How does one become a Community Contributor? Or any other higher rank?

Contribute to the Community (cough make good maps.)

Help out on the forums, give good advice and feedback, act politely toward others, and yes, it doesn't hurt to have a good map or two released. Also for the record, there's no real multiple rank hierarchy or anything; it's pretty much just users, Contributors, and staff.

Yeah pretty much. Just be helpful and contribute to the community in some way. Being helpful in the Help forum is a big one.

The only guaranteed, no questions asked way to get Community Contributor is to have a map make the Spotlight. But at that point you either 1.) already were a CC, or 2.) probably have proved yourself in one capacity or another.