http://stackoverflow.com/election?cb=1

we believe the core moderators should come from the community, and be elected by the community itself through popular vote. We hold regular elections to determine who these community moderators will be.

Community moderators are accorded the highest level of privilege on our community, and should themselves be exemplars of positive behavior and leaders within the community.

Our general criteria for moderators are as follows:

patient and fair

leads by example

shows respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words , open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track and resolve (hopefully) uncommon disputes and exceptions For the election, an eligible candidate for the election must have all of the following badges:

Civic Duty Strunk & White Deputy Convention

...and cannot have been suspended during the past year.

Due to the size of Stack Overflow (averaging nearly 2,000 flags per day!), moderation can be a significant responsibility - if you can't dedicate at least 30 minutes each day to help shoulder the load, please defer to those who can.

Every election has three phases:

Nomination Primary Election Please participate in the moderator elections by voting, and perhaps even by nominating yourself to be a community moderator!