My opinion is basically this.
The obvious requirements of stellar trading/lending/contract history, sound security protocols, and significant time spent in the community (how users who have been here less than a year are on Default Trust is completely beyond me) should be obvious.
Beyond that, what is clear to me is that if the default web of trust seen by the entire community is going to basically conform to this group's opinions, that their reputations should be staked on it. What I mean by that is, anonymous users should not be on default trust; they have nothing to lose by gaming it, and we as a community have everything to lose by trusting them.
If you cannot risk associating your real identity with your forum account, then you have absolutely no business governing the default web of trust that the community sees. And you have no business being trusted with large sums of money. Because at the end of the day, one can do a hell of a lot more damage than his/her anonymous forum account is worth, no matter how green the trust rating.
People who are in default trust list are the people whose judgements can be trusted. You shouldn't trust your money with them just because they are in default trust list or they have green trust score or anybody else who you don't feel confident with.
And asking for their IRL identity if they want to be in default trust list is absolutely not a good idea.
Nobody is asking for anyone's IRL identity; nobody should be asking to be on the Default Trust list in the first place. This shouldn't be treated like an "in" list and anyone that "wants" to be on it should be viewed with suspicion.
I think that a Default Trust user extending trust to someone because they "trust their judgment" rather than on the basis of trustworthiness is a misuse of the system. Same as those that leave negative trust over petty flame wars rather than trading experience. Opinions, often backed by nothing, should not determine what is essentially your trading reputation. I want to trade with people whose reputations are built on trust as it relates to
money/value.
What you're saying isn't really in line with how things work in practice. People do, in fact, trust others with money because they are on Default Trust or have green trust. And that's absolutely going to continue. Who do you think people are going to trust to escrow trades, IPOs, group buys, signature campaigns? People looking for an escrow service aren't necessarily regulars, nor do they necessarily have a firm grasp on how to avoid getting scammed. Enter: the green trust score. (Or in other cases of trust abuse, the red trust score).
I'm not sure that your response shows a good understanding of how confidence scamming works. I'm saying that people that maintain anonymity while trying to build a strong rating via the Default Trust system should be viewed with a healthy skepticism. For example, ask yourself why someone might go from escrow to escrow (all of whom are at Depth 1-2) from one trade to the next. Really just think about it. And yes, it's happening. If you don't see why this poses a problem, then I can't help you.
My (admittedly limited) dealings with noobs on this forum lead me to believe they don't research reputation deeply at all. But they
love dat green trust. I'm fully in favor of abolishing the Default Trust system and letting users build their own webs of trust, without artificial weighting that is often plagued with personal vendettas and double standards.
If that were to happen, it would still be quite obvious who the limited number of truly trustworthy people on this forum are.