Where do new high ranking members come from?
I see icons not seen before and wonder how they are so advanced.
17 Answers
All joking aside, where are you seeing these icons? Are they on the users page or are you seeing them on the forum? If you are seeing them on the forum it is either because they have been on this site for a long long time but only stop in every now and then or as someone already mentioned, change their icons from time to time. Like Heidita for instance. And me!
Members do occasionally change their icons. Nobody jumps up in reputation - it's all earned the hard way. 
Mars, or, occassionally, Venus.
A few, very special ones, come from the Moon. Only at High Tide.
There is also an influx from rabbitholes and channel tunnels, these are subject to immigration regulations, of course.
Everyone who reaches a high level of reputation - what you refer to as high-ranking - and who may appear on the front page/page 1 - did not pay for the privelege not did they suddenly get there out of the blue; they had to work their way up there!
Some of these people,,perhaps many (I do not know how many) had already achieved a significant level of proficiency in the Spanish and /or English languages eg: Intermediate level which would have made it a little easier for them to attain a high reputation level much sooner than someone who is a beginner. However, we have one or two peeple, even on page 1, who are beginners according to their profiles.
Please do not make the big mistake of equating reputation points with proficiency in Spanish! There are many ways to obtain reputation points apart from answering direct questions about how to translate Spanish words and sentences, or about usage of such phrases. For example, you can simply wish someone ''Happy Birthday'' with little knowledge of the Spanish language or congratulate them on their latest achievement such as: reaching 10k points.
The reason I strongly advised you against equating reputation points with skill in writing or speaking Spanish is because there are native and advanced speakers here who have lower reputation scores than some people with an intermediate level of proficiency so always check people's profiles!
The purpose of being here is to improve your abilities to speak Spanish and /or English. The points are just a small reward system like stickers for children in school so please don't get hung up on them they actually should become less important as you improve your lingual skills 
Mine was given to me by Heidi ,well she did not actually give it as much as
push it towards my prone body with her foot , I had been prostrating myself
whilst reciting " I must not use the translator or personal pronouns". I am
not complaining because the prize was so much greater than the punishment ,
having spent many silent lonely days in the room reserved for dummies I feel
that discretion is the better part of cowardice. So practice intermediate grovelling
in the preterite , bone up on the subjunctive and conditional sycophancy and
the world of reputation will be yours my son and which is more you will be able
to ask for forgiveness in unaccentuated Spanish . Hasta la pasta ole!
They come from the first page in the users section.
They are aliens from cyberspace 
Some even disappear now and then.
Actually, I've heard they come in the new boxes of Kellogg Cereal. The ones that have less than 10 calories!
I found mine at the bottom of a cracker jacks box
There are times when I'm walking by the light of the moon and I ponder such questions. These questions perplex me to such an extreme where I start to wonder if I'm actually standing or I'm flying through the heavenly and celestial bodies not knowing from which dimension I came. Most of the time, I am in the same place as Ray, when truth be told, prostrated on the ground as Heidi's foot swooshes past me as I'm reciting the mantra, "I will not use personal pronouns and I will read the directions to threads that have them."
well.. a mommy meets a daddy and... I'll save the rest for your padres to say :D (jejeje... and I threw in a little Spanish in there!)
I just heard that McDonald's might be giving them away with the purchase of a Big Mac a small drink and small fries for a small fee! I'm feeling kind of hungry now!
¡¡¡No!!!
¡¡¡Vienen de la tierra de los gatos locos!!! 
Please guys maybe all of you are smarty but if someone does not how things happen just let her or him know the facts and don't mock. Thank you guys for your input. I am a new member in this site and I still don't understand the rules I will make my best to integrate myself better every day. Saludos a todos!!!!
I thought they had always been here, living in cyber space just waiting to answer all our questions.
