icons, reputation, and points

[LostSoul]

What do all the different icons under a user name mean? What is reputation? How do I get more? What about "points"? What are they all about? How do I give and receive them? Sorry for so many questions at once. LOL

[Aisling]

What do all the different icons under a user name mean? What is reputation? How do I get more? What about "points"? What are they all about? How do I give and receive them? Sorry for so many questions at once. LOL

 
Doing this off the top of my head, so I may miss a couple of items:

• Membership Level and Stars - IIRC, these are designations based on your experience points, which are earned for forum activity.  If you go to the Community Tab and click Experience, there a lot of information there regarding points, including some of the ways they can be earned (see the Earn Points tab).
• Designations for Hosts, Staff, SIG Leaders, and Donors - These badges let you know if someone is a Forum Host, Staff Member, Special Interest Group Leader, or Donor to the site.
• Achievements - Icons to indicate that you've accomplished certain things on the site.  If you hover over the icon, it will tell you what it represents.
• Trophies - These are for high scores for games in the Arcade.
• Reputation Bars - These are based on the reputation points. Forum users can give reputation to posts that they find particularly helpful or informative by clicking on the star at the bottom left of the post.  You also have the option to leave negative reputation if you find a post particularly problematic.

[LostSoul]

Doing this off the top of my head, so I may miss a couple of items:

• Membership Level and Stars - IIRC, these are designations based on your experience points, which are earned for forum activity.  If you go to the Community Tab and click Experience, there a lot of information there regarding points, including some of the ways they can be earned (see the Earn Points tab).
• Designations for Hosts, Staff, SIG Leaders, and Donors - These badges let you know if someone is a Forum Host, Staff Member, Special Interest Group Leader, or Donor to the site.
• Achievements - Icons to indicate that you've accomplished certain things on the site.  If you hover over the icon, it will tell you what it represents.
• Trophies - These are for high scores for games in the Arcade.
• Reputation Bars - These are based on the reputation points. Forum users can give reputation to posts that they find particularly helpful or informative by clicking on the star at the bottom left of the post.  You also have the option to leave negative reputation if you find a post particularly problematic.

thank you very much!