If they asked random sub users who wants to be a mod - they'll get more free moderators within a heartbeat.
At some point, Reddit will just force all subs to be open again, and any mods that try to delete the sub or do no moderation will just get banned or whatever.
It's pretty hard to fight against the corp using the corp's own platform.
Sure, they’d get plenty or people who would want to get moderator rights. How many of those would actually put in the hours ? And how would you know before you hand over the sub?
Not only that, it would create a revolt among the moderators who were still left so you’d have to do this for all subs at once. Tens of thousands of people.
They absolutely will, but I wouldn't expect those mods to actually be good mods. I've been in multiple subreddits where a new mod would be assigned because the current ones stopped being active and they'd wreck the subreddit. All posts require approval, sub topic changed, any criticism of the changes met with a permanent ban, etc.
For a company wanting to go public, having users banned from some of the most popular subs, the same subs that rely on said users to publish content, Reddit may as well have shot itself in the foot.
When the corp has relied on the good graces of users and mods to effectively run the site, both by providing the content AND moderating the content, any change to that status quo is going to be met with open hostility from the top 1% contributors.
Finding a warm body isn't hard, but finding a competent moderator is.
The current moderators spend an insane amount of time on their communities, and they are very proud of the environment they have built up over the time. They are barely able to keep up with all the automation tools they currently have available.
The new moderators would not have this dedication, would not have the tools, and would have to immediately deal with an absolute deluge of some of the worst content imaginable just because the community will view them as scabs.
When all the dedicated people leave, only garbage remains. Who would want to be in charge of a pile of garbage?
At some point, Reddit will just force all subs to be open again, and any mods that try to delete the sub or do no moderation will just get banned or whatever.
It's pretty hard to fight against the corp using the corp's own platform.