I’m not applying, I’m just curious.
I’m assuming that a necessary but not sufficient qualification is that you haven’t already pissed off the existing moderators and administrators. 
Damn, that’s a damn good question, Dad.
You don’t mind if I call you dad, do you?
You can call me son, if that would help.
Anyway, I hope that we can find out. I’m pretty sure I’ll never be a moderator or administrator or whatever, since I don’t want to be one, but knowing the story would be kinda cool.
“Winners never quit and quitters never win, but those who never win and never quit are idiots.”
You can call me anything, just don’t call me Angel in the morning. 
Wait, I see something in the future. Yes, its becoming clearer. I’ve got it! This thread will be transfered to ATMB.
It’s not how you pick your nose, it’s where you put the boogers
And probably I should start a new thread in GD to cover the other point?
The ETHICS of abbreviating SingleDad’s name?
There was a search for a new Moderator last year. I imagine that they look for people who are long-time posters, so they aren’t likely to just split, and are fair, so they aren’t likely to just delete whatever they disagree with, and have a sense of humor so they can deal with all the shit that we nice posters give them. Being a moderator doesn’t really sound all that fun to me.
But thank you, those who put your lives on the line for the rest of us…
~Kyla
“What Would Captain Planet Do?”
Most of the original moderators were long time regulars on the old AOL Straight Dope forum and helped set this one up. Last year, there was a recruitment drive for additional moderators which invited anyone who was interested to submit a resume.
Generally, youre asked if you want to be a moderator.
You know, its a volunteer job & you often get a load of crap for nothing, just cause people want to bitch about you caause they want to bitch.
Hey, if Lexicon gets to be called “son,” I want to be called “princess.”
DON PEDRO: Your silence most offends me, and to be merry best becomes you; for, out of question, you were born in a merry hour.
BEATRICE: No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born. -Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Sc: i
Sorry, Swimming, Princess is already taken by me (I refer you to my sig). How does Empress sound to you?
Princess of the Time and Space Continuum since 1969 (upgraded to Goddess 01/07/00)
Senior S.S.D.A., SDMB Self-Righteous Clique =^…^=
If she gets to be Empress, I wanna be Heirophant.
For some reason when I saw this topic, I got pictures in my head from those videotapes of secret army hazing rituals on the nightly news.
Cecil and the moderators kick you in the stomach a few times and a new moderator is born… Any takers?
She can be Empress, but I’m still President of Freedonia! 
Send me lots of money and/or chocolate, and I’ll make you a moderator. Any administrator can do it. TubaDiva has a weakness for mudslides and single malt scotches. I don’t know what Ed’s weaknesses are. I guess CKDexthavn’s weakness is very bad jokes and puns.
Seriously, I became a moderator by contributing. On the old AOL SD board, I notified Jane (Cecil’s assistant) and TubaDiva if there were problem posts (mostly advertising). I wrote up instructions on how to copy and paste and posted them regularly. I found several thumbnail book reviews of the Straight Dope volumes in my local paper, which I clipped out and mailed to Ed or Tuba. I did a little research here and there. When the MB was acting crazy, I wrote to Jane and/or Tuba, and stated what the problem was, and how unhappy I was about it. There was usually a glitch every single frigging Sunday that completely reset the message board for me. In these complaints, though, I did not blame Jane or Tuba personally, and I made sure that they knew this.
I never had to have a post removed, except when I’d copied someone else’s post that needed to be removed. I abided by AOL’s TOS, so that I wasn’t a pain for the moderators. I rarely went to chat (bad) but when I did, I was mostly pleasant rather than disruptive (good).
I also treated Jane and Tuba as human beings. I did not regard them as immortals, nor did I consider them the enemy.
Lynn
If it’s helpful, I’ll compare everyone to Hitler so we can get this
over with as soon as possible.