First off, regarding the rotation: one of Jim's biggest problems to date with Free Republic has been in trusting people who could not and should not have been trusted.
FAB, FRN, the chapters, the forum itself, and even the mod program have suffered from having people act untrustworthy.
A small, static number of freepers who are replaced only on an as-needed basis strikes me as being a good way to minimize this risk.
One minimizes risk by spreading it.. Our jury system is a good example. -- And it could be a good model for a 'mod duty' system..
Not always true. One can minimize the risk of being a target by spreading around lots of other targets.
One does not minimize the risk of leaks by letting tons of people knowing something;
work in any secure environment and you will have impressed on you the requirement of Need To Know and how important it is.
There are lots of ways to minimize risk, or to maximize it. What is appropriate for one situation may be the worst for another. One size does not fit all, your mileage may vary.
Nice little lecture on the semantics of 'minimizing risk' Dale, but you didn't address the issue as it applies to the forums moderator system..
Can you?
The more people involved, the more likely there is going to be someone involved who decides to use the system for their own purposes. Joe is a great example. He was given access, and he abused it, and he has lied about it, and he has caused harm.
You say he predicted it. But you know what? If I tell someone that if they do something, they are going to die, and then they do it and I go and shoot them, then I would not be the Amazing Kreshkin.