Tom, there is no real difference between 'mud-elf' and a 'Joe clone' or a 'volunteer'. They are just various names people have used. There ARE, though, a couple levels of ability to do editing.
   Joe & Big Mick are co-moderators, with all relevant powers. Maybe 1-2 others can do significant other editing. And a larger group, like myself, can do minimal editing, like correcting spelling or fixing a link, or emergency deleting of spam.
   I gather that some, like katlaughing notes, do it fairly openly, while others prefer to not confuse their editing ability with their freedom to participate in threads without getting complaints.
   In the past, we had a couple of members who spent a large amount of time making a huge issue of anonymity, and there was much uproar.

As suggested above, it might be useful to have moderators have 2 IDs, but it is already a bit late for that.

There is no simple answer to the question, as people just have different opinions. Max has seen fit to leave the system as it is for now. It works pretty well so far, and Joe & Mick keep good track of problems. Remember, they and other 'clones' are all volunteers who do this in spare time. Not everything can be dealt with instantly, but an email or PM to Joe or Mick gets pretty good results. Even a post IN a thread can get the attention of a minor clone/elf/volunteer.

If Max has new ideas on how to improve it all, I imagine we'll soon know.