I have been both support group owner and a moderator. And I am friends with other support group owners and moderators. I know it is possible to be loved, even if you are a moderator.

When I did have a bad fight break out, I immediately asked them to stop posting and then I had both of them vent privately to me .. and then I helped both of them see where the other person was coming from. When they both had cooled off and understood why the bad feelings had happened, they would then write apologies, one to another. It is quite possible for them to come out of it with a close bond to one another.

My friend's support group is now too large for hands on stuff like that - she has well over 7000 members. She has 6 or so mods to help her out. They do sometimes ban -espcially newcomers who early on prove to be combative and disruptive. The rationale is that people in a support group should be protected from emotionally distress. Her mods all post as part of the group, too.

I do know that moderating is ferociously hard work - emotionally draining at times. And you sure can't make EVERYONE happy. I have the utmost respect for most all mods. But having witnessed "numbered" anonymous mods for so many years, I was continually aware that they were viewed totally unlike any other mods I have encountered on the web. I came to believe that being an anonymous mod probably changes the mods when they are "in character" ... that they quite possibly act quite differently that they do when they are simply being themselves.

OneMoreTime