When I started moderating, my approach at first was black and white and I thought the same rules should apply for everyone. I wanted punishment for any rule breaking to be automatic, impersonal and without discrimination in regards to how long the offender had been here or how well liked he or she was. Basically, I thought if moderators were robots and people didn't get butthurt over infractions, then gaining infractions would be a natural forum consequence, one that you could plan for as getting an infraction really isn't that dangerous so it would still "allow" some rule breaking before members started getting banned.
Then I realized there's no way on MB people are not gonna take recieving infractions personal as it is now. They're used as warnings preceding a ban so people are scared and offended when they recieve them. My approach really wasn't working at all so I had to change the way I did things.
Instead of a moderator punishing people like a robot, I realized it would be better if moderators try to nurture the community instead. If you've been here a long time, that means you are part of the community and if you add positively to it, then I think that makes you a part that should be nurtured. As such, some members have earned some leniency on the moderators part while some, newcomers and those who affect our community in a generally negative way, do not deserve the same privilege. The goal is to make MusicBanter a pleasant and fun community to be a part of and to me, it's a bit like growing a bonzai tree. You have to remove some twigs here and there to make it beautiful (not that I often banned regular members).
The difference between my initial approach and the way I ended up moderating was the latter felt like it worked. For all mods to have the perspective that they're doing a service to a community they are doing their best to improve is an attitude that I think would benefit MB in all areas.
Something lately is causing a split between the mods and some of the members here. Some of the problem I'm sure is a lot of the moderators have a knee-jerk reaction which is very defensive when met with criticism or a wish that they change the way they do things. Why a defensive attitude? These people are the community you serve, so you should treat them with respect and listen. I also feel like moderators breaking the rules they are supposed to uphold can also widen the gap between mods and members as does using mod powers for gloating and terrorizing, like changing the content of a members posts. Because of their power and position as both rule enforces and role models, moderators have to tread more carefully than others, particularly when wielding that power. For example, if you give someone an infraction, in their message, you simply state why that happened and perhaps what could prevented it. You don't gloat or call the offender an idiot.
That's how I feel about it at least. I'm not sure I always lived up to those ideals when I modded, but I tried and I think all mods should.
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