The problem with enforcing an "objective standard" is that that in itself can be pretty subjective and is dependent on enforcers of the standard to themselves be completely unbiased, which isn't gonna happen. I don't know what OP's problem is. He has a good trust rating. None of the changes effect his ability to carry out his business on the forum, which it sounds like his life is dependent upon -- he can still see negative trusts he leaves for other people. He won't rest until things are exactly the way he wants them, which again, isn't gonna happen.
It just sounds like he's been crying for the last 4 years straight. Sorry for "derailing" your thread.
It is far more objective than what is the standard now, not even close. This standard relies on statements of fact, not feelings or suspicious which are completely open to interpretation and abuse rationalized 1000 different ways. Any dispute over what is and is not evidence is already regularly examined by the community in the scam accusation section as it always has been. There is no reason this can not be used as the rubric for what is an acceptable rating. Really it is not subjective at all, which is the whole point.
My problem is I don't want to be subject to a system of arbitrary enforcement, stalking, and abuse that is the standard around here. This is creating an extremely caustic environment on the forum and is destroying the core of the community from the inside out. The trust system as it is, is wide open for scammers and trolls to slide right in and make is user base tear itself apart as we have seen so many examples of.
I am being so vocal about this because I am one of the FEW cases where these complaints can not simply be dismissed as some kind of scammer trying to cover up their crimes which is standard operating procedure any time a complaint is made. I am one of the few people that is willing to step forward and risk harassment by these entrenched abusers in the current system. For the most part everyone doesn't want to get involved because they fear retribution themselves, but the problem with that is it lets the abusers run the forum. I don't intend to stand by quietly and allow this to happen like most of the rest of the forum unwilling to take the risk of speaking up.
That is to say if the trust system had an objective standard of evidence of theft, violation of contractual agreement, or violation of applicable laws none of this would have ever been an issue to begin with.
I have no disagreements to this philosophy, and I agree it would be easier to have guidelines to follow. But I'll risk a speculation: that's probably not the decentralized vision theymos has for this forum. In the short time I've been here it's been made pretty clear that theymos is libertarian. And so yes, libertarian philosophy and lack of authority may lead to anarchy. As long as nobody loses an eye, I'm enjoying witnessing this unique study in human behavior.
Theymos has already issued "guidelines" but they are so subjective as to be completely meaningless in effect. Regardless of what Theymos's vision is, this objective standard would serve the forum and its user base much better as it would eliminate the VAST amount of conflict and abuse simply by creating that objective standard.
As far as I have read, Theymos actually