So there is much confusion about the forum rank, points, flags, and how everything works together. I didn't see any other guide laying around so here is a bit of info to help you out. I will keep updating as i get better and more accurate info - for the time being this is just a quick generalization to quell your questions. If you have additions or corrections, PM them to me so the thread doesn't get filled up on irrelevant posts (as they will be irrelevant once whatever is wrong is corrected, THANKS!) EDIT - Yes i know rankings are tied to a point count AS WELL AS a post count, but i have not the figures at the moment and i am working on getting them :-)
RANKS
From the lowest rank to highest -
BANNED - Banned from the forum, simple enough. Is not retroactive and from what i understand of it the user has to have been an offender first to receive this icon after the ban is enacted.
OFFENDER - The only negative point rank. If you have -1 point, you are an Offender. The only way to get this rank is to have a negative number of points. Meaning it is mostly reserved for fake accounts, spammers, trolls and so on.
NEW AGENT - First forum rank. Brand new accounts are marked as New Agent.
MIGHTY - Second forum rank. At least 9 posts and 16 points. This is the rank you must reach before you can have have a signature.
INCREDIBLE - Third rank. At least 101 posts and 100 points.
AMAZING - Forth forum rank. At least 200 posts and 200 points.
FANTASTIC - Fifth rank. At least 972 comments and 851 points.
UNCANNY - The sixth rank. The rank of Uncanny is reached when a forumite hits 2885 posts and at least 2,936 points points.
COSMIC - The seventh forum rank. Cosmic is achieved at 5000 forum POINTS, post count is unknown at this time.
Administrator - Not the eighth and final rank, sadly. This icon and rank are given to Vanilla employees who monitor and help with the MH forum tech.
Gazillion Employee - Not technically a forum rank but a designation given to each staff member posting under the Gazillion banner. Only @MichaelMayhem @PsiLocke and @amthua has achieved this rare and distinct title!
REACTIONS AND POINTS
Promote - These points are only allowed to be given out by Gazillion staff members. They are only given on posts who contribute something extra special to the game, the forum, and dare i say world. Guides, compendiums, charity event posts, and things of similar stature and nature all warrant the Promote point. It is unclear if Promote gives any forum points at this moment, however based on observation, speculation, and good old common sense Promote gives 0 points.
Insightful - These points are usually awarded when someone says something that is well... insightful. If it is straight up info that you didn't know the post should be awarded the an Insightful. Insightful gives you 1 forum point and tends to be the rarest of the more common positive points.
"Stan Lee is old" is an example of something one could give an Insightful point to.
- Agree - Fairly self explanatory. If you agree with someones post go ahead and give them an Agree. Agree is worth 1 forum point.
"Stan Lee is old and I think he does great work" is an example of a post one could award an Agree point to.
- Awesome - Something another forumite has posted and it made your socks roll up and down? Give them an Awesome point. Generally used for something you both agree with and think is just the cats meow! Awesome is worth 1 forum point.
"Stan Lee is old and I think he does great work. Also i just met him and he drew the X-Men logo on my chest!!!" is something one could give an Awesome point to.
- LOL - It's 2013, you know what LOL means. Something you find droll, clever, or rolling on the floor in fits of laughter funny, then this is the reaction for you!
"Stan Lee is old and I think he does great work. Also i just met him and he drew the X-Men logo on my chest!!! I then peed myself, perhaps more than a little bit, out of sheer joy!!!" could be something worthy of an LOL point.
- Disagree - First off this is NOT a negative point. We can't all get along, Luke Cage and Punisher would be examples of people who Disagree with each other. A reaction used when the other ones just won't fit. Someone who works against the grain will often get a lot of disagrees, and again i must emphasize that Disagree is not something bad and will not effect your point score in any manner. Disagree is a 0 point reaction.
"Stan Lee sucks!" is an example of something you will most likely get you a disagree reaction.
