RANKS
You may have noticed that between your username and avatar/"buddy icon" there's a little logo and a name, like this:
Captain CoconutNot Scared Off Yet
Posts: 6
Reputation: 0
Join date: 2011-09-17
Well: the ranks depend on how many posts you have. One post will give you "New Guy", 5 posts gets you "Not Scared Off Yet", 10 posts gets you "Settling In", 25 posts gets you "Doing Well Enough, and so on, so forth. The number of posts you need for an uprank become more and more as you go on. The highest rank requires more than 4000 and 6500 posts.
They don't
mean anything, though; they just keep track of how long you've been around and how active you are.
Except: the post count ranks are fairly recognizable, in that pretty much all of them are built around a small + sign with the center punched out, and get more complex as the number increases.
The other types are fewer, but do actually mean something:
Adminstrator
and a yellow username denote the status of admin. In other words, they run things, and they have full power to do anything they please. Including, but not limited to, editing your profile, your posts, your username, your rank, and, if they feel a need, banning you from the forum entirely for a period that could be anywhere between 5 minutes and 50 years.
They can also ban your email and/or IP addresses, so you're not as safe as you are on mocpages; if it's that bad, you won't even be able to start a new account. On mocpages, if you misbehave too much, you get kicked from the group, but you've got the rest of the site to play with. Here, the barrier is a bit higher, because there's so many steps between "finger waggling" and "
NOT WANTED, GTFO!" but the potential punishments are much worse. More humiliating, too.
Prime Moderator
and a silver coloured username indicate a Prime Moderator, somewhere between Admins and Moderators. They don't have that much more authority than mods; they've got slightly more access to a couple of subforums that don't really apply to day-to-day affairs, and that's about it. Basically: Moderators with a certain degree of administrative responsibilities. Maintaining FAQ and help pages, for instance.
Moderator
and a green username denotes a Moderator, who does moderator things.
They can move, delete, lock, split, and merge threads.
They can also, if I recall right, delete posts, edit posts, and possibly some other things. I can't be totally sure at the moment, because I can't find the little tab that lists all the wonderful things moderators can do.
Subforum Moderator
and a brownish username indicate a Subforum Moderator, somewhere between normal users and Moderators in capabilities.
They can do all the things a moderator can- but only in a limited number of subforums.
Mainly their job is to keep things sorted out in the moc posting subforums.
Friend Of The Regime
and a red username indicate a Friend Of The Regime, a user who has done something special/useful and been officially recognized for it. They don't have any sort of power, responsibility, or authority; it's just an honorary title.
Spammer
indicates someone who misbehaved, repeatedly and egregiously, and is being punished for it.
Just being a bit naughty won't net you one of these; it takes a degree of real dedication to be saddled with one.
Once the staff feel you've learned your lesson, it'll get removed.