it's crazy to me that reddit doesn't have staff doing the moderation job for the bigger subreddits. most of the content on the front page is from 5-10 subreddits which are all moderated by the same super-moderators, who effectively set the policy for what content is allowed and not allowed. and they do it with complete autonomy and independence.
either that, or the few anonymous people who run reddit actually are reddit staff, and reddit prefers to keep the appearance of subreddits being "community-run" because unpopular mod actions can be swept away by retiring a moderator's profile.
They don’t have to pay anybody… there’s no shortage of people who are more than happy to wield the power of being a mod and share the political and corporate values of the Reddit staff.
Not to mention Reddit doesn’t have as many legal responsibilities over them if they don’t pay them I guess.
either that, or the few anonymous people who run reddit actually are reddit staff, and reddit prefers to keep the appearance of subreddits being "community-run" because unpopular mod actions can be swept away by retiring a moderator's profile.