They can moderate any way they want, all told, it isn't really hurting anyone but themselves.
Ultimately, too much moderation will keep this community from growing, not help it become something more "respectable" or "marketable" in the eyes of potential investors and game publishers (who have an interest in feeding exclusive information to those "publications" that portray them in a favorable light and support their interests- fostering a unanimously negative image of piracy comes to mind, if you need an example).
There is tons of research and literally tens of thousands of real world examples to prove it, and therefore no need try to convince them - the market will do it all on it's own, we don't need to help it along.
Right now the Escapist is receiving massive traffic because of ZP, but eventually Yahtzee's internet fame (or interest in promoting essentially 5 minute commercials for game publishers on the Escapist's dime) will peter out (most likely when one of his other ventures takes off enough that he doesn't need them to pay his bills any more) and the site will have to actively engage it's community more effectively to stay in business (as opposed to simply culling the dissenters, they will have a market-driven need to convert them into approvers), find a new cash cow, or just go quietly into the night.
Until then, don't expect anything to change.