Tl;dr At this point, I would suggest that moderation should be anonymous. Players do not need to know who closed a thread or who issued a punishment. And mods need different account for play and moderate.
A large part of the problem comes from moderators also being players. Over the years, they naturally collect friends and enemies within the community. Because of this, their moderation actions are often viewed as an extension of their gameplay, which can make them appear unfair or biased, even when they are simply following the rules.
Let's be honest: we have all seen cases where rules seem to be handled differently depending on past interactions or reputations. For example, if Devil has a conflict with bogie and then bogie later bans Devil according to the rules, much of the community will still see it as bogie using his power to win an argument.
That is why I strongly suggest that moderation should happen anonymously. This would remove the focus from individuals and instead present moderation as the action of a faceless team. In turn, moderation decisions would likely be viewed with less bias and create less unnecessary conflict within the comm
unity.
Moderators also need to separate their gameplay from their moderation duties. Let's be honest: the reputation of the moderation team has been declining for years, and nowadays almost every second action they take is challenged by the community because of personal conflicts or because people simply like or dislike the moderator involved.