Again, to clarify, I like Vod. I have seen him bust a great many scams, and he has a razor wit. My problem here is that the trust is based solely on disliking the man's opinion. And I would also not have a problem with that if Vod were NOT in the Default Trust listings, because those are people who the forum members have not deemed to be objective or useful.

Default Trust should not be given lightly, and those who have it should not use it to address personal affront.

And to the commenter who said "one or two instances..." That was kind of my point. I considered this an example of something that seems systemic. That it was Vod in this case is regrettable. He's usually level headed, and BADecker is a difficult man.

But it wasn't unique, nor just Vod. It seems pretty common.

Trust, according to the posts regarding it going clear back to when I started lurking (2011-12), IS supposed to be about whether the person has demonstrated some tendency to be a scammer or thief, and also the opposite. It is not solely about business, but that was (at least then) the primary aim. If I'm considering doing business with someone, I definitely look at their trust rating. It's not the sole criteria, and in fact I frequently look to see WHAT the red is. It's very often trivial nonsense, or a poor opinion of someone based on their opinions.

But I'm not a newbie. Not for a very long time. A new guy is LIKELY to put some weight to the trust system, and this makes my point valid.