I think h3r3tic has an important point - that those who are worthy of respect generally get that by their contributions, not by their title. With the antipoints system, those who simply come to post drivel ( as with one recent example in cosmos ) will not end up making the grade, because there will be those who will neg them until they are banned. So making it to senior level ( or even addict level ) indicates not that they have made great contributions, but that they have not wound up too many people. Those with great lines of green dots are either aliens or those who have received acknowledgment from the other members of the AO community. I tend to look as the green dots rather than the title.

As to ignoring posts in GCC, Humour, Cosmos etc. I understand why this is suggested, but I think these areas are important parts of the community on the boards, and so posting ( sensibly ) here should count. I think we need to acknowledge those who have sontributed to AO wider than just the security discussions, important ( central no less ) as they are to the boards. I would consider it strange for someone to get the senior status while never having posted on the serious boards, but I know there are those who contribute a lot to the community on the other boards.

Including antipoints as part of the equation would be a good idea, not because it is then perfect, but it would tend to rule out those who ONLY post in the non-security related forums.