I am not sure what you are agreeing to, because I do not agree that none of this abusive behavior here has any real world consequences. Legitimate users often spend YEARS carefully and laboriously building up their reputations, taking risks all along the way in order to do so. Then a band of obsessive compulsive control freaks come along and strip that reputation with no examination, recourse, or accountability for ANY REASON they can dig up or manufacture in an instant. Are you saying your reputation is worthless? Are you saying that everyone who considers trading with people carefully examines the validity of ratings before deciding to trade? Are you saying it is likely that users whom the trust system was designed for most, new users are able to tell the difference between a real negative rating and a manufactured baseless one?
Oh well shit, you manage. I am sure everything is great for you in mod land. I am sure that offers you no additional protection from this sort of harassment right? In that case since it is not a problem for you personally it must not be a problem for anyone right? You are totally avoiding the point and essentially saying the trust system doesn't matter. The point is the lack of accountability. The point is it is totally convenient for PROTECTED people such as yourself to brush this off because you don't have to worry about it in the slightest, and pretending it is a non-issue is a far easier solution for you personally seeing as it has no cost to you. The point is double standards, selective enforcement, and ambiguous ever changing unwritten rules. Essentially what you are saying is this place is a big fucking joke and no one should invest any time money or effort into it because some retards LAARPing Game of Thrones can take it all away at any time. If you think the internet has no capability to have real world repercussions on people, I am sorry but you are either a fucking moron or totally disingenuous.
Consider for just a second, lets say Lauda or whoever else leaves controversial negative trust. Your options are A) Spend a year fighting it to no recourse, or B) Say, yeah whatever I don't care what this guy thinks. I'm not saying its a good thing that people leaves controversial feedback, I'm saying worrying about it is a waste of your time. Ultimately who is in control of your reputation is you. You've been trading here for years, do you think Lauda's feedback would effect the trust that thousands of people have in you? And in the case that you were a new user, could you not just use escrow and build up your reputation to the point where thousands of people have trust in you? I feel like the argument against my opinion is that every user here is a robot unable to read feedback, detect bias, and the weight for feedback from known shaky characters for being a "liar" or whatever else, is the same as someone claiming that you scammed them.
I've managed to avoid harassment because I don't engage with people's provocation. There is always someone trying to start something, I'll say my peace if I feel so inclined and then I'm done. If someone wants to insult me, have at it, I've got thick enough skin but I wont give you the satisfaction of overreacting and making your day by becoming enraged. From my perspective, you are handing groups of people with 0 authority complete power over you. Its like bullies in elementary school, they can make faces at you all day, but they'll get bored if you don't start crying and screaming every time they do it.
I'm not against you in saying that it sucks people are trying to be internet bullies, I'm saying that everyone is turning a molehill into a mountain. If someone leaves you bad feedback, let them make a jackass out of themselves and discredit themselves. As soon as you fly off the handle and let loose on them, people start to think that maybe the negative feedback is valid.
Its a moral crusade for them, they have not been cut off from their income.
You are missing a major point ( signature campains) .
Most managers don't accept members with a negative trust from DT member which i don't find very reasonable but still.
That is one reason why so many people spend a quarter of their lifetime debating DT and trust shit, i am pretty certain if signature campaigns focus on merit / quality post and cancel the trust rule, many people will stop caring - because as you mentioned most people here don't trade, and once they happen to do so - they use escrow anyway!
I'll get back to you on this
Well that is oh so magnanimous of you to decide for me and everyone else what is a waste of our time. Very gracious of you. It is not just feedback but the patterns of intimidation and punitive behavior engaged against anyone who challenges them forcing people to divide and form cliques. I warned about this result years ago and as usual you, and the rest of the peanut gallery poo pooed my warnings just as you are now. Using an escrow proves nothing as far as your reputability as you have no opportunity to steal anything. This is one reason why I personally refuse escrow in most cases because it shows people I am worthy of trust, not just reliable to put something in a box as promised. Additionally using an escrow itself is a risk as countless examples have shown us.
"I feel like the argument against my opinion is that every user here is a robot unable to read feedback, detect bias, and the weight for feedback from known shaky characters for being a "liar" or whatever else, is the same as someone claiming that you scammed them. "
Tell me Salty, what is the purported purpose of the trust system? Is it not supposed to be a tool for the newest and most uninformed users to be able to wade trough the marketplace and pick the most reputable traders to engage with? Is this not because they are new and unable to make informed decisions on their own to a large degree not knowing how things work here? If your premise is correct then the trust system serves ZERO purpose. The fact is even if they do know what to do most people are just going to look at the red and green numbers and move along because people are lazy. This translates to loss of sales or inability to participate in projects as a direct result of false abusive ratings, among other things like selective inclusions/exclusions.
You you have managed to avoid harassment because you are a jellyfish that flows with the tide. Also you are a mod, and to pretend like that offers you no protection from this is just a lie.