Not that anyone asked me, but

* When I close or move a thread, I generally give an explanation because I want other posters who see my reason to modify their future behavior.

* When I close or move a thread, I do so with a message first so that anyone who wants to better understand why can contact me (that is, they know which moderator to contact).

* But I do this so that they can email me AND NOT POST ISSUES HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH MILES AND POINTS to the forum. If you want Randy's attention, post to Only Randy Petersen (or email him). If you want the moderators' attention, email them all. But even if moderation is being done anonymously, don't make moderation the issue in an airline forum. I do believe that harms the forum.

* There's a history of anonymous moderation here on Flyertalk. Folks may recall that the original moderators were given moderator account names to use in place of their FT handles, and only chose later to reveal who they were.

My personal preference is for a short explanation of actions, and I choose to identify myself. The way to handle objections or discussions of the matter is here, in this forum (as is being done now!) rather than in the airline forum itself.