what does that number inside a star mean?

Its your user rating. Other members will either hit + or - + means the rating goes up (harder on marathon posters) - means the rating goes down (seems uniform and quite harsh) Its supposed to mean what the quality of your posting is. But go take a GOOD look at my responses to threads and my best responses. You'll soon see its an abused, garbage system. Basically the more "opinion" you have the more you may "offend" some clown and the more said clown will hit - because they are complete wretches or they just plain Fail at debate.