Hm? I have never been a mod of anything :)

I mean… “To fear”? No. But There are plenty legitimate to remove comments and posts that have nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with mod overreach or censorship.

• removing derailing threads from heated discussions
• removing the annoying “just asking questions” people from LGBTQ+ safe spaces
• removing posts accidentally posted into the wrong community
• removing troll posts
• banning repeat troublemakers not willing to follow the rules
• removing aggressive, sexist, racist,… posts

On the other hand, anti-moderation people only ever seem to come up with “but I want to be able to post whatever I want!”

“Free speech” in this context means: you can go create your own instance or community, with blackjack and hookers! And mods can use the tools at their disposal to enable the rest of us to not have to deal with bullshit.

“We don’t need moderators!” shouts the Troll*, in the wrong community.

* either a troll or just an idiot, doesn’t matter imo

I host about 30 services, so it has crossed my mind. But I like the instance I am on now. Also, since it would almost definitely be just me on there, it would be a colossal waste of time, effort, and resources.