Ok seriously, it's basically just a quick visual indication of who the new bods are. Originally the software came set up so that new arrivals only got one star (poor things) and people with more posts got 2, 3 4 or 5 depending on post count. I thought this was a bit poxy (sorta too military for my liking) so changed it so new bods got 4 and everyone else got 5. Nobody else grumbled, so it stayed that way.
Well IIRC Berbs grumbled slightly coz she kinda liked the superiority of her extra stars, but I don't think she was all that serious.
TBH I would have been happy to ditch the stars entirely.
ETA: Oh and then I made sparkly stars for Berbs, just for fun.
Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.