Solutions

I was an AOL Chat Host many years ago. The rules were simple: no profanities, no racial slurs, and no EXTREME personal attacks ("I'm going to hunt you down and kill you," etc.). Otherwise, members were encouraged to discuss their Chat Room Topics to heart's content with as little involvement from Hosts, as possible.

One of the ways to do that is for the Webmaster to appoint or solicit the Moderators - when members "elect" their Moderators, it becomes an all-out popularity contest and not an appointment of common sense. Moderators should be objective, unemotional, and demonstrate the ability to SIT ON THEIR HANDS in the event that someone posts a message that might rankle them, personally. Moderators should be assigned forums in which they have not spent a majority of their time - this allows for even greater objectivity and less emotional involvement with members. Moderators should not use their Special Powers for anything other than performing their specific tasks of keeping some semblence of order in forums. Moderators should not be allowed or encouraged to monopolize any forum by posting rants about their own issues. Moderators should never, ever be named or outed - they should be given anonymous ID's (NEW ONES, like Moderator 123, etc.) and any Moderator who outs another should be replaced and banned from the site. Finally, any Moderator who oversteps their boundaries of control and sends UNSOLICITED emails to threaten other members or attempt to ignite a bipartisan populatrity war should be replaced and/or banned from the site at the Webmaster's discretion.

I posted a similar message in the Ask Curezone Forum and, again, this is just my 2 cents. If ANYONE (moderator OR member) becomes offended by my concerns, TOUGH - I didn't name names, here, and I refuse to do so. If anyone becomes uncomfortable with the contents of this message, then maybe they a reason to be!