Everybody knows me on the forums, nobody knows me on the server, it's like two totally different worlds.
When you get a prefix people instantly like you. You could be a douche or the nicest person ever, doesn't really matter. It's just how this community is, sorry.
It's really not causation, it's just correlation... You don't get mod BECAUSE you're a donor, you get mod because usually when you're a donor, you talk in chat and help people. You don't get mod BECAUSE you're popular, it's just that usually people get popular by helping others and talking in chat.