how do mod get selected? do they get paid?

[Halab]

I was not aware that moderators do not have also the privileges of patrollers. So Do I understand well? Mods can not moderate reports made for Newbies one by one unless they have patroller privileges? If this is so, then mods can moderate one by one only reports made for ranks >= Jr. Member?

Mods operate on the sections for which they are responsible, regardless of the ranks of the members posting in these sections.
Patrollers can operate on all newbies, regardless of the sections they post in.

Long story short :
Mods = sections
Patrollers = Newbies

[The Sceptical Chymist]

These questions are not necessary.

Not necessary of course, but I think it's only natural to wonder about how mods are selected and how much they're paid--the latter question isn't anybody's business except the mods' and Theymos's though.

I was just thinking about this very thing in EFS's 10-year celebratory thread:

It's always been somewhat of a mystery to me how one becomes a staff member.  I know reporting is a factor, but I'm not sure what else Theymos looks for.  Eh, just thinking aloud. 

And on that subject, does anyone know who the last moderator to be added was?  The last one I recall was Flying Hellfish, but he kind of just vanished and after that I don't remember any others being anointed so publicly as he was.

[_BlackStar]

And on that subject, does anyone know who the last moderator to be added was?  The last one I recall was Flying Hellfish, but he kind of just vanished and after that I don't remember any others being anointed so publicly as he was.

I'm not sure who was last given the task - but based on this watchlist, I think mole0815 was the last.

List of the forum's admins/ global moderators/ staffs

A new moderator for German board is detected. It seems this moderator has given that role very recently. Merit statistics are taken from last Friday data dump from theymos, on 2020w2, 17jan2020 02:33:31 (GMT time)

Position	Username	Date of register	Earned merits	Sent merits
_____________________	_________________________	__________________	________________	____________
Staff	mole0815	12/12/2017	892	852
_____________________	_________________________	__________________	________________	____________

OP I really don't want to know how much moderators get paid for their forum responsibilities in this forum - but I think they do get pay for it. About how someone is chosen to be a mod has been described by Theymos here:

There will only be one moderator.

Report history is the most important consideration for a moderator candidate. Over the forum's many years, relatively "newbie" members with good report histories have consistently done much better as mods than veteran, well-respected members with poor report histories. That said, not all reports are equal, so a simple report count doesn't tell the whole story. Also, in addition to report histories, it's necessary to consider factors such as the ability of the candidate to be neutral, their trustworthiness, etc. It's also nice to choose a moderator who people generally already trust/respect, but sometimes this is outweighed by other factors.

If a poll is created, I will not completely ignore the results, but I will also not use it as a primary influence. I'm more interested in arguments people have for or against certain candidates.