Muah ha ha! My plan to acquire 4 star status has come to fruition and I am now...a celebrity of epic (though paradoxically vacuous) proportions on the Postgraduateforum.com forum! Since only myself, RubyW and the great Phdbug have 4 stars I have decided to start a thread for us to acknowledge our fame and general all round specialness amongst ourselves. Like Darius Danesh, Gary Barlow or Steve Brookstein, we have now have our own VIP lounge where we can retire from the tiring, unrelenting adulation of aspiring 3 star forumites, wannabe 2 star forumites and...[smirk]...[giggle]...one star nobodies! And no star forumites? God, do people like that really exist outside the world of 4 star celebrity. I may not have a PhD but that's just fine cos I have four stars!
The rules are simple: nobody with less than 4 stars can post on this thread. Should anyone dare, I shall be very cross, have a strop and refuse to sign autographs. The only downside to being a celebrity on Postgraduateforum.com will be all the autobiographies (like Cutting Through Stale Bread with a Blunt Knife: My Story, My PhD, and Confessions of a PhD Student: Not Much) I'll have to instruct my ghost writer to make up at the same time as doing my PhD! Don't despair lesser starred creatures, one day you could have my 4 star lifestyle.:p

======= Date Modified 06 Nov 2009 02:47:05 =======
Walmisnski, if you put your genius to good instead of evil, you might have that PhD!!

...and your threats don't frighten me, I'm perfectly secure in my star status. And remember Walminksi, it can be lonely at the top! ;-)

/ 2 star celebrity staggers into the celebrity 4 star lounge clutching a bottle of lambrini, hoping to get papped in the presence of real celebs and get in the tabs in the morning.

lol, although I'm a one star nobody, this is possibly my favourite thread of all time!! I shall retreat back to my corner now... ;-)

Looks kind of empty in here - can I gatecrash? :)

======= Date Modified 06 Nov 2009 10:10:54 =======
As someone who was a 'very helpful user' by aiding your attempts to reach this higher status, I feel that you should do the honorable thing and provide me with a helpful user rating - you never know, your click might bring me in to 4 star status!

where's the food and drinks.

4 star people need plenty of comfort.

;-)

Seeing as my last star nomination was cruelly ignored (and hence I still languish in the one star fleapit), I shall come skulk at your four star arena like the whipped PhD puppy I am. Perhaps some crumbs will drop from the four star table.

I knew it! I knew the fame would go to your head. Well, you'll always be Wally to me... Don't mind if I nick a few canapes do you? Just subsidising my meagre three star existence.

I don't know, I go away to do four star celebrity stuff (well, work mainly) only to return to the comfort of the VIP thread to find lesser starred subspecies trying to hog the limelight. Do you know who I am? Do you think Katie Price or Peter Andre would stand for this (or next to one another for that matter)? Get out! Mel B is right; celebrity does have it's downsides!
On a separate note I'd just like to thank all the forumites (my fans) who have made my transition to quadro-stardom possible. Of course, I've quickly forgotten you all, like a good celebrity should.
Oh, my mobile's ringing and it's Simon Cowell. I can't sing (not until I get five stars), so he must want help with his sums. Must Dash! Ciao for now!

Hello all,

Can any one please explain the business with stars please, we : the less enlightened ones :$
what is going on, and how come some are four or three etc?

thanks, :p

There's a thread somewhere on here where it's explained more detail. However, essentially, people who start threads can award stars to others for providing useful advice by clicking on the helpful user button that is the right of the PM button. Very much like the socio-economic class divisions, there is a hierarchy to the number of stars people have. I described it above, but basically, the star distinctions are as such:

0 stars = street urchin - bum, probably drinks Hobo's Choice (12% abv)
1 star = a Nodody - probably has been given the star out of charity from a philanthropic 4 star celebrity (me!)
2 star = Pathetic Wannabe - like someone's mum trying to sing Barbara Cartland songs whilst blind drunk in a pub. They try hard but don't have what it takes.
3 star = Aspiring forumites - having more potential than the try-to-hard but talentless 2 starers, with, in very rare cases, the ability to go far. All four star wannabes have to start somewhere and a few, a very tiny few, make it to celebrity status.
4 star = The cutting edge of postgraduateforum.com celebrity. Very few forumites ever make it to the very top, but when they do international fame and fortune awaits. From photographs in esoteric journals (probably only read by 10 people, and providing you pay the hefty publishing fee) to opening up one's new local Spar and dealing with the sycophantic ramblings of other forumites, the life of the four star exception is a busy one.
5 star = God/forum moderator

Hope this description is of some help. Don't forget to click me as a helpful user at the earliest opportunity - there's a JPEG with my signature on that I'll e-mail to you if you do - and yes, your welcome.(up)

ahem!

thanks for the quick reply, that is really dedication.
good luck in your celebrity journey.:-s

This is now getting pathetic (down)