Ah, chanops. Since The Debutante has asked for a discussion on what the role of this group should be, and since I am one of the more active members of the group, I thought I'd very quickly share my own views on the subject.
We +people have a variety of powers at our disposal to help with moderating and monitoring chatterbox activity. These include the ability to go in and out of any room at will, see all the rooms' activities at once, move people in and out of various rooms (called nerf borging because it doesn't "lock" noders into the room to which they've been moved), dragging which instantly transports a disruptive user to The Debriefing Room and keeps them there for thirty minutes, a Silence button that will wipe the catbox and if pressed fast enough will prevent information from being recorded by ascorbic's archive, the ability to borg, of course, and an Are-You-ush-Tool. We can also speak as any of the E2 bots with the exception of E2D2.
My own personal preference is to handle fights by sending personal messages to the people involved along the lines of, "Calm down," or "Ignore the troll." Sometimes these work, sometimes they don't. I am more likely to use the /drag or /borg commands on noders with whom gentle prodding does not work and even more likely to borg people who I've received complaints about especial if those complaints come from multiple people. If you ever feel a user is out of line, message the chanops team. We work for you. I am additionally more willing to drag a name I don't recognize that is disruptive than one I do. A newbie who is combative or insulting is more likely to be some ghastly form of internet troll than a noder who might just be having a bad day. Dragging is better than borging in these situations because it allows a chanops member to explain why the offender was dragged rather than just shutting them up. I will borg for personal insults directed at people other than myself (I feel that having a thicker skin is inherent in the job). chanops official policy is that the catbox be blanked if personal data such as addresses and phone numbers are dropped in it accidentally, or maliciously.
Due to the nature of the job, it is impossible to make everybody happy and eventually any chanop is going to gain somebody who feels that they were borged unfairly. Again, if this happens talk to the chanops team. We should not be some unquestionable higher catbox authority, our actions are open to discussion (though I will admit that I believe most people are capable of defending themselves and I get a little winded when somebody tries to defend a person who has neither asked for or needs defense).
In brief, chanops works for you, any and all feed back is appreciated. Feel free to drop a line here or here for praise, insults, or constructive criticism.