On internet communities that has never been the case though. Every owner of a forum was previously a community marshall, creating the kind of community they want, and marshalling that community via leadership towards the kind of behaviour and attitudes that they want.

In consolidating all those forums into one place where people now operate many of them in collective groups, the same thing exists but is just larger.

It's also no different here on hexbear. The admins and mods are a leadership group who control and marshal the community towards the intended goal.