what is meant by the star that appears with someone's name??

The star that appears next to someone's name is their rating. This shows how well they make responses. Once you've reached 100 posts you qualify to getting a star. It ranks from 1-10 and that's the number that appears within the star. 10 is the highest and it's a blue star. You have to get more ratings if you want your star to get higher. In order to do this, just post more. Quality is also an important factor to remember. Your rating get go up or drop. Good luck!

You're only one post away from getting your own star! they say its your rating here on mylot how the other users rate your posts and how many gets accepted or something like that...