AFAIK, OP does not really have to answer these questions, and tbh, they are irrelevant, users find out about the forum in different ways, and people choose to have a higher rank for diverse reasons as well, pride for example, which is a good reason, and no one really cares about all these as long as you're not going contrary to the rules of the forum and you're basically not scamming anyone, or spamming. Op could prolly also seek a higher rank to maybe post images or do other things that comes with the privilege of a higher rank, and there is nothing wrong with that; the thing remains that OP should just stay abreast with forum rules and don't do anything desperate to achieve whatsoever it is he want to achieve.