I guess this deserves a more serious answer for those who are curious.
Usually what happens is once a year we start a new staff thread where we consider which members deserve to get the chance at a promotion (usually just for mods, not for mag staff). In that thread staff put names forward and we discuss if they are suitable. If we all reach an agreement on someone then that person is contacted, usually by Costello and is asked if they want to come on board. Members have turned us down before which might be a surprise to some, even in the last round we were turned down which was one of the reasons why just two new blues came on board. Contrary to what someone said before prowler has never once been considered for a mod position by the way.
When I am deciding if someone is suitable or not there are several things I often consider. The first is their quality of reports, bear in mind I said quality not quantity. Reports are my best indication of someone's mod instincts and even during this round of promotions I was absolutely against one member being made mod almost entirely based on the quality of his reports. They were far too hit and miss and that would have translated to bad moderating decisions if he had power.
Secondly I consider someone's general attitude on the forum. You don't need to be an angel or anything like that throughout your temp life to become a mod later. There used to be a rule that if you ever had a warn you would be out of consideration completely. I guess when I became a mod that rule was thrown out of the window, the way I see it if you were ever on the receiving end of warns you might be in a better position to decide when to issue them. But at the same time if you are getting into arguments constantly, disrespecting people (especially staff) and so on you wont be considered.
Thirdly and probably most importantly I consider how loyal someone is to the site itself and how trustworthy they are. Being a mod is not just about issuing warns and trashing posts, we are often privy to sensitive information, be it about the site or members themselves. So we can't make someone a mod if they are likely to use such information against us or disclose it to other people. As you may have noticed we are extremely guarded about what gets said in the staff sections and never really talk about what we may currently be discussing or discussions that have taken place in the past.
Other things that are important are posting quality (again not quantity), intelligence, maturity, helpfulness and so on. Sometimes technical knowledge on things can be a big bonus, several members have been promoted based on that amongst other things before (to look after the wii section for example). Having a sense of humour also helps, if you look at a lot of the staff that have been promoted in the past, especially during my round of promotions many were EOF regulars.
It has been said before that if you show an interest to become a mod you are immediately ruled out for that role. That isn't necessarily true as some people do approach us with a genuine desire to help so it would be unfair to rule them out just for that. However a thirst for power is a bad sign and if you are constantly sniffing around for a staff position it is highly unlikely you will get one. People have done that in the past and even do so now and I absolutely hate it and if you do it you will more than likely get an absolute no vote from me for your efforts.
Anyway I will leave you with a word of warning if you ever do happen to be approached, consider the offer carefully and do not take it lightly. Being a mod will completely change your outlook of the site, is often hard work, at times can be extremely frustrating and it will change your relationship with other members. Going through your day by day mod life you are constantly exposed to the most negative aspects of the forum. It is easy to get jaded from it, I know I am to some extent (some days worse than others). You will have to warn/suspend maybe even be responsible for banning people you like. You are under constant scrutiny not just for your modding actions but also the posts you make. You will be subject to anger from people who you may have modded, you might even get entire threads which are dedicated against you. It's a tough job being a mod, often thankless and for little reward. And I can pretty much safely bet that there isn't one member of staff who hasn't questioned if being a mod is even worth the aggravation and effort. The irony of being promoted is that you were picked as the best person to do the very worst job you could have possibly been given.
