You can't really get moderator privileges on SO without first being one of the "People who answer questions". You can't cast a close vote without having 3,000

You can't really get moderator privileges on SO without first being one of the "People who answer questions". You can't cast a close vote without having 3,000 reputation. Even just downvoting requires 125 reputation. The _least_ experienced [diamond moderator][1] on StackOverflow has over 19,000 reputation. Reputation is earned, primarily, by answering questions. So your assumption that "moderators" are distinct from the other two categories of users is incorrect. [1]: https://stackoverflow.com/users?tab=moderators https://stackoverflow.com/users?tab=moderators