Re: Trust system abuse / DT2 member Vod is provably dishonestly rating people
Bad ratings happen sometimes. Look at the garbage ratings owcatz has left me (who you trust).
Owlcatz is not on my trust list. I've left him a positive rating, because I've traded with him and everything was top notch when doing business with him. I don't agree with all the ratings owlcatz has left, and neither do I agree with all the ratings you've sent. Trust is not like that. 
I believe bidding on your own auctions is much more warranting a negative mark on your record.
How so? It's not scamming or dishonest behavior in any way. Nobody was scammed. Auction rules were same for everyone. Different standard was followed than what BCT users are used to. And it was a single occasion almost 3 years ago, never happened when I learned about the auction standard regarding self-bids here. This event warrants wrecking a dark green trust score? In any case, this rating is still not about that auction.Regardless of anything, Vod red-rated me after threatening to do so unless I removed my rating. Is that acceptable rating activity by a DT2 member?
One thing is certain though, people who want on DT to gain more bargaining power over others are the exact type of users that DT needs to keep out of the trust network. I think thats what you arent understanding.
Maybe in general, yes. My case is not about me wanting "bargaining power". I want fairness, and it's not happening right now. Vod won't be dropped from DT as this is way too "mild" misuse/abuse. Like you say, worse have been swept under the rug. I would see that a resolution to this could be found in practice only if I were on DT2 as well. DT should not be used for anything like this at all, but it is what it is. DT should not be any elite group, but just a group of people perceived to be trustworthy enough to not scam others. But most of all I would want DT system to go away completely.
The timing on Vods rating is crap, but its not like others havent received bad ratings for less.
The timing? Vod rated me red because he told me that it would happen unless I changed my rating. It's all in the public PM conversation found in the links earlier in this thread.
However, your case is far from the worst abuse, and adding in more members who want to make the problem worse by leveraging their positions to sweep more bad behavior under the rug is not a step in the right direction. That being said, Im always on the lookout for users with good judgement to add to DT2.
I see that the proper way to make DT better overall is to add a lot more DT1 and DT2 members. Then the perceived trustness of the whole thing would drop, encouraging people to make own custom lists more eagerly. Still DT would do what it's supposed to do: protect new people from getting scammed. More DT members would mean much more active curating and much more opinions and the highly appreciated decentralization. It would make DT much less a tool or a status symbol. People are trusting DT way too much and it's objectively not a good thing. Why not start changing how DT is used and perceived?
It would be good if DT didn't give anyone any significant "leverage". More members on DT1/DT2 would mean much less "leverage" and also much easier access to the DT. It's not like there aren't hundreds of members in the forums who are quite trustworthy but for one reason or another not in the list, and can't get on the list either. For example, people would see my attempts to get on DT purely as "wants to get back at Vod, that's bad!". I'm sure Vod knows the dynamics of DT too. But would e.g. you add me on the DT if Vod didn't rate me at all?