Thanks Nell that's an interesting analysis, particularly the reference to the role of lurkers.
I think the weakness of GN at the moment is the reliance on members reporting posts, rather than active moderation by GNHQ.
If members felt that GN were actually in charge, as opposed to reactively carrying out posters' wishes, posters perhaps wouldn't feel it was up to them to report posts for whatever reason. Then those who had malicious reasons for reporting wouldn't have that opportunity. At the moment, the tail's wagging the dog.
I was once one of four or five moderators on a professional forum. There were frequent spats and heated, ill-tempered arguments but posts were very rarely deleted and suspensions rare.
The difference was that everyone who registered had their identity checked throughtheir professional registration, and everyone posted under their real name.
Anonymity on forums underlies a lot of the problems, IMHO.