I will spend some time reading about the new structure, but first I need to understand the main purpose of the system. I've always assumed it was about trading and exchanges, and that it was a guide to decide who should go first in an exchange, or who can be trusted to run an investment project or escrow service. It seemed to be a bit like a credit rating. I had a bad credit rating because I didn't need any credit for about 20 years, and that included the use of a credit card. I decided to do something about it, and I got myself a credit card, and they keep increasing the limit. This has improved my credit rating quite a bit. I thought of the trust system here as similar - if you didn't trade, then you would probably have a rating of zero.
The system seems to be used for a bit more now, and I can understand some aspects. For example - merit abuse, account trading, and content theft for posting are all indications of low moral fibre in my opinion. Obviously in these cases one should approach trading with the member with a certain amount of caution, and negative trust serves as a warning. I'm a bit concerned about the use of trust to attempt to suppress opinions, or to punish those with contrary opinions, but that is an issue that is discussed in another thread.
I'm not a great supporter of attacks, unless it is for self-defence. I think encouragement and reward is more productive. Merits are an obvious reward in the current structure, but can we use the trust system as an encouragement for consistent good posting to support the forum? My initial though is that posting has nothing to do with trust. So if I participate in the new trust ranking, how can I use that to encourage quality members. I think this may be especially relevant for newer members, and a positive trust comment can always be removed if they stray from the straight and narrow,
