Hello. Someone has been a great help to me on this site but I cannot mark the thread as closed nor can I thank him for his help:
http://www.phphelp.com/forum/index.php?topic=15823.new;topicseen#new
Can someone please tell me how? There is no link allowing me to click the + for his karma.
Thanks.
I’m afraid new members have no ability to mark threads as solved, and click +/- on karma.
But I clicked on Ernie’s (+) for you 
Ahh, so kind thank you! When does a new member gain such powers?
Once you have 25 posts, you will be a ‘Regular Member’ - they have all the permissions (karma, editing posts, signature, etc.) The restrictions for new users is because of spammers, sorry for inconvenience.
Ok no problem, thanks for the explanation.