> When the beel was not moderated something called FGMO appeared and the adherents were vocal...

But it was one of the Bee-L moderators that started BeeSource, so Bee-L was moderated well before then.

> Interesting that the Bee-L challengers were proved right.

About FGMO, yes, but not about moderation, as one could say that BeeSource (and several other similar "boards") was/is more intensely "moderated" than Bee-L ever has been. In fact, a few frequent Bee-L contributors are banned over at BeeSource.

> BeeSource is still a place to go to be led into disaster.

But this danger is not due to any lack of moderation.  Their moderation simply enforces the "safe space" for discussion of things like using FGMO as one's sole approach to mites. Most other aspects of beekeeping do not require "safe spaces", as they are not so intensely debated, as results and outcomes are far more consistent among beekeepers for at least other beekeepers in one's region.  If you were to post a question about washing out and reusing soda bottles for retail honey sales you'd get the same sort of responses everywhere.  (Despite this being very common and viewed as perfectly acceptable in many 3rd-world nations.)

The entire critique of "disaster" is only valid to the extent that it applies to mite control.  Mite control has been quite a moving target, even when following the dictates of the most conservative voices and/or the government authorities.  Only recently, a beekeeper posted about the failure of fall Oxalic treatments in protecting his hives, and got a lot of flak for providing good-quality hi-rez photos that showed clear evidence of mites.  

But he had followed the advice of the experts, in treating (one presumes correctly) up until fall, but apparently neglected to do additional treatments in mid-winter, something NOT suggested by official authorities.
Now, one could certainly take the position that any treatment not followed by a verification test is not a treatment at all, but winters are far warmer than in the past - bees can forage, and finding nothing else, rob out disease-weakened colonies in Nov and Dec my weather records include 13 days above 55F in Nov 2021, 7 days in Dec 2021 , 2 Day in Jan 2022.  My bees do significant sorties at 55F, so one can see the problem in terms of "reinfestation".  So, due to a warming climate, my bees wander around the upper east side, and they can only get into trouble that way.

One could thus make the case that following the official guidelines is "being led into disaster", as they are slow to be updated, and no advice yet published has been truly effective for all beekeepers fore very long, save Fluvalinate, which had a good run of impressive results.

But all the online communities, even the Facebook groups, are moderated, so moderation is not the secret sauce that assures anything.

Everyone just wants to keep their bees alive, and their are many attempt to evangelize various techniques, as while we may not be "our brother's keeper", like it or not, we are "our brother's beekeeper", as his mites invariably become our mites.

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