I have to disagree with you there, albeit in an agreeable way. They certainly can and do pull threads. Now, they might get chewed out later for doing it, but it's innacurate to simply say they cannot. They can also "suspend" people, which is different from "banning" them, but the effect is the same to the poster involved.
"It's NOT personal."
How do you know that? The person you argue with some day could be one of the anonymous Moderators, and denying that they take action on their feelings is to deny that they are mere humans. It's like saying it's OK for reporters to be out-and-out leftists because they keep their bias out of print. We all know how well that works....
Having anonymous Moderators just fuels a nasty mutual suspicion amongst FReepers about who the secret police are, and is having a chilling effect. Conspiracy theories abound, and that's a shame.
Besides, if they were autocratic, once they pulled a thread, it would never come back, and once they made up their minds, you wouldn't hear from them concerning WHY they did what they did.
It's a HUGE reponsibility, CL. You know that. You couldn't pay me to be one.
Somehow I just don't believe that Jim and John picked people like you and me to be moderators; I have a feeling they picked REASONABLE people!