I should probably just shut up because I don't have anything constructive to add....
But forty-four pages of discussion because some people don't like how the mods do their job around here? REALLY?
What about "we do our best to act under Jeff's guidelines, we're not perfect but we do our best, if you don't think we're being fair, you're more than welcome to go hang out at RealGM?"
Face it, you're never going to please everyone. Maybe I've missed something, but I don't ever recall thinking that this place was being unfairly moderated or anything or that the rules were unreasonable. I mean, any time you have a forum as large as this, SOMEONE'S panties are going to get in a twist. Tend to think that adding an omsbudman isn't going to solve anything - it'll just be someone new for people to **** and moan about.
EDIT: The other forum I've been a part of for years, I modded for a while. We grew a LOT over the years I've been there. Keith, the owner, was very clear that we were never going to please EVERYONE, and that he knew and understood that people were going to cycle through the site; people might get upset about something and leave, and there really wasn't anything that we could do about it. Some people just need drama; you can be as fair and open and transparent as possible, and some people are still going to find something to fault you for. Just makes me think this whole thread is ridiculous.