First, they make you stand out from the others. Second, they are the key to bumping your way into an already occupied community. Third, the more stars you earn, the harder it is for someone to bump you and take your community link from you. We do not award the black star if your unique domain site is just a page or two or forwards to an alias domain or a sublevel of a larger site. We display the blue star when the web site displays the Award Winner, Top 100 or LinkPartner graphic on their main or home page.
Some sites display multiple graphics to award multiple blue stars.
This was not our original intent, but is acceptable. Unlike other sites, we rarely give out our Gold Award. Holding the cursor over the graphic should give you the expiration date. Private Reserve links are paid links.