Believe me, having moderator privileges is a thankless job and no fun. In AvA it's a little different as we try to keep channel one enabled.
Keep in mind, the moderator may not have been logged in to see that someone else "started it."
Being human, we won't get every call right either. There can be a fine line between acceptable banter and abuse.
The worst scenario is when someone is responding to a known agitator. You may know who the real problem is, but if others are participating, it's hard to single out the offender.
To be safe and make the mods job easier, don't take the bait.
Let the problem children stand out, and then only the right people will get hammered.
A simple rule of them is if it's not acceptable here it's not acceptable in game.
If you push the line and get muted for a while just deal with it.
It's not the end of the world and you will be unmuted tomorrow.