I mean, sure, but I'm not sure why you say '"volunteers"' - they are exactly volunteers. Yes, extracting labour for free from volunteers can be the sign of some

I mean, sure, but I'm not sure why you say '"volunteers"' - they are exactly volunteers. Yes, extracting labour for free from volunteers can be the sign of something shady, but with SE I don't really see that evil intent. Moderators not being staff means that the community has more say in how the sites function, which is a thing people want. It's hard - communities want to police themselves, not be dictated unto by a controlling body. As soon as you start paying the moderators, they are under your sway. I also don't think it'd be easy to create a fair remuneration system that didn't incentivise the wrong thing, or create pressure on moderators that they don't currently have.