I have to agree with SRoulette about WOT. I think it's something very hard to scale, and I'm afraid we're slowly going to outgrow it as the bitcoin popularity rises. It may have been effective in an earlier stage of the game, but it's getting outdated pretty quickly now as less of the consumer market will know/care about it and thus businesses won't either
But then again the problem with that opinion of yours is that you're nobody and are trying to bring it against the people who are doing this. You don't go around telling police detectives how to catch criminals, you don't go to a drill sergeant and start telling him how to drill the troop, why is this so different? Because the Internet? Things don't work that way. Make a million dollar BTC business and then maybe your opinion will have some weight in this discussion. Until then, kindly shut the fuck up and swallow.
Sadly, the guy's right.
Also, I think the angle you're approaching this from is not very helpful:
As it were, "companies" that wanted to utilize Bitcoins needed a "seed" of trust that they could base their customer relations on.
Personal acquaintance with someone "higher up" the Bitcoin foodchain who would vouch would suffice at first.
Record of successful trades in the past were a logical next step - the #otc WoT is nothing more than a documentation of a handful of successful otc trades.
Given the track record of some (former) forum members, nothing to rely upon heavily.
Those were the times of "bitcoin businesses" (meaning: you did *something* with bitcoins, you were a *bitcoin business*).
Your business isn't a "bitcoin business". It's an illegal high-risk-trading investment place on the internet which *utilizes* bitcoin.
Were your business (mine, too!) accepting Linden$, it wouldn't be a "Lindendollarbusiness", either.
Bitcoin is a means of payment and of processing, nothing inherently substantial to any business model in and of itself (exempt: wallets, mixers, pools).
Bitcoin, as a means of payment, will not require WoT to thrive.
It will not require the WoT to be accepted as a means of payment by a company which has long before the #otc existed started to build their own reputation completely outside of bitcoin. Wordpress has no WoT rating? ONOES UNPOSSIBLE!
Your pamphlet makes it sound like simply by using bitcoin within ones venture, one would be bound to use the #otc WoT lest one wanted to be swept to the wayside by the market - who in and of itself doesn't give a flyin' rats' ass about your imaginary trustypoints(tm).
In away, it's like reddit Karma!
However many imaginary trustypoints you have on the #otc, I don't trust you further than you I could spit a rat.
Nothing personal, just experience with the sort of venue you run.
(aside from this, much of what you say about "knowing your place and those before you" has its merits, but that goes for anyone in any community, so nothing new there).