I can tell you for sure that running a forum is a completely thankless job. It's not so much what you see on the face of the forum that's a pain in the butt; it's the crap people pull in things like PMs and emails. We come to this forum and just have a great time posting but we never think about all the work that goes into things offsides. Moderating a forum is nothing short of a pain in the patootie. But without those mods, things would go to hell in a handbasket very quickly.
As for this just being "the internet" the rules of the road apply same as in life. Sometimes people think that because they are "anonymous" that they can have bad taste, be rude or just generally slander and libel anyone they feel like crapping on that day. If your life sucks and you have no control, it's a kick to come to the net and take it out on innocent people. Well it's NOT acceptable and never will be. You are just as responsible for your behavior on the internet as you would be anywhere else. Plenty of people have learned that the hard way.
Anyways, as far as moderators go, I would swallow a broom before I would do this job and then come here and take sh!t from people who have the audacity whitewash their own parts of a story.