Hello Mary, and welcome to the forums
The basic "badges" are there to provide a guide to the skill level of the user posting the message.
They are based on the forum "Rep" system in which others award rep to say thank you for a useful or helpful answer to a question.
# Skilled = 100 Rep
# Power User = 400 Rep
# Seven Pro = 600 Rep
# Seven Guru = 1000 Rep
You may give "rep to a poster by clicking on the scales icon at the top right of each post.
you would need 100 points to reach ''skilled'' but 100 ppl do not have to rep you to attain this..
1 member does not represent 1 rep point (in most cases)
as your post count and recieved rep increases your ''rep power'' will rise, this is what you give to others when you ''tip their scales''
a member with a ''rep power'' of 40 could ''tip'' a worthy post you wrote & you would instantly have 40 points...
The Admin, Moderator,Super Mod, and SF team badges indicate that the user is a part of the forum management team, these badges are by invitation only.
The Supporter badge indicates that a user has made a financial contribution to help pay the costs of the site, and thus keep the advertising used on the site to a bare minimum
hope this explains things