Hi all, I have time now to focus on this thread, so here I am again.
I had thought to go through the whole thread and write up a recap/summary which would list the concerns that were raised, along with the other ideas and tangential issues that were brought up, but the thread has grown too long and covered too many different things for me to handle that now. Sorry!
Before I go on I would like to thank every participant in this thread for managing to discuss a very contentious topic with (mostly) very little acrimony. It gives me hope that we can continue to be successful as a community. Thanks all! 
Next is a brief report on the results of the thread as I see them.
Here is the text of the proposal as voted on:
At this time, the vote totals are:
| Votes | Percentage | Poll option |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | 58 | Yes, that’s what I want (or substantially what I want) too. |
| 23 | 40 | No, I like things the way they are. |
| 1 | 2 | No, I’m also dismayed at the situation but don’t think this approach is good. |
| 0 | 0 | I want something like that, but different in some important way. |
| 58 | 100 | total |
The vote count has stayed steady for all of today, as far as I can see, so I propose to close the poll to keep it as a record of the community sentiment about this at this time. Let me know if you have objections to that.
Based on this process and the results of the voting, I would consider this proposal approved by the community. However, since we as a community don’t actually have any kind of agreed-upon process for approving things like this, it may be that others would see it differently. If that’s a perspective you hold, please make your case at this time.
My personal take is that @moderators should read the OP, read the thread, and take it onboard as they think about how to participate and moderate in our community.
Something I’d like to acknowledge is that one recurring theme among the “no” voters is a concern about moderators abusing their power, and also concern about moderators being biased or unfair. I’m not going to attempt to litigate that in this post. But I would encourage a couple additions to the process that was voted on that should, I think, help allay fears along those lines.
- If a mod takes any action that is not publicly visible, including post hiding, post editing, post deletion, or user actions (silencing or blocking) moderators should post a note explaining what the action was and the reason for it in the Log of Key Moderator Actions thread.
This gives members visibility into the moderation process and an opportunity to discuss it or raise objections if they feel the moderator has acted improperly.
- I would also propose that we plan to revisit this issue at some point to discuss as a group whether this process has achieved its goal of reducing forum toxicity and drama, if there are any problems with how it has been implemented, and if any changes (including abandonment) are desired.
So that said, unless there is vehement objection to this course of action, or somebody brings some new consideration to the discussion, I’m personally going to consider this settled and go back to enjoying the forum in my usual ignorable way. Cheers! 
P.S. Several of the topics that came up in this thread all centered around the moderators: how they become moderators, who should be a moderator, how long a moderator should be a moderator, and others. I think that is an “area of opportunity” for further discussion, perhaps in a different thread, but I’ll let someone else take the lead on that. 