My theory is that a lot of the moderation happens privately and in a civil manner, with dang and others politely reaching out to first time offenders, explainin

My theory is that a lot of the moderation happens privately and in a civil manner, with dang and others politely reaching out to first time offenders, explaining the nature of the forum and asking them to voluntarily edit their comments. This leads to three things: 1) Well-intentioned violators are more likely to respond positively (since the audience effect is not present) and modify their behaviour. 2) For new visitors, all members of the forum appear to be mature and self-regulating (since the moderation is invisible), and they tend to hold themselves to that high standard. 3) It is easy to detect bad-faith violators -- they are the ones who respond negatively to private moderator messages or continue to offend.