I was going to post earlier, before I had read every single post in this thread, but thought everyone who has contributed to this thread deserved more that that. I'll now weigh in after having read everything that' been posted in this thread.
This first thing I'd like to address is consistency. There are two levels of this.
First, there's the consistency that the moderators show all members. I'd like to think that I'm consistent with my treatment of everyone, regardless of our friendship status. However, I realize that is a failing of human nature to treat everyone equally, and the mods are, for better or worse, human. I don't think I would moderate any differently if I were anonymous or had a different username when I was "on-duty." And if anything, I tend to favor those who are not my "friends" when both are involved in a situation where my input is required. I recognize this failing in myself and acknowledge it, and hopefully that makes me at least a little more consistent in my moderator duties.
When I was first considered as a mod, TWJ asked my what I would do if I encountered a flame war. My reply was "Flamewars are a delicate balancing act, and I don't envy the mods. I guess it really depends on the severity. If it were a case where things were getting personal, I'd lock the thread. In other cases, I might let things play out to let them resolve themselves. Either way, I would try to remain impartial, and in the case I were directly involved or being attacked, I would probably leave it to another mod in order for it to be resolved by an impartial party. "
I guess TWJ liked my answer, because I was made a mod after that. His reply included this little tidbit about censorship, which I've tried to take to heart: "The censorhip policy is fairly liberal: it's all about context. Vulgar, hateful speech can be deleted or cause for thread-locking. Offensive words used to express excitement or humor, usually are okay." This is precisely why I have let some things go on further than some of the other mods may have. It's never had anything to with who the participants were.
Also, there's consistency between moderators. I agree that we need to project a unified front (except, of course, when one of us is wrong. But that should be dealt with between BK and the moderator in question), but I don't think we will ever be completely consistent across the board. We each bring our personality traits to the job, both good and bad. Even if we were given strict guidelines that read like the United States criminal code, there'd eventually arise a situation that wasn't covered. That would require a judgment call. Some of us would defer to Broken Kid as the Forum Administrator. Others would make a call to take immediate action. Most of us would give the situation the consideration it deserved before deciding which to do.
This is turning into a longer dissertation that I had intended, so I'll stop here. I'll address additional points when I remember what else I was gonna address
'mute
edit: Oh yeah. Popularity contests. I'll remind everyone that I wasn't nearly the prolific poster I am when I first made mod
I don't think post count should be a consideration either way
edit 2: I try to hang out in the "Suggestions" and "Concerns and Complaints" sections as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with everything, though
