Heck I was a sage back when we had the rank since nearly the beginning, but in order to get that you had to prove yourself an active part of the community that people respected. It took a lot longer to get to be a mod, and now I'm the only one on staff aside from Jeremy who was here since TBT real beginning. edit: and getting sage so early in the forum was a transfer of Nsider cred lol
To get respect you really need to post well, and not just that, you have to be creative with your topics, introduce something new that people like to the forum. You really can't run things that well until people respect you, but I assure you as long as one other person on the forum looks up to you you have a base of support for what you want to do.
I like to think my best asset in being liked on here was my moxie, but not everyone liked me, if you end up liked by everyone tell me your secret, but I do know I am good at avoiding making enemies, and that is really a key to success. I might just be rambling now, but just know that sometimes earning a status in any society isn't easy.