Hi again. It seems we agree on more than I expected...[/DIV] [/DIV]"We don't need to go over how pretending to be "doing some good" under such hoopdidoopal circumstances is an indication of their addiction to co-dependent behavior and has nothing to do with charitable action."
This is one of those "trying to guess at motives is tricky" moments. I would argue that some mods may be sticking around because they joined up when times were peaceful, and feel like they made a committment. Now that times are rough, they feel somewhat honor-bound to continue. They feel a sense of responsiblity to the board, even though the leadership (owner/admins etc) don't seem to be taking it seriously. Is this hoopdidoopal? Maybe so, but I don't think "pretending" is involved necessarily.
"...individual styles of moderation will vary, however in practical terms I question if those mods who don't do anything can actually be called mods:[/DIV] [/DIV]...because you see no outward evidence of their moderation. [/DIV] [/DIV]The only result you and I can see, are those results brought about by the a**hole mods. (So the tame or harmless ones get burnt and labelled along the a**hole ones, and this is what's pissing you off.)"
Absolutely. Just remember that the mods you aren't aware of may do nothing, or they may simply use a scalpal rather than a hammer. These mods may have a code that makes their subtle actions almost invisible. They don't delete whole threads when they start to get ugly. They actually take the time to slice out each individual offending post, perhaps seconds after it's made, and if the post is bad enough (rotten.com pics dropped into the middle of a thread about the skytrain for instance), these mods might subsequently spend an hour deleting every post made by the troll until his IP can be banned.
Most users would never see this invisible struggle. They might not even be aware that a mod is online, and might start to bitch about how racist posts are are allowed to remain. And maybe they're allowed to remain because deleting racist posts would violate this mod's code. Sorry to ramble, I guess my point is that a mod that isn't noticed is not necessarily an inactive mod. It's much easier to dramatically delete entire threads at the first hint of racism (or whatever) than it is to be selective and concerned about free expression.
"On a related note, if my views were not realistic I wouldn't be receiving 10 negative karma points (from the spineless apologists who've fled here) every time I post my views."[/DIV]
I don't follow that logic. Anyway, not that it really matters, but I've never given you a smite. Having an unpopular opinion is not a crime IMO.