[asdfx]

I have a naive question.

All these moderators do spend considerable time and effort on reddit.

And now reddit is going public, do the moderators get paid going forward? why would someone want to volunteer for a profit making company?

[e1ven]

Semi-paid volunteers are legally tricky - https://priceonomics.com/the-aol-chat-room-monitor-revolt/

People volunteer to moderate communities because they care about the value of that community. Not dissimilar from running a small forum.

[HNLurker2]

Because it hosts the community itself.

Perhaps a reddit alternative would be just a reddit hoster that hosts the platform for X$ and moderators find a way to get paid.