Perhaps people will learn to ignore those who get on their nerves, avoid making offhanded insults or responding to such, or reacting to perceived attacks, etc, and there will be no need of anything more than occasional moderation.

You are on the receiving end of some of those complaints. Should I do the moderating you want me to do, or them? Or both?

I'm pretty sure everyone figures their insults and off topic posts are somehow justifiable (because they are 'right' or being attacked, or whatever), while other such posts are not. There are also some posts that are perceived as rude or an attack when that was not the intent, which may then cause someone to become overly defensive, etc.

I will lock topics that get derailed and delete posts that get too out of hand, but if you want heavy handed moderation, it'll be in the form of blanket bans and deletions. I'm about as likely to try to sort out who 'started it' as parents are with 5 year olds (and that's about the maturity level involved whenever anything happens that would require moderation).