That is not needed. You shouldn't judge a person by looking at trust score.
You shouldn't judge a person by looking at the post count, but that's on there... there are other reasons to have the column listed.
Maybe we should judge people by their ICQ number. Old ICQ numbers certainly show some maturity.
I think the problem is that the information on the member page is the same for everyone and can thus easily be cached. The trust score is greatly dependant on your personal trust list and thus would need to query the entire database every time you view the page. Thats probably a bit heavy on the server.
For my intents and purposes, it could be based on the DefaultTrust list and could be cached. I didn't want to shout this from the rooftops, but my hope was to be able to zone in on higher-up accounts being sold/bought. Trust count is a value that usually has to be partially disclosed by the seller in order to inspire buyers and add more value to their account, and could be cross-referenced with the memberlist to at least narrow down what accounts could be sold/bought, and then monitor those accounts more closely for scams. I could go into further details on my thoughts, but I'd rather not.
I realize a lot of people seem to be fine with allowing accounts to be bought/sold, but when accounts with high trust, legendary status, etc. are being sold, I really think it creates a bad atmosphere on this forum and opens up a high potential for *large* scams when someone smart enough buys out one (or multiple) of those accounts. Escrows could be bought/sold, so don't give me the "just make sure you use escrow and no worries".
One fear, if this isn't already happening, is that this will evolve to people starting alts with a new wallet, building them up, then selling their 'wallet.dat' files with their account to allow someone to 100% take an account as if he IS the original owner.
I think I understand Satoshis goal of a "trustless" system, but never being able to establish trust, even with someone you've dealt with numerous times, IMO stifles trading volume and the market in general, and creates more potential for large scale scams.
The forum can't stop it, but what about just a rule that says you can't sell your account through an alt, only the account being sold is the one you can post the sale from?... to try and open up transparency a little more? I realize they could just goto another forum and make the sale but I'm not sure its great having full support from the forum for buying/selling forum accounts.
