Topic: [SUGGESTION] Do simple research on trust feedbacks (Read 284 times)

Thanks for pointing that out LTU_btc, I already updated the OP.
@Pmalek, it was an error, but a couple of errors on bitcointalk has been turned to community slangs, maybe we could add it.

I can confirm that I didn't forget about trust flags, I created a guiding thread in it a few days after it's implementation; here - https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.51544945
However, it's a new system I was particular about the trust feedbacks which has been in place for a number of years and needs to be reviewed periodically as much can change over that time.

Don't forget that trust lists (DT members) are constantly updated, so even untrustworthy feedbacks can turn into trusted and thus mislead. vice versa.
Always use BTT escrow if you suspect that the other party wants to trick you.

Do not trust anyone, review more information about the account, and stay away from any deal if there are doubts. It is better to lose part of the capital than to lose it completely.

Being DT2 members is not a good guarentee that those DT2 members are not scammers. DT1 members are totally different, they are above the others in DT team but as a rule of being careful, don't trust the others who don't know and have your own experience with them.

DT members or not, it does not matter and the only thing you can do is trading with the others through Escrow.

If donators or VIPs turned into scammers, DT2 members can change themselves too.
Stats on active & merit status of Donators & VIPs after 10 years

Even if an account has a good positive rating and you personally don't trust it or if it's not a DT1 or DT2 member, you can simply conduct all your trade with any of the trusted escrow in this forum, it's better to pay a little escrow fee than to lose all your funds,scammers are getting smarter by the day and they are inventing more and more interesting ways to scam people.

OP totally forgot about Flags.

LoyceV developed his Trust Flag Viewer page, on http://loyce.club/trust/flags/?MD
Steps to check Flags and Flag status of the user you want to investigate Flag history before making deals/ trades.

• Visiting the page: http://loyce.club/trust/flags/?MD
• Choosing the newest version: by looking at the date of creation. ^[a]
• Using search with keywords: Ctrl F > Entering these keyword combination: flagged + "username of the user you want to investigate"
• Paying attention on total number of flags, type of flag, and status of flag (Active or not). ^[c]

^[a]: As of writing, the current version is this one: http://loyce.club/trust/flags/225.html
For example:
theymos flagged newsilike as the first user was flagged in the forum (?), here.

So if you use the Trust Flag Viewer page (of LoyceV), and keyword combination: "flagged newsilike", you will see the flag created by theymos highlighted (in Green).

^[c]: Total number of flags; type, and status of flags:
Next to the keyword combination is the type of flag (type one for this case).

How many flags newsilike has gotten so far: 1 (see the image)

You can recheck the result by visiting the Trust page of newsilike: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=157669

Advantages of the Trust Flag Viewer page (compare to the personal trust page for each user on the forum):

• You don't have to log-in your account to see it.

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LoyceV's (Personal) Trust Flag viewer [daily updates]
Trust flags

Negative trust feedback from DT members does not necessarily mean that the account is complete "wasted", especially if you mean that account can't participate in any signature campaign after red tag. I see many members who have many positive (green trust) and one negative (DT red trust), and they still generally have the status of a good member on the forum.


Escrow is not good only because of trust, but also for reason that trade can go bad in case the seller/buyer experienced an accident before it fulfills its obligation. In case the funds are escrowed (and escrow is an honest person) security is guaranteed.

Maybe it's a local slang but I can't remember ever seeing it before.

Researching the reasons to determine if someone is trustworthy or not is definitely an important step. That includes going through all the trades that individual was involved in and asking yourself: Is this a person I would trust with my money?

Just because User A has more positive feedback than user B that doesn't make him more trustworthy than user B. 

Let me give you an example.
User A has +5 positive trust ratings.
User B has +2 positive trust ratings.

The feedback on User A's profile says: Helpful member of the local community, Helped me set up my full node and get rid of viruses, etc.

The feedback on User B's profile shows that he did 2 big trades involving 50+ Bitcoins with established members of the community. 1,000's of $ went through his hands without any problems.

I am not saying User A is in any way untrustworthy or that User B definitely is. But the fact is that the two members received positive trust for different things. Only User B was involved in the exchange of valuables according to what is known from his trust ratings. In my book, that makes him as trustworthy as User B who has more positive ratings, but was never involved in an exchange of assets.

Whenever in doubt just use an escrow. It is as simple as that!

Having a positive trust doesn't mean that is safe to trade here and the negative trust means we should not avoid trading at all. It all depends on the user's reputation and why they got positive or negative trust and also don't forget to check the reference of each trust before trading with a person.

When someone has positive trust(s) but never had any trading history then it's better to use trusted escrow for big deals on bitcoinalk.

I want to add another point - it's very important to check reference link given in trust feedback. Especially when feedback is left by non DT member. By doing it you will get more clear image and see is it feedback correct or no. And  IMO leaving trust feedback without reference link shouldn't be allowed.
And not always red trust means that person is scammer. Sometimes feedbacks are left after disagreement between DT members when they have completely opposite views about sensitive subject.
P.S. OP, I think you need to fix this:

Bump

The previous trust system accounted for the amount of time the feedback has been active but did not take the other factors into account. I do not know how doable it is to create an algorithm that comprises all those factors.
I meant this to be a guide to forum members to not rely exclusively on the trust system and to do checks on accounts before going into trades with any user.

The current system only accounts for unique feedbacks. So +2 means the user received a positive rating from 2 members.

Your proposal can develop by modifying the Bitcointak trust system algorithm to take into account the length of time, account activity, and waking up after a period of time.
I do not know how the system currently works, but it is necessary to have a reduction in the impact of positive feedback scores in the long run.

Generally, do not trust anyone. Do research about your account, and always use an escrow.

you should move this to Meta with some updates

If coming from DT1 and DT2 the account is wasted, if not be sure to check the validity of the trust, some negative trust are just coming out of the opinion of others, if there's no proof to show, some members are giving red trust because they just don't like how the guy posted, I even seen a guy giving one guy a bad rating because of a simple useless argument.

Bitcointalk is an extension of the asset bitcoin and as such, it is filled with scams and fraud attempts. And every user has to protect themselves and their assets.
Scams are unmoderated by the forum, but there are the trust and a flag system in place to protect users from falling victim to scams.
Suspected scams are posted on the scam accusation board.
While proven scam requires direct action like a negative feedback or a flag against that account.
(Check out my guide for the flag system- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.51544945).

When checking the trust feedback of a user to determine their overall trustworthiness and reputation, it is important to check the dates which are recorded on every feedback. Then do further research on the account activity and also the activity of the member who left the feedback



Feedbacks could be appropriate at a time, but become irrelevant or misleading at a later period. For example, if a user received positive feedback in 2015 and went into a period of inactivity, and the account woke up sometime this year, that positive feedback should be taken with bags of salt or completely disregarded as:
The account could have changed hands
The user could have gone through a real-life situation that would change their reactions to certain situations etc.
Also, users who give negative/positive feedback could have become inactive and would not be able to update it should there be any update on the account.

Instead of going into trades with such users on the basis of their trust rating;
Do basic research on the relevant ratings
Monitor the account and apply extreme caution. Even if an account does not have a negative rating: always apply extreme caution when dealing with a user on the internet.
Stay safe when dealing with cryptocurrency