What exactly are the stars next to your name?

The star signifies your rating. each day mylot wil give a rating. depends on several other factors, like your activity on last day, your quality of post, your rate by other user etc. Read this article for full information : http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/573319.aspx?p=0?alertid=1896080

WEll, since i am new here too.. it took me some time to understand a few things.. but from what i know.. and i am sure that's what the thing is.. the stars are a kind of your 'rank' that you gain when people rate your threads or responses.. depending on their usefulness.. you just post quality responses, discussions, etc. and you automatically build up stars with the passage of time. Hope i answered ur question well!

Stars are the ratings given to you by mylot administration for the activity level of your taking part in mylot discussions,

i have 9 stars next to my name.i think the stars is for them to rate your reputation on a scale from 1-10.

The stars are your ranking -- you have to have over 100 posts to get one. it's a general indicator of the quality of your posts rather than the quantity.