To be honest, I don't think the core request (get paid) is unreasonable. Reddit has always relied on this fuzzy definition of what Mods powers and responsibilit

To be honest, I don't think the core request (get paid) is unreasonable. Reddit has always relied on this fuzzy definition of what Mods powers and responsibilities are in order to tread the fine line between "You're employees we should pay, we're responsible - yes even for the child porn you guys are posting" and "You guys are totally independent we're not going to step in - yes even if you guys are posting child porn". It grew on the back of a weird free speech pitch, and quickly pivoted whenever it was convenient. Right now, Reddit is clearly moving in the direction of professionalized moderators, so why not just bite the bullet and do it. 5% of advertiser revenue gets distributed to the moderators of a subreddit. It's a pittance, it gives the mods a financial stake in improving their sub-reddit and showing more ads. It also let's you say "As a moderator you get paid, but we expect X,Y,Z conditions". It also starts to answer some of those questions like "Can the founder of /r/WallStreetBets go off use that name as a trademark or does that belong to reddit?". If as a moderator you're signing an agreement and getting paid, then that question can be made very clear.