Manage friends,? manage ignored? How is it all done? Personal conversations have me confused also.
There are 2 icons under the user name and avatar, one is to PM that user and the other one is to add that user as a friend, manage friends would probably be to add or delete friends(not positive on that).
You can ignore users, when you ignore someone it means that if they try to pm you, they can't. It also makes it so their posts will not show when you are reading threads(would have worked well for the guy that Charles had to ban at the old forum, can't remember his name now. EDIT; I remember it now, it was cntrhub)
Reg, the little buttons are to rank a post, if you think a post is good you hit the plus sign, if you don't like a post you hit the minus sign, I guess. The more people that hit the plus sign the higher that post will rank.(I just clicked on yours, someone else must have also cause your post now has a 2 rating)
If you hit the "help" button up at the top right it explains a lot of this stuff briefly.
ADDED:I think this adds to a members total reputation. From the help page;
Reputation
If enabled, you will see reputation options in the corner below each post. You may see an icon representing the reputation other members have given for that post, along with icons to give reputation. To give the post a positive reputation, click the positive icon or to give the post a negative reputation, click the negative icon.