
=======================================================

In conclusion, a healthy exchange of opinions is good since it encourages more particpation;
but fortunately this is not the case here;

As an ex-moderator of this forum, I am sadden but life must go on

[ Last edited by  sulasno at 1-1-2008 04:08 ]