Are you inclined to let the moderators and managers take the blame?

This is a meta question – so I’m posting in meta. If I want specifically tailored results, I post in general. And if I want a discussion that will develop organically, knowing that it might develop into something unintended, I post in social.

Because I know that I’d be confused if a neutral answer I gave were moderated, I started sending users PMs if I remember if I do flag a response that is off-topic in the general section. I generally flag only in the general section, or anywhere that a response is offensive just to be so. If I’m uncertain, I include a message while flagging to see if the moderators agree.

I recently did this on a thread, and received responses back indicating that I was, to put it more delicately than it was expressed, being unfair…and the members I had written proceeded to purposefully post on the thread answers that were off-topic, or demanding an explanation from the mods.

In the end, I found something that I thought would be helpful spit back at me. If I had just flagged the answers, I believe that the users would have just blamed the mods.

Is it worth it, in a community sense, therefore, to just let the mods take the blame? Is it better, on the other hand, for users to openly hold themselves or other users responsible for keeping up standards, and to accept when they fall short?