they are certainly stretched thin, which i would categorize more as an attackable problem than an excuse for poor performance.

i do have a few examples off the top of my head tho

• !unpopularopinion was left uterly unmoderated for months. rage bait and even some downright nazi shit was almost constant on there. any community in that situation should have been immediately shut down by admins but was not.
• !world mods have a nasty habit of butting in with mod flared comments on user reports without taking action. they defend this as “adding context” when the “context” involved is highly subjective, partisan, and verging on defense of harrassment, and not at all fitting the diversity of content that constitutes a “world news” community.
• this might be more of a general lemmy problem but there doesn’t seem to be auto-flagging going on for common sense harrasment language? like i see slurs against races, ethnicities, and the mentally disabled almost daily and they don’t get removed for hours until a user reports it sometimes.

i don’t think compounding problems imply a single compound solution.

instead, tackle each problem directly.

• encourage account migration to combat overcentralization
• encourage installment of more mods to combat ineffectual moderation
• call for transparency in moderator selection to combat cronyism