For the most part, I haven't had many complaints about your work as mods. Or any complaints at all. But the fact remains that plenty of them have been brought up, whether directly to you or not. I'm not very familiar with any of that, honestly. But it's never been that big of a deal before.

Now it kind of is. Like many have already pointed out, when it's gotten to the point where so many people feel that they need to use sock accounts to be comfortable talking to you, and when there have been apps rescinded that probably have to do with this considering the timing, and when people are saying they'll drop and people who might have entertained the idea of apping are now saying they won't, there's a serious problem.

I've been a mod and there are a few situations where, in hindsight, I wish I would have approached them differently. Me and my team fucked up and issued apologies too. We contributed to people dropping the game. Now, I wish that we'd dealt with it in another way than we did. It felt a lot like we just brushed it under the rug, and I'm ashamed of that.

Don't make that mistake. Players are uncomfortable and it's your duty to make sure they're comfortable again, to make sure that your game is a safe space for everyone. Being irritated that echoes or apps aren't being processed quick enough or that there was lack of a heads-up regarding a plot or whatever, is something entirely different from people wanting to drop and make a clone game with other mods. It's bad.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said here, and it's clear that it's not a new problem. I think you should set clearer boundaries, scrutinise your team, have a serious discussion or several about what your players have presented as their wishes here or elsewhere, and do whatever has to be done to ensure the players of this game can feel safe again. However drastic that is.