What are the various levels of 'membership' -

Well, there is just Head-Fier, 100+ Headfier, 500+ headfier, 1000+ headfier, and headphoneus supremus (1500 posts). You can get a "contributor" title if you donate to headfi and a "member of the trade" title if you work for an audio company. I'm not sure how one becomes a moderator, but I think there have been a few threads discussing that, you can do a thread search for them. AFAIK, you can't search for only postings by members with a certain post count. And you shouldn't do that either. Just to let you know, a lot of the people on here with huge post counts don't know anything. For example, iIf they are telling you that you need to recable your headphones, that is a big clue they are full of it! On the other hand some of the most knowledgeable Head-Fiers like Pete Millet and Justin W (of Headamp) rarely post. There are also members here with 10 post counts who have a BHSE and HE90. They don't talk about their gear and probably never will. Just take your time to read through the site, and you will eventually sort out who really knows their stuff. 

There are also people with the label "Banned" who are no longer allowed to play here.

I was just writing a guide on this actually.  Here is a draft that may or may not have errors:

Users have a badge and, sometimes, a custom title, set by a moderator.

Badges:

Regular users:

Contributor - Under the old Head-Fi, they paid a sum to not have to see the advertising for a year, along with other benefits. Paid contribution is currently unavailable. 

Headphoneus Supremus - Has made more than 1500 posts.

1000+ Head-Fi'er

500+ Head-Fi'er

100+ Head-Fi'er

50+ Head-Fi'er

Head-Fi'er

Junior Head-Fi'er - Has made less than ? posts.

Staff:

Administrator

Moderator

Huddler Staff:

Platform Partner

Sponsors:

Industry Insider - A top-level sponsor.

Others have "Sponsor" and the name of their company as a custom title.

Custom Titles:

Some users, for fun, were given custom titles. However, there are two custom titles which are important:

Sponsor - A Member of the Trade who has fewer restrictions as to where or what they can post as a result of paying for sponsorship.

Member of the Trade - A person who has a financial interest of some kind in an audio-related business and is subject to addition rules in the Terms of Service. MOTs cannot post without being tagged so that people are aware of their affiliation. If you find someone clearly from a company posting, please report their post so we can tag them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong 

I was just writing a guide on this actually.  Here is a draft that may or may not have errors:

 

...

 

Headphneus Supremus - Has made more than 1500 posts.

Left out an 'o' in 'Headphoneus'  ;)
 

Whoops. Fixed.

All I know is that I'm the highest level you can get.

Totally.

And it helps to have an affinity for stray cats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

To become a Moderator or Administrator, you have to be selected at birth by a wandering tribe of monastic audiophiles.

You are then monitored through your youth by a special committee of Audio Elders.

Then you will be tested, mostly for resistance, capacitance and inductance. You are fed a special diet of Orange Drops and have to pass through the Black Gates.

That's followed by an initiation ceremony I swore a blood oath never to reveal.

I knew all this except for the Orange Drop thingy.

Anyone know when the paid subscription/membership will be back and running? There's got to be a way to get rid of these audio adds. Surfing the net without background music in fear of hearing random commercials interrupting the Doors would be very nice. 

I know that a number of features, such as a list of moderators exist, but aren't implemented yet. 

Do these affect your capacity to surf headfi?