[ff12wq111]

This is solid advice, but I'm wondering about a different approach entirely. What if we don't have moderators at all? Just build a small, self-governing community - get the right initial group of people, then freeze registration once we hit critical mass.

The idea is more like an internet utopia - if the participants are engaged and high-quality enough, maybe traditional moderation becomes unnecessary? We're not trying to scale to millions of users anyway.Have you seen small, closed communities work without formal moderation? Or does human nature always require some kind of enforcement mechanism?

[conception]

I have been a part of several of these. They work but the problem is attrition. People move on eventually and you need some amount of growth. An invite system is how most deal with this.

[ff12wq111]

That's exactly the dilemma we're wrestling with. The attrition problem is real - even the most engaged communities lose people over time.

Why do you think they leave? Thanks for sharing such concise but powerful insight.