I have no problem with your writing. It would be a little easier to read with Uppercase letters at the begining of the sentences, but your point is well expressed.

I think there are many causes of the tension here. I like your thesis about a group mind. There are a group of people at the core of the MudCat that can be likened to a school of fish. Everyone of them seems to express the same thoughts at the same time. I think a lot of folks, when they see this, imagine conspiracy and colusion when in fact the "colusion", if it can be called that, is due to a sharing of similar beliefs and values over time.

This accounts for the accusations of a "MudCat clique" and also accounts for the vehiment denials that there is such a clique.

I'm not sure I agree that "fear" is the reason theat folks turn to Joe about policing. I will say that this group is very diverse, with lots of differing opinions on how the site should be run. For Joe, it must be like herding cats.