The problem with moderation is that all parties have to accept the moderator.

If people were wise enough to know that they need a moderator, you wouldn't need that moderator most of the time.

But I agree that there are still many situations were such a moderator could relax a discussion.

BTW I think that TimToady does a great job in the discussions he's involved in. Most of the time he waits until most of the technical points are mentioned at least once, and picks the most important once, usually making clear why they are that important. And I never saw him insult anybody.

That's why you don't see many flames on the perl6-* lists, compared to the flame wars on the lkml where Linus Torvalds is involved ;-)