Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to other online spaces like Twitter and Reddit where the discourse today is so toxic that it has desensitised people into accepting or even encouraging abusive behaviour. Name-calling is a typical example. It’s something that should register as abusive but doesn’t for most people any more, because in these very high-profile online spaces it’s not just normative, it’s actively rewarded with likes and upvotes. It’s probably impossible to not have that seep into most people’s baseline expectations for online conduct.
An army of dictatorial tone-policing moderators won’t create a safe space free from abuse, just a different kind of toxic space. So it is a very hard problem, not solvable by just kicking out a couple of bad apples. We are all swimming in a sea that causes the apples to rot.
... or you just finally realize that interaction beyond your own bubble is more complicated, harder, and more tiring, but not toxic. People are very very sensitive plants nowadays. It doesn't help. Don't try to hide people even more from reality. You did that for long enough, obviously. Don't make them even more stupid by declaring everything as toxic harassment which challenges their simple, tiktok-driven minds. We already have enough of those zombies around, who in a few decades are planned to acquire my pension.
You find a new moderator who won't stand for it. They start escalating moderation action, and the wider moderation team follows their example
If you're at the point where your community is so toxic that you can't find a moderator... you need a ban wave. Good luck