I always felt good when I ranked up. It was a recognition of real contributions I had made to the forum. In the case of the Welcome, or Hello posts: How many of you stayed here because you were personally welcomed? I know I did, and in that regard I tried to reciprocate by welcoming others here, and growing the user-base, which contributes to the value of the forum, both by encouraging new voices, but also increases the possibility of the advertisers making money, which increases the possibility of the ownership of the site making money. So all of the complaints about welcome posts and them being a bad way to gain a rank do not make sense to me. I really try to contribute here, but there are sooooooo many people who know so much more than me I find it hard to, except in some small ways.