Don't forget about the watchers!
The sequence goes Watcher -> Mod -> Admin, and you have to have done a great job in each previous position before moving up. Existing mods and admins are the ones who choose the new watchers and mods, and existing admins are the only ones who choose new admins.
There are no set criteria for how we choose new staff members, but Kobuk's "three key words" are some of the main things we think about. We look for active members who always have a friendly attitude towards others, who respect their fellow members, and whom we feel we can trust to both follow and uphold all the rules. You also have to post regularly, and you have to have been on the forums for a substantial amount of time... but really, both of those guidelines are because we won't know otherwise whether we can trust you.
Sometimes when I think about it, I think it's crazy that we have such an involved staffing process, lol. But I think we've wound up with some damn good people this way, and I hope the results speak for themselves..