Bob Stout wrote in a message to All:

 BS> The last I knew, the backbone required a moderator for all EchoMail
 BS> conferences, but this may have changed - I haven't been active on
 BS> Fidonet in over a decade.

More precisely,  some of the distribution systems require an echo to be
elisted,  which is usually the job of the moderator.  Other than that I'm
not aware of any "requirements".

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