Thelma,
I was one who welcomed moderators..and still do...I feel when sites get large...it is too big of a job for one person alone..I saw one site completely ruined by spam..remember Doug Eshelsman's site after his passing...moderators have a tough job...and it would be one too hard for me with my own strong opinions so I certainly never volunteeered..good moderators are typically very flexible and impartial thinkers...and I think this site has some great ones...
Every since I was a member of OBT in 2000.... JL did the job alone at old Braintalk for many years .... in my opinion he was darn good at moderating the site by himself in the beginning .. but as it grew it was too much for him to do alone.....I don't think the idea of more moderators was the problem...I think it was when one or two got overzealous banning PALS with no explanation ..it then became a big issue at that particular site..
As far as a way to bring people all in to one particular site..after months of old Braintalks down time..I doubt seriously it is going to happen...I don't know if it's neccesarily a bad thing either...some people left boards for the most part and spend most of the day living every day life...just popping in occassionally..while others have gravitated toward one site or another...but many at least pop in on "various" sites to read them like newspapers...whether they choose to post or not...
Most successful boards I have seen do have moderators, for examples, the TdF site is moderated, but fairly liberally, so is Build-UK and so is this one...others are more heavily moderated but still seem to thrive to a degree..
Serious breakthroughs in the disease may pull people in...but I've been way too far down that road to get excited too quickly anymore...everyone of us who has been around awhile has become a skeptic...
Still if someone has a problem on old BT, this site or any of the others ..undoubtly at least one person will post to try to help them out...My husband and I are eternally grateful to those who helped him..and I will continue to do my best to help others on various sites...Lisa