This is the root of the issue I think, since Vod is in the good ole boy network, his trust is weighted heavier as it is more visible to the mass majority who won't actually look into the details as compared to the retaliatory feedback that was given to him by people not in the good ole boy network. Perhaps someone in the Good ole boy network should step up and justly give him his just desserts until the matter is cleared, would you be willing to be a negative trust "escrow" Salty until the matter is resolved? As the fact of the matter is the mass majority won't look into the facts so Vod is wielding e-peen which is wrong, and the simple fact that he has this e-peen for being an "internet policeman". This will be my last contribution to these... threads, I've already ignored those which deserve it and that's enough for me but someone with authority and maturity needs to step up where they are needed and this system needs a very serious reconsideration/reevaluation for its effectiveness and purpose.
And to those who invited him into the good ole boy network... they should also reconsider their positions on the matter and use their trust ratings with scrutiny and evidence of trustworthiness and not just invite every "internet policeman" they see into the network.
If people are going to look past the meaning of feedback, and just follow blind numbers, thats not Vod nor Andrew's problem, but Andrew sadly gets caught up in it. I've got negative trust, for busting a scammer, but never the less, it is negative, and it doesn't bother me in the least bit. Because people can read the guy's feedback, and it says that he negatively trusted me, because I negatively trusted him without being 100% certain. Although I disagree, he did indeed use the system correctly, so that people could honestly see what he thought, and judge the validity for itself. TomatoCage is in my opinion a trustworthy individual, so I trust him. I don't know Vod enough to say that I trust him, however the fact that TomatoCage trusts him, makes me value his opinions a slight bit more based on TomatoCage's willingness to stake his own reputation on Vod. But if I was reading Vod's feedback for Andrew, and it said that he scammed him out of 15BTC on some deal, but there was no proof, I would no longer value said feedback.
The global trust system is a system of suggestions. To be quite frank, I trust Dank even though he has a scammer tag, however I don't expect anyone else to, and thats their priviledge. The community should be mature enough to realize that people have their own opinions, and they are welcome to share them. Likewise, if you feel some way about someone, you are welcome to leave it on their trust, positive or negative. They system is set up based on individual credibility. I value my credibility, so I try not to add trust to someone who will end up scamming someone. If they do, I lose some credibility as a part of that. If TomatoCage believed what Vod did was wrong, he would remove Vod from his trust to protect himself. However, because Vod has given realistic feedback, not some made up numbers based on emotion, it is a valid use of the trust system.
*edit* I'm glad you guys worked something out, but I feel this is still relevant for future use.