Yes, they WERE elected, by the community (i.e. those asking and answering questions) and did a good job. Then those elected were dumped by the new owners and re

Yes, they WERE elected, by the community (i.e. those asking and answering questions) and did a good job. Then those elected were dumped by the new owners and replaced by a bunch of yes-men. The people voting on closing submissions were not mods (in general) but ordinary users with sufficient rep.