It would be great if the forum software (here on DP) could generate a list of top 5 or top 10 active users in each category based on how active they've been in the past 6 months.
I was looking online to find few 'active and reputable' users in couple categories to just buy avatar space from but i can see the list being helpful for example to people looking for advice in the SEO category or people looking to hire web developers / marketers from other categories. To measure it I was looking at how long they've been a member at DP, how active they are, how often they reply to posts in that category, and how good the replies are (based on likes received and lengths of replies)
Sorry for intruding but activity oftentimes doesn't mean that a member is valuable or reputable, but might trigger problems such as having people running their post count up to see their name in the "hit parade" or simply spamming or adding lame comments with the same purpose in mind, but just IMHO.
Yeah, I tend to agree with Mystique. If you want to find reputable people in a certain area, just read the area and do your due diligence.
There are 3 members here who fall under your description. These 3 are without paralel in my opinion. Problem is that the most valuble *already* rents out his avatar. You can PM me and save yourself a lot of searching.