Yeah I've been running the membership forum for awhile. Is it required to be in Sythe Chat interacting with other staff or do they just select without any prior contact?
No, the Sythe Chat (you would say IRC in the past) is not essential. However it does show you're active and if staff use it a lot then you can get to know them pretty well (and vice versa).
It really depends on the Global / admin that does it. Some prefer to just do the promotion and assume that person will be happy to be a mod. Some prefer to contact them beforehand (this was more common years ago, but it does still happen on occasion). I was never directly 'asked' myself, however Ryan (n4n0) added me on my private MSN at the time and just got to know me, few days later I was made RS mod.
Some personal advice from me though - Really don't bother with it, it is nothing but a time waster. I know it sounds awesome being able to see the staff lounge, being able to become a Global mod and possibly even admin have having control over the fourms. Being able to do reports. Having loads of people messaging you and talking to you and all that. But honestly there is nothing at the end of the tunnel, no matter how long you stay on for or how much work you do, there is nothing to show for it in real life. For me, personally, it was just a getaway from College at the time (I was having a shit time at College when I got promo'd). Long story short, it wound me up wasting A LOT of time on here, even after I got demoted and tried to get it back for the rest of 2012 (I'm probably #1 on hours spent on Sythe for 2012 if such a counter existed).
Other people would come in and call me butthurt or say I'm still mad at the staff for never promoting me back on + banning me for bullshit last year, but if the past 2 years have taught me anything, its that it's all just a time waster.
That's just what I think.