The mods are fine, I’m not dissatisfied, and I highly doubt the people who would win the popularity contest the OP proposes would make good moderators.
Shit on by bears, probably.
I like the mods. All of them.
In fact, Congress could totally use moderators.
“You’re not even pretending to discuss the bill on the floor, are you?”
“Well, no, I’m filibustering.”
“No, you’re House-shitting. Don’t make me put on my jackboots”
Is there some benefit to being a mod here? Is it attached to a six figure salary with an incredible benefit package or something? Or do they just waive the annual $15 fee? I ask because if there is not some major monetary benefit, I can’t figure out why anyone would want the headache. Seems to me like it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind of role.
Well, I have heard rumors of a free coffee mug.
Which is why I look on them as beyond the likes of us mere mortals… even when they are wrong! In all seriousness, I wouldn’t and couldn’t do it for love or money. So hat’s off for at least trying. Still, it does no harm to keep them on their toes! 
My understanding is that those are just that - rumors. Sometimes, the coffee mug never appears.
We do get a coffee mug, and a Chicago Reader calendar every year if we want it, and we don’t pay for membership. That’s it.
The benefit is, frankly, mostly emotional. I said on my application that I wanted to be a mod because I had received so much enjoyment from the SDMB that I desired to pay something back, with my time and attention to try to help keep the board a place where people like me receive enjoyment. I still feel that way.
I still enjoy the board, too, as a poster. Not all my posts are as a mod; I still participate; I haven’t lost anything.
More than you asked for, no doubt.
I thought we were an autonomous collective…
I’m curious. Do you go into a Starbucks or a Walmart and demand to elect their managers? After all, you’re their paying customer base!
Have I conveyed how stupid I think this idea is, yet? No? Then I’ll continue.
Elections? On the internet? Have you suffered a blow to the head? You actually think moderation will be improved if we throw internet polls at the problem? Any election on the internet is going to be nothing more than a popularity contest, and it’s not the moderators’ job to be popular.
Good grief…people who want to be moderators, with platforms, actively seeking to win the job. That’s the last thing we need.
I’m not sure I’d want to be a part of any organization that allowed me to elect the boss by popular vote.
Oh, and QTM, I too have a pretty cat but you aren’t getting anywhere near it.
You got a calendar too?!? Man, I still don’t have the coffee mug. I’ve been drinking out of the skulls of spammers.
And current moderators get 20,000 votes each.
Oh, wait…
It took a while.
Longer than you thought?
They promised they wouldn’t shoot my dog.
Actually, I don’t have a dog. The fools!
Naw, too complicated; let’s just vote for the ones with the prettiest cats.
Oh, man, if we had a forum just for that kind of stuff and it was off limits in the Pit, I would be so friggin’ happy. Suddenly, I would cease to be aware of any of it, just like all the inanity (my opinion, of course) that is nicely corralled into Cafe Society, The Game Room, MPSIMS, IMHO, and Great Debates.
I have a dream, and in that dream, a Pit moderator is telling danceswithcats, “there is a forum for complaints of this type. Take it to CLAM*. This is an official warning.”
(*Complain Loudly About Management, the new forum – name negotiable)
Missionary is a classic, but Reverse Cowgirl is the new pink.
Mugs and affairs? Awesome.
Augghh! Butterfly ballot! Butterfly ballot!
There is a butterfly position too.
It would have been nice to see a how-to site that started out with the basics, except that I got extremely bewildered by the ****ing out of ****oris, but not vagina, penis, or scrotum.
Umm… this hijack may safely be ignored.