I'm just curious what the badge to the left really means.

There used to be. I think it went away when the karma system was introduced. It was somewhere in the FAQ. Could still be around somewhere though. IF I remember correctly, The badge you have is the highest you can get before becoming a senior member. That's why you no longer have a Karma bar. Back before karma it would take many years of continuous membership before getting where you are. It was based around tenure/ quality posts.

To go back even further it was done by number of posts and how high a quality they were. I forget what the ranks were back then. They aren't in the FAQ or the rules when I last checked.

What is a senior user? A mod or such? Or is it literally someone that has been around for such and such time?

This means that you have been awarded positive Karma for your posts and now with the adjustment have X4 or 4 times the amount you had before since it has been adjusted. This has just taken place so a few will notice new ranks where it took forever to gain higher ranks now it is possible within this lifetime.

To answer your first question there is a database which is available to moderators right now with the new amounts needed for each rank.

Read "Karma Ranking changes" in News section!

I did read that. I really was just interested in what all the ranks that I see on this site ment. Is there any way a normal user could see the database? I can't see any harm coming from it and really just want to see it for kicks and giggles.

I`ll see what I can do check your PM in the near future.

I was at 12 or 13 when we still used the the number/quality/tenure system and all promos were manual. I only gainedv1-2 ranks in the Karma system. I would have made 16.
Senior members were(are?) members of the board who may have been a former mod, or knew their way around well. the have some made up ranks, or are ones I REALLY don't recognize. . Mods take officers and Enlisted through NCO's ranks are occupied by the general population. AB All the way to CCM.. why is there no CMSAF?

If you right click the picture of your rank and click view image, you can see what they all look like by changing the number at the end of the URL. The moderator ranks start with o1 and go up.

Back in the day when I think it was on a monthly basis is the mods upped your rank, if you earned it that is. The first set was to get your full access to the site, and the rest were really just marks of honor honestly. That is, if my memory has served me correctly.