Explained well above honestly.
This might not be the case when it comes to the post, but this whole thing makes it seem like "modding" regarding Feralheart is a "treat" for those who are given which is not really the case. Moderating forum or game is a responsibility and not really something there to be fun, not for the mod nor the user, it's more there to keep things together and ensure things do not get chaotic even though no one should be limited from trying to enjoy themselves doing their job. No one would be able to even enjoy themselves if there's no line restricting-
In my eyes community picked mods would never, ever, work well for a game like this, and putting up votes and then denying top voted members because some of the staff do not agree wouldn't exactly help or look that good. Even though modding users isn't really harder than anyone makes it, it wouldn't exactly help the staff team, community or game if users was assigned mod powers that the community picked because as mentioned above, the "view" of suiting mod most likely differ greatly when it comes to user and admins/mods.
Been around for a while now, and even though I can admit mixing things up slightly at times might be for the better I would never want to allow users decide the mods or when a mod should be promoted. If you'd want to break a hole in the staff team and watch as it slowly crack and might bring the whole community down, this sure would be a good way though.
The thought itself is a nice one however, the more the community is able to control their presence eventually the more happier it could get. But this would be taking it too far by quite a few steps and I wouldn't really want to allow it to happen.