well, first off, here's the chain of ranks you can have:
Normal Memeber > Sage > Local Mod > Global Mod > Admin
a normal member is what you are right now, to become a sage you have to be very active, and be selected by one of our admins.
to become a local mod, you have to be a sage, (sometimes you dont though) and be willing to help out, and you should be considered a responsible member by the admins.
to become a global mod, you have to have been a local mod, eventually, if you've done well enough, and we are in need, you may be selected as a global mod, a global mod is like a local mod, except you can moderate any forum, instead of a select few.
to become an admin, you have to have been a global mod, and be selected by another admin, right now, we aren't going to have anymore admins, but this could change in the future.
if its the idea of "Mod" you dont exactly understand, a mod is a "Moderator" they keep the forums clean, so people that come here to yell at someone else are banned, spam is kept down, and naughty things are removed.... they're like the street sweepers.
Bells you recieve by:
1. Posting, you get two bells per post, this doesn't mean you should go nuts and post for the sake of getting bells, that will get your bells taken away.
2. selling, if you open a "Store" in the bell tree forum store, you can sell your products, things like sigs, avatars, and other things people would be interested in buying, if its fair priced, and good, you could earn about 150 bells per product.