I think sometimes users forget the staff are all just regular people trying to keep CZ a nice place to spend our time.
The CZ staff has always come from active CZ users who are selected by the other staff members (not me) to join the staff.
The staff is made up of people just like everyone else here and one of the first things I tell new staff members is they are CZ users first, moderators second.
Meaning, they get to continue being themselves and posting their own opinions and thoughts as they always have and only have to put on their moderator hats when the situation calls for it.
No one likes rules especially when something we post gets moderated, but the rules help keep this place friendlier than most other forum and discussion sites because we try our best to keep the nastiness that comes from the many polarizing topics found everywhere else on the internet from infecting this site.
We are not perfect (I know I am not) but we do our best to moderate the site consistently and we do so much behind the scenes that most people will never know about to avoid having to bench users.
CZ is not perfect either, but the site, the staff and the users must have done something right or else CZ would not still be here after all these years.
I think we are all very fortunate to have a staff willing to be the bad guys at times and enforce the rules while also having a lot of users, who despite the irritation of being moderated from time to time, care enough to keep coming back and posting day after day, season after season.
We all make CZ what it is! Everyone deserves thanks and appreciation!