On the forum that I manage, we’ve found that being clear about the reasons why we do the things that we do makes the community more cooperative. If a moderator is perceived to be arbitrary, it causes problems. Of course that means we’re constantly iterating our community guidelines. But it’s not so often that we’re getting bogged down by rules.
When we have to impose sanctions, our default mantra is to set blasters to stun. Serious action like thread closure (our people don’t like to be interrupted) or suspension requires more than one pair of eyes to go through.