Do you mods not have a private forum hidden?
On other forums I trawl there are normally these features for example large forums have the main public section plus have an area for selected "gurus" to hang out where the rules are slightly stretched and other members can be discussed and criticised with miscellaneous topics ect. basically a section where members have proved themselves mature and respectable can relax and chat without inclusion on the public forum so that the forums name is not tarnished and an admin/mods forum which is above this where mods discussions are held. Would a post in the mod forum not be more appropriate for spam that is automatically created and deleted once dealt with so that it is quickly and effectively solved.
Also secondly It sounds like you have quite a few issues on the forum basic software front in terms of what you are given by "IPS, inc" perhaps moving to a subscription service like vbulletin would allow for greater ease for moderators abilities to be influenced.
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...p;#entry2460988 There is a moderator's section, and it is quite a busy area.
