1) Member points tell you how much a user has contributed to the site.
2) You're going to be stuck with that default rating until you play some rated games.
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welcome to the site
Welcome to the site!
Welcome to the site,
This should tell you all about the rating system, (but dont worry about your rating too much, just play and enjoy!)
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-rating-system
I like this site... I norice members have points... what does it mean to have points... also, how do you learn what your rating is... I have started with what appears to be a default level of 1200.