I think moderator elections are a bad idea. First, participation will never be very high. Second, there is no way to make the elections reliable. Public mode

I think moderator elections are a bad idea. First, participation will never be very high. Second, there is no way to make the elections reliable. Public moderation logs have been tried in the past, and nobody bothers to read them. They're an important move towards transparency, but they are powerless without user engagement. Paying moderators might sound fair, but it would lead to all sorts of perverse incentives. How would the revenue be split? What is to stop top moderators from removing others in order to keep more money for themselves?