I think the stars next to people's names are supposed to indicate "friend" or "fan" or something like that.
It works just fine when I am on the "List of members" page or the forums, but for some reason not on chat.
I use the "Bulky" chat layout (I like seeing avatars) and I get a hollow star next to Savvy's name (Although I have not added him as a friend, neither has he added me) and a full star next to Frances' name (Same conditions).
Also, I was trying to add a poll to one of my posts and I kept getting an HTTP 500 error
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About the chat messages overlapping with timestamps names etc. it happens with me too, BUT NOT IN THE BULKY LAYOUT. I use the "bulky" layout for chat and everything is fine. Others should use it too!