does it bother anyone else that superuser-level moderation occurs in secret without any public recourse or justification?
It is a good question. It doesn't bother me. Maybe that's because I've been in the role of an ordinary user on plenty of sites with little or no moderation, and I have also been in the role of a moderator (with varying degrees of moderation power and authority in the chain of command) on various sites. Most discussion sites need moderation. Most moderation actions don't need metadiscussion.