[Reposted from old comment system, from Crystal on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:42:42 0000]
Aburt is right. Spam isn't the same thing as advertising -- why have two separate words for it, then? Spam is _irrelevant_ and _excessive_ advertising. Someone who classes single-post announcements of new innovation or projects right alongside 50-messages-a-day ads for "male enhancement" products doesn't have enough intelligent discrimination to be a true moderator. Dictator, yes. Moderator, no. It takes much less thought to be a dictator, mindlessly enforcing rules, than it takes to be a truly thoughtful moderator who understands that the rules are guidelines that support principles, and that the principles are the point, not the rules.
The root word for "moderator" is not "power" -- it's "moderate." TerishD, you're obviously in it for the wrong reasons. Real moderators _serve_ the community, as it sorts itself out. They don't wield power over it. The job description is right there in the job title.
And if you need to use such a generalized passive voice ("to register to post your advertisement _is seen as_") to make your point, I refer you to the political system, where your talent for vague phrasing will be well suited to the job. Those of us who are paying attention will notice that "your advertisement is seen as" doesn't specify _who_ sees the ad that way, and since there's obvously dissent on that view, those of us who are paying attention will also notice you're using a conveniently narrow sampling of the human population to define the word as you prefer to define it. That is, you say "people see your ad as spam," but there are plainly people who don't, so you can't be completely correct, and your point is weakly supported.
That's not really the kind of behavior and thoughtfulness that would earn my respect and vote for you as moderator, but possibly the Web site at which You Have Power isn't one that permits voting, either.