I think the trust system is a brilliant idea. I'm a relative Newbie and made my first transaction via a Bitcointalk member today and the trust system increased my confidence to trade. It was also nice to receive positive feedback for my part of the transaction. 
Looks like one of you used the feedback system incorrectly. The risked BTC should really only be used by the person who risked something. The person who sent first would be the one who risked BTC, the second sender didn't risk anything because they had already received something, and they were just finishing the transaction.