Also, any and all can browse our discussion boards, but only registered users may post. It's a modest request and it probably turns off a small portion of would-be posters who aren't ready for that level of participation yet, but it guarantees that everybody who gives voice to their thoughts on the Fool has declared himself and agreed to our policies. Best of all, the moderators are themselves attractive personalities with distinct voices and distinct characteristics. They are the crossing guards, shopkeepers, teachers and pro-athletes in our online community and, at least in my mind, they are part of the attraction.
Minimal oversight is best, so our moderators work in concert with other online Fools.
In my neighborhood, I'd rather have a friendly cop on the beat that I can call when I have a problem instead of some spooky regime that patrols the streets with guns and tanks. That said, anything that violates our terms of service gets yanked as soon as we know about it. As you might imagine, our moderators prefer to be participants, to be stirring the cauldron alongside Fools everywhere, instead of censors. I sleep easy because I know that the Motley Fool's online community is simply one part of a much more robust business model that includes traditional media, corporate partnerships and direct product sales. For those online communities whose revenues are directly pegged to revenues from ad exposures, I would predict some sleepless nights, past and future.