>The key was always having an active moderator who cared and had unbelievable amounts of time to moderate.

Sometimes the mods are the junk posting users.

A bunch of the car subs were modded for a long time by some tow truck driver who'd mod them while sitting around waiting for dispatch. Exactly the kind of guy you want refereeing a dispute between some guy who's lived it and a bunch of lube techs who are quoting textbook best practices.