Good point, Florence, however, there is the issue of "You need to act like an adult, or make a halfway decent effort, to be here, and be unmoderated." You ignore kids sometimes when they behave badly to get attention. You can't always do that with an adult (or with kids, either).Exactly. And it's tough - as the moderator, in which the negativity is being directed, I get a little paranoid about how far I can take my "power" (note the quotes, for sarcastic emphasis). For example, on English Wikipedia, from what I understand, if I was an admin and someone was un-civil towards me, another admin would have to deal with it. I wouldn't be allowed to deal with it. So I guess, that's why I haven't said "you're out of here." Or perhaps I just need some validation, or the co-moderator (Sue) or something. (And this relates to your previous question about me moderating others who are being disrespectful towards me.) I guess I'm failing at being bold here.
And then, like Sarah just said, sometimes even a decent leader gets fed up to the point of not being able to ignore bad behavior.