Hey, folks.
Haven't been on in a while, but when I checked the forum just now this thread stood out.
Forums often use member ranking systems that pertain to the forum's focus. I think most members and visitors understand that the ranking categories are just for fun.
It's interesting that this question comes up now, because in the American Meteorological Society's Group on LinkedIn, a similar discussion is underway (the question there is: "Can we finally define who a `meteorologist` is?"), but there is a difference between that and this. The issue there is whether people in general (not just members of LinkedIn's AMS group) should hold certain credentials in order to call themselves professional "meteorologists" and whether the term "meteorologist" should be regulated somehow (like attorney, medical doctor, CPA, actuary, professional engineer (PE), etc,). The difference between that question and this one is that the term "meteorologist" is being used in professional settings by numerous people with very broad ranges of credentials, training, and levels of expertise. In contrast, since this is a forum for weather enthusiasts, the rankings are not intended, and I believe are not generally interpreted, to indicate legitimate titles but are used in jest.