Eee...honestly, the idea of no ranks/no post counts disturbs me. Not in the "omg, I've been here for a long time and I want people to know it" kind of way, but in the "omg, I have this stupid need to keep track of other people by their join dates and post counts". I get a lot of the occasional posters and new posters mixed up because I'm so awful with remembering names, but I can always check myself by looking at the person's post count, rank, join date, or even percentage of posts per day feature in their profile.
I know it's probably just me being all OCD as per usual, but I really think erasing the evidence of membership is a bad idea (my own disorientation bound to occur notwithstanding). But then, keeping it solely postcount is bad as well because people are tempted to spam. I think it goes without saying that plenty of people put a lot of weight on postcount. But that's why I like the idea of special icons best. It was mentioned that such might bring childish envy and competition, but honestly... how is that different from postcounts? Silly people who care about such things aren't going to change so there is no sense in appeasing their immaturity. I'd rather give the extra recognition to those who deserve it--that way, it might even divert attention away from postcount and bring the respect to contributors instead. Because that's all postcount is--I know because I felt this way when I was a young teen and first started on messageboards: higher postcounts scream "this person has been here a while, has said a alot, and so must be liked and respected and cool." I'd much rather have such thoughts be given towards people who truly have said something worth saying, whatever the criteria is.
I'm not sure limiting it to live reports and translations is a good idea, since those are things you either can or can't do, but perhaps a general reviewer recognition would work? Live reports, translations, as well as reviews and reports on new albums, merchandise, different stores, scans, etc. -Anything- useful.