I feel that if you run a small but active forum you can even decide to hand edit the titles for each member.
I am doing that because I know people appreciate that little bit of extra attention. It also erases the need for post-count raising.
Large sites like
http://boards.stratics.com can never do this as 50K users is way to much. But changing the standard titles, maybe even expanding them will give a greater commitment to the posters. (although excesses like 1K spamposts in 1 day exist).
Fot the small board setup I am running I can afford to spent the time to give every user a hand picked title. Furthermore all standard titles are adapted to the community (a virtual town in a fantasy setting).
Visibility of the moderators and administrators as "normal" posters also increase feel of community rather then of customer and supplier.
I noticed a lot of lurkers "decloaking" once they saw the atmosphere on the boards where cool and loose and above all safe. Moderators are the key to ensure this.
