[Jessi]

There's our admin and then there's a report button. That is all. There's a good reason why we need to police each other. I think we should have at least two active mods who live on different time zones so there would be someone online enough.

Thankfully BN is mostly really peaceful, but the fact remains that any fucktard troll could easily have a free reign here before getting acted upon simply because there is no moderator online all the time.

I think this is very valid concern. It only takes one idiot to start a flame war or spam stuff which will make the forum uncomfortable for many and then people start leaving. I want to avoid that as BN is quite unique.

Well.  I have definite opinions, but open forum's not the place to discuss them- mainly because I don't want to give trolls and spammers ideas, but also one never disputes mod/admin decisions in public, unless invited to by the mods/admins.  That's why PMs were invented.

[CM213]

A thought on moderators. I think it would be beneficial to have a moderator for each category, and all they do is focus on any threads posted in the category they are assigned to. 

And as for the stats. My original thought was either 1) the US has a lot of people who are fetishizing this, or have legitimate body image issues and dysphoria, or 2) that the US has the most access to the Internet over some of the other countries on the list, which makes me think with more access to the Internet more access to pornography. Which brings me back to more being aware of all kinds of kinks and fetishes, as well as people who are trans and dealing with dysphoria, and people (women) looking to increase what they were born with so to speak. There may be more groups of people who visit the forum, but again the access to it, and other things that would have been learned about or discovered by using the internet is far greater in the u.s and the UK.

[Jessi]

A thought on moderators. I think it would be beneficial to have a moderator for each category, and all they do is focus on any threads posted in the category they are assigned to.

Yes, it would.  I'm no expert on the matter, but mods assigned to the categories they feel best qualified/interested in is a sensible approach.  Forums (categories) without a mod specifically named to them would be shared responsibilities- although in practice, a mod is a mod is a mod, but it is nice to have mods named over specific areas as the ones members could turn to first for advice/help.  Also they'd know that category the best, and that means a lot too.  Not that these forums have a lot of crap going on in them, but say someone had a special interest in Bovine Ovary (just the one I pulled off the top of my head) they're going to be better at the subject and able to give advice and also be more attuned to the atmosphere of that forum.  Comments/behaviour/advice that might be suitable for one category or forum, might be out of place in another.  Personalized modding like that helps with that kind of thing.  I'm speaking in general terms, I know nothing about BN or all the different subforums much less the culture in each category.  Also when there's a mod specifically named over a category, they also have their finger on the pulse and when your a mod there's gentle ways of steering conversations in a healthy direction or keeping them on topic.

The structure I know best is that.  Named moderators for categories- the folks selecting who to approach for the mod team would cogitate over candidates for this category or that category, and approach them via PM.  But all mods are mods over the whole forum- it's a team thing, even if each mod would have their 'specialty'.  Then I suppose there's the question of mod authority- I don't know how myBB works, but I know like in phpBB you have some broad categories from the most basic of mods who have limited abilities, to junior admins who have the power to bind and loose and have the most access to confidential information (such as IPs and registration emails- which are indispensable when deciding the fate of dodgy posters that set off your trolldar or spamdar).  Each category carrying not just more power and authority, but also more responsibility- when you're a global mod (practically an admin but not quite) the buck stops with you, and you become the final say in any sort of dispute that the lower levels of moderator haven't been able to resolve (or when a member has an issue with a moderator).  Ideally, it'd be organised like a pyramid, with the lowest level mods being the most numerous and able to give their full attention to threads in their specialties, then a less numerous middle level with some greater forum abilities, and then finally a small core of a few or several global mods who have powers just short of the forum owner/admin, to oversee the rest and they could concentrate more on adminy kind of stuff, even though they'd have their named categories, also.  And they'd also be the go-between between the rest of the mod team and the admin/owner of the site.  Also they'd be the ones who the top admin would authorise to report members to the authorities- not just illegal activities but say someone came in forum and they are terribly dysphoric to the point of making... noises like they're going to harm themselves.  Someone has to have the authority to decide what to do in such a case- someone's life might depend on it. 

My original thought was either 1) the US has a lot of people who are fetishizing this, or have legitimate body image issues and dysphoria

Surely some of both.  It can be a fine line between fetish, sexuality, and gender.  Am I a fetishist?  An autogyne?  Trans?  Don't ask me, I don't know, I've just wanted breasts a really long time.  I think even if some fetishists come here, they might discover it's more than fetish for them.  And fetish trolls?  Well, that's why banhammers were invented.