How to choose mods (etc)
I think we can get along without them. I always thought one of the most useful things I did as a mod was to jump into a thread that was getting overheated, and just say - hey, let's all cool off, okay? And remember to attack the argument rather than the person. (insert smiley) But there is no reason posters cannot do that, and in fact I have often seen it done here. I think it should be an expectation here that posters, especially longer term ones, will perform this useful service.
Once the board is open, assuming it eventually becomes so, I believe there WILL be a need for 'authority actions'. I was a mod too long to have any illusions about (some) people's behavior. But surely the rotating admins can take care of the really outrageous and inflammatory stuff.
And what do I mean by that? Well... suppose an otherwise good citizen has, say, a substance abuse problem. And under the influence of that substance one evening takes to posting obscene and offensive stuff in every thread. (It happened at TORC, friends; it can happen here.) In that case I would suggest that the admins might want to quickly, but temporarily, ban the offender. Maybe just until morning. The idea is to staunch the bleeding. And then the conflict resolution process could be invoked, if it appears that further action is needed. If it seemed to be just a one time thing, though, perhaps they could be unbanned in the morning without further ado.
Should there be a conflict resolution process?
There should and there must. And it's better we know what it is in advance. Here are some ideas:
If it were a case of flagrant and outrageous abuse (see above), the current admins might need to invoke the process. Otherwise, it would be up to the offended party (or parties) to do so.
I think it's a mistake to make the process too complicated, or to give people too many choices.
If it is simply a case of a heated conflict between two individuals, perhaps we can simply ask them to take their argument 'outside'. Outside could mean IM or email - or perhaps we could have a forum called 'Outside' where two individuals could go to thrash things out - no holds barred.
If it's a case where a number of posters have a problem with an individual, I think it might be better to invoke arbitration, or mediation, or whatever we want to call it. This would be done only at the specific request of one or more of the offended parties. I like the jury idea. The current admins would only be the facilitators of the process. I suggest we develop a jury pool of people willing to do the work, and who are generally respected in the community - perhaps they might need to be voted on. When arbitration/mediation is invoked, a number of this jury pool - three, maybe - would be selected at random, subject to availability. They would hear the concerns of all involved and make a unanimous judgment. (If it's more than 3, requiring unanimity might be tough.) And then they would retire from the fray, until or unless they were called on again. Perhaps the 'offending' party should be allowed to designate an advocate or buddy to help support him/her in the discussion.
Banning
There has to be such a thing. Probably not necessary as long as this is a closed board - but assuming we open it up some day, I promise you that people will arrive here who will create so much mayhem that we won't have any other choice. People who want to push a product or website or whatever, and fill every forum with commercial spam. People who register as Fuck_Tolkien (or some such) and do nothing but bait people. There are people so obnoxious that ignoring them will never make them leave. They can overwhelm a community. I know what I'm talking about, friends. Trolls of this sort would show up several times a month at TORC. B77 won't be immune.
I don't think we need to agonize about trolls who just show up and start being obnoxious. I think the current admin rota should ban them without further ado. The problem will come when it's a long-time poster. I would love to think it would never be necessary to take such an action against a long-time poster - and of the community currently present, I'm sure it won't. But... suppose a previously respected poster has some kind of breakdown, and it caused him or her to start stalking someone - making offensive and/or baiting posts every time their stalkee does? It can happen. (I have seen this happen.) In that case I would expect the conflict resolution process to be invoked, and I think that banning has to be one of the possible outcomes of that process. It should be very rare. But you can't rule it out, I don't think. Someone who is doing real harm to the community can't be permitted to continue.