FYI, there was an open call to assist with the site, I offered and one day extra capabilities appeared when I logged in. Hillwalker also volunteered and he also was deemed a moderator. As for the transfer of the site to the new and anonymous to me owner that happened under prior management. I was told several options were tried when Tim no longer was interested in doing the heavy lifting (whatever it was) and none worked out so that the current arrangement was the last attempt. I personally did not hear of this effort until after the fact at a Pat and Audrey event from Dave M. Had I known, I would not have been capable of taking it on myself but know of at least one member who had the skills and interest but that apparently is now "water under the proverbial bridge"
Keep in mind this site has been around "forever' in internet time, somewhere in the 30 plus years range. To have survived this long with only three "site hosts" means it must have some value. The closed membership aspect was a response to an issue literally decades ago when forum software did not have anti spam protection. We do get some rare ones if some spammer decides to join the forum but when I see it I nuke it. Therefore, membership is now open but membership requests from known to the forum software to be problematical blocks of IP addresses are quarantined for a moderator to look at.
Note, I think all the mods are volunteers with no financial interest in the site. It appears the new owner is just a commercial entity that does the technical side of keeping this and many other forums running and depending on volunteers to moderate and the owner gets whatever revenue is associated with doing so. There is no moderator school or owner's manual for this forum software, it appears to have far more power than I have figured out. As far as I know the forum is not a democracy, although any member had to right to vote with their "feet" and depart never to be seen again. I think I can erase someone and all their content from existence since day one but I personally would not use that option barring some unforeseen probably criminal action. If I am using my moderator superpowers they may not be visible to regular forum members but I will try to note that it was moderator action like I did when recently combining threads.
As you all know, a forum with no content is not long for the world, RE the dearly departed Rocks on Top, died a withering death when no one would take over it and content disapeared. When I see topics that could generate interesting discourse, I will start a thread. I try to self censure my posts and many do not see the light of day or are edited on occasion. On occasion some folks will not self censor, and in my opinion in most cases when member goes over the line we all recognize it and that member is effectively wearing a badge of shame. If the thread goes totally off track I may lock it but if it self moderates like this one appears to have done, I would like to keep a light touch. Long ago VFTT came to prominence as an alternative to the heavily moderated AMC forum and this I like to honor that flexibility. Do note that edits to posts are flagged and I do seem to have the option to "unedi them" if someone appears to being playing games.
One thing to keep in mind is despite being a moderator I have my own opinions and on occasion I may not agree with yours.