Having had direct experience of opening up a channel for dialogue along the lines proposed, my advice is to proceed with great caution.

Reading the comments posted in this thread, I am picking up a general feeling that moderators or mod teams have the ability to determine the culture, style and content of a forum. This is a misconception. It truly is the membership that has the power to shape and steer the direction of any given forum. The role of a moderator is a varied one but primarily we serve as a concierge (or butler as I prefer to call it) so placing the spotlight on moderation or moderators sets unrealistic expectations. The ToS serves as the principle point of reference for all members (including moderators) and it is folly to assume this can be modified via a myriad of mod feedback channels, not to mention the instability this would cause if the ToS was opened up for debate across all fora.

What we have done on the BA forum is request feedback from the denizens of the forum not on moderation per se, but on how the experience can be improved. We introduced a feedback thread along these lines in February 2009 at a time the forum was hurting. Personal division between members and intolerance to newcomer's questions was dragging the forum down. It was the right initiative to address a specific set of issues and timely executed. The result was tremendous. We received positive feedback, suggestions relating to areas in need improvement but most of all, members participated, absorbed the views of other members and reflected. The forum went through a self powered recovery. Similarly, the mod team was able to implement a number of small scale initiatives that had wide base of support.

We took time to consider a number of bigger issues and tabled our ideas in a follow up feedback thread. The response was very good but without clear consensus and in a back drop were members were on the whole happy with the status quo, others developed feedback fatigue and/or had underlying worries their cherished forum would be bent out of shape. So on the basis of previous experience, I would reluctant to open up dialogue again in the foreseeable future unless there is a chain of events that precipitates a specific need.

Discussion of this type has a very short shelf life, beyond which there are vastly diminished returns and the increasing risk of internalisation. For this reason, I urge TB to tread very carefully - not for the sake of moderators but in the interest of our members, who represent a broad diverse church and principally come to FT to engage in discussion of travel and miles.