I'm not sure if the answer is obvious or located somewhere else and I missed it, but how do you accumulate stars above your avatar on the forums? it seems like the max appears to be six. I have two. I don't know how I got them or how to get more.

It's from your post count, iirc.

ahh thank-you so much! I guess it's time I become more active on the forums again now that I've returned to the site and play daily again ^_^

yup, it's something like one star per 750 posts i believe.