Should Forum Moderators Be Paid?

I had worked on understanding another training requirements for several hours and finally submitted it with still gray areas. Before resting for the day, I visited some forums and I saw an ad where one website administrator is looking for moderators and that he is going to pay.

I had moderated some forums before, some forum administrators paid me for the service while some opted to just say thank you. So, what should it be? Should forum moderators be paid or not?

Basically, forum moderators help the forum become more organized. Forums are not spared from SPAM and even members have to be reminded from time to time the DO's and DONTs of a forum. Without the moderators, a forum administrator will have a hardtime in dealing with all the businesses of the forum, maintaining it 24/7. Unless, of course, forum administration is his full-time job.

Popularity is a reward for being a moderator but can it be a reason not to get paid for the service? There was once a forum member who questioned one administrator why he has not been paying or sharing his income with his moderators. Then I also asked myself, "Right, why does a forum administrator hesitate in paying back the efforts of the moderators?"

As a frequent forum user, are you willing to render free service for the sake of information reaching out the masses?