Author categories - what are they? what do they mean?

First of all let me say that I a newcomer to your "saloon".

I find it realy nice.

When I get to topics discussed, under the column "Author", and below the author name, I see "Ranch hand", "green horn",
"sheriff", "bartender"... what are they, what do they mean?

"greenhorn" is somebody who has posted fewer than 30 messages.
"ranch hand" is somebody that has posted more than 30 messages.
"bartender" is somebody that currently moderates one of the forums.
"sheriff" is one of four people that have the ability to moderate all of the forums and some other stuff with the messaging software.

hi Paul,
when does one become a bartender. Are there any criteria. I am really interested in taking up some work.
Regds

Well, the first step is to sign up with a name that is formatted like the rest of the sherriffs and bartenders: Firstname Lastname (note the space instead of the underscore).
This is nothing more than a personal pet peeve.
Next, the moderators get together behind your back and talk about how helpful you have been. If everybody thinks you've been helpful, we'll probably find a forum for you to moderate. You might even get to pick from two or three, but chances are that you will be assigned a forum.
Unfortunately, your timing is awful. I'm headed out on a road trip for a few weeks. It will be a while until I can get back and make things official.

hi,
i am waiting and waiting to tend Bars.
Regds.
Rahul

Don't worry Rahul, you haven't been forgotten, and your help on a number of forums has been noted and appreciated. Paul is still on vacation though - I think it was to be a three-week vacation or so, and I imagine he'll have a number of things to catch up on when he gets back. But we will get back to you.

Now I sort of got it but does 30 messages to become a ranch hand mean ,any post or meaningful posts?

I have spent more than a year at this site ,take a look at my profile.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/bin/ShowUser?login=mbormann
I have a compliant,if somebody comments on a question after I commented on it and it's not my question ,I don't get a EMail notification that says that so and so has added a comment to the question ? And why does the search limit to 200 searches only ? Lack of resources would be my guess ,you guys don't have that much traffic now.But it is bad ,don't limit it at all. Take a good look at that site it's well organized and I was there through the time when it really became popular.