Perhaps once people reach so many posts, and all of their posts are of a certain quality they gain some sort of moderation power, like more control over their own threads with the ability to delete posts. It could still be abused though, but if it were manually handed out by the Tarns or a few appointed moderators it could be limited to those trusted to not show prejudice.
If this were automatic, it would be immensely bad. Not only does an auto-op system make for relatively easy power grabs, not all top-posters are good mods. It will result in piles of bad moderation, and that's one thing we don't want.
Manually, this is simply electing moderators under a different name.
Personally I'd dislike it if post count were a criterion in moderator picking, because even though those people tend to be more active it's not a reliable metric to use, and it'll simply encourage e-peen waving and usage of it as a status symbol, amongst other issues.
Perhaps once people reach so many posts, and all of their posts are of a certain quality they gain some sort of moderation power, like more control over their own threads with the ability to delete posts. It could still be abused though, but if it were manually handed out by the Tarns or a few appointed moderators it could be limited to those trusted to not show prejudice.
Moderators should not be chosen by what amounts to a popular vote.
This is a better way to do it, though not the best. Moderators should be picked for their ability to
moderate, not their popularity or post count. They should be level-headed, intelligent, thoughtful, impartial, empathetic and active. That's pretty much all that matters.
I would agree that only the Tarns should be allowed to delete things, even with mods. It keeps everyone accountable, and if there's really a need to by a mod, they can let one of the higher-ups know.
I agree with this also. Another method would be to set up a Mod Reports board for them to post in with a, well, report of what they did. A combination of both would be neat.