How do I work/navigate the Call of War forum

I've been having trouble getting around the forum (for context, this is the first forum I've ever joined in my twenty-five years of life), and it seems that I can't quite respond to people on my account's wall, and I don't understand a lot of things, such as quotes and the whole ranking system...

Could anybody help out a confused user such as myself, or point me to a post, or an article, etc?