I include DT, because it's such a strong anomaly that the whole trust system builds around it while that anomaly exists. This is why people who fully acknowledge the possibility to make a fully custom trust list, often do not do it.
I sort of understand that statement, maybe 70% of it. The other 30% makes my head spin.
Contrary to what a lot of other members think, I don't get off on being on DT2 and in fact it's a pain in the ass half the time. But since bitcointalk doesn't even moderate scammers, there needs to be some mechanism through which unwitting members can avoid being scammed and bad behavior can be punished, so to speak.
I completely agree that the trust system is screwed up, and I think I've said that for as long as I've been here. If Theymos were to ditch the default trust system here tomorrow, and my feedback no longer carried as much weight, I'd be fine with that--as long as there was something in place to warn people about scammers, account dealers, identity thieves, trust abuse, extortion, etc. If you asked me how many DT2 members exist I couldn't tell you, but I know it's a lot. But there are only a handful of them active in handing out negs when they think someone deserves it. The rest are just members that some DT1 peeps trust. I'm assuming your gripe is because of Vod's feedback, and he's one of the active ones.
So, if we eliminate the whole DT system right now without having a function that the active DT1/DT2 members serve, what would happen? All the cockroaches would have a field day, that's what. I hear lots of gripes but no suggestions about alternatives, and I'll admit I can't think of a different system that would be better either. I used to like the Scammer Tag thing that was in place when I was a lurker, but I do believe Theymos won't be going back to that.