I got a house in the hamptons for helping out, but otherwise, yeah, this is an unpaid gig.
Most of us started off just being forum members who had a particularly good way of either controlling information, dealing with specific issues, or had a particularly keen sense of what was fact vs. fiction.
As for how often we all meet in person, other than via iChat/Skype, I've personally only met one of the moderators face to face, simply because we live close enough together and happened to be in the same place at the same time that it worked out. Otherwise, I only know the rest of the gang from online. For the most part, we could all be sitting next to each other in a room, and probably would have no idea who was who. I guess nametags would help...
As for how often we all meet in person, other than via iChat/Skype, I've personally only met one of the moderators face to face, simply because we live close enough together and happened to be in the same place at the same time that it worked out. Otherwise, I only know the rest of the gang from online. For the most part, we could all be sitting next to each other in a room, and probably would have no idea who was who. I guess nametags would help...