XD I just looked at Dark Samuri's user profile, and it says 'level 18 artist'

Okay, so what if we had artist rankings? Like levels 1-10? 10 being the best. Judges could rate your work, but you could only show it in contests. If it's good enough, then you might move up a level.

It's kinda random

Then those who aren't artists/are bad as an artist won't get them and people may end up feeling undervalued as members.

i.e. they may feel underappreciated or less part of the community. Basically, the lower class end of the forum spectrum.

Yeah, that only leads to, y'know, bad feelings. That's why society has words like "underrated". =-.o;=