It depends on your taste on servers whether they are survival or creative, what plugins they use and so on. Personally I enjoy servers that are survival, no PvP, great anti-grief protection and a great community. Plugins usually make a server quite enjoyable, you get to experience new plugins sometimes and learn new things but some plugins can make a server become a flop and too many plugins can make the server lag or even crash. The community can also make the server enjoyable. If you all get along (which I know won't happen 100% of the time.) it can make it a pleasurable experience to be on that server and you might end up on there for a while and being dedicated to it. The staff can also make an affect on the community and the server. The staff need to be strict but somewhat fun and probably should interact with the members of the server to make it an enjoyable experience. For people who want to start up a server: servers with Non-Pvp and PvP worlds and Creative and Survival worlds are usually popular because all types of players can get a choice and if they get tired of the gamemode they can change it without switching server.

Look through the Top 100 on Planet Minecraft and you might find your dream server. If not use the search bar option to narrow down the search or ask in the Server Hall on chat and list certain plugins you are looking for in a server.

If you don't find the plugins that you wanted on a server you like, try suggesting to the staff some plugins and if they get enough suggestions they might add it.

If not just leave the server and don't make a fuss about it.

Simply do not ask for high ranks on the first day. If you follow the rules and stay on for a long period of time you might get there some day, if not don't make a big fuss about it since that will make it worse.