- Flag - Meant for reporting of actual forum offenses. It should not be used for ANYTHING else. If someone threatens you in a post, if they go out of their way to swear and curse, if they go around the chat filter, insult your parentage, or if they are harassing you, etc... Those are examples of something that should get Reported . Strongly disagreeing with someone does not allow you to flag them with a Report reaction. You not liking them is NOT a reason to flag someone with Report. Abuse this flag at your own risk, as i promise you that you will be hit with a big doss of Gazillion Karma if you use it incorrectly over and over. IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF WHETHER OR NOT FLAG A POST WITH REPORT, DO NOT FLAG IT AND LEAVE IT ALONE.
"F Gazillion. I hate this game and i hate you. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. Tzeentch can go die in the fires of hell and bring the entire forum and world with him. DIE DIE DIE". That would be something one would report...
- Spam - Spam is used for flagging spam posts. People who are selling things, bumping posts just for the sake of it, gibbering out nonsensical words, posting the same thing over and over again, completely random posts that relate to nothing at all being discussed, and variations thereof. Spam would be the reaction/flag you would use to mark those posts. It is not something you should mark on someone who disagrees with you, posts something off-topic, has posted in the wrong area, or made a thread you do not think belongs. YOU are not a moderator, you are a GUEST of this forum - paying customer or not. Just because you think something off-topic is spam does not make it spam, there needs to be actual evidence of the things listed above to even consider a post as Spam. IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF WHETHER OR NOT FLAG A POST WITH SPAM, DO NOT FLAG IT AND LEAVE IT ALONE.
"I like cheese shaped like Stan Lee. Cheese cheese cheese, go to www.ifreakinglovecheesepleasecomehereandgetavirus.com to buy cheese and support my love of whales and large blocks of wood. Cheese speaks to me in the voice of Stan Lee and thus is Spider-Man... it makes a sound like cheeseeasdeesseioheroiwnerlkejnrljwerkasdl when i hold it to my ear". That would be something to report as Spam.
LEADER BOARD
https://forums.marvelheroes.com/activity
That is the Leader Board for the community. It shows the weekly Top 10 posters in the top left box. Mostly it is @Doomsaw and @Asros that top the list for weekly points.
Under that is the list of the Forum Top Ten. It is a list of the 10 top reacted posters on the forum, and as of this posting I am number 8 with 3,258 points.
For the most part the Leader Board is just for a wee bit of useless braggadocio, but also helps to notify new players of who could be the most helpful when it comes to asking questions. I can't speak for anyone else in the Top 10 but i see myself as a Sherpa here on the forum, answering questions and guiding the New Agents up the mountain that is the Marvel Heroes forum.
WARNINGS AND JAILED/BANNED/Language! BRANDS
Sadly, from time to time, there are fickle foes who fecklessly fiddle with forum form. The consequences of which are being Jailed, Banned, or labeled a Language!. These brands are placed on accounts by Gazillion staff.
Warnings - In a user profile the box under the avatar will show many things, the last of which is WARNINGS. Warnings are... well Warnings given out by Gazillion staff. Warning points are meant to show how dire the infraction is. As an example https://forums.marvelheroes.com/profile/warnings/658/CaptainWacky That particular forum user has 2 warnings which you can see in the link. Warnings can also be given a Jail value as well as a point value.
Jailed - A forumite placed in Jail has limited posting capability and their avatar gets bars put over it. They can no longer start discussions, can not post as often, and have their signature hidden. Jailed users are let out after the period set by the employee who put them there. When you click their profile it will show the above 2 and info on their page.
Banned - Banned users are just that, banned. Their avatar is changed to the picture above and they no longer have any access to the forums, period. They are done with. They have upset the natural order of things and got the higher ups grumpy far too many times to recover. Time to make a new forum account after this happens.
Language! - Sometimes there are users who just Language! people on the forum or are generally just disagreeable for the sake of such. They tend to get the Language! brand on their account. Their avatar may or not be changed, but when it is it is to the above Banned picture and when you click their profile you will see the above Language! picture at the top of their page. They can still post and do all the normal things everyone else does. The difference being that their posts are all hidden/invisible. Nothing they post in the forum can be read by anyone until the Brand is lifted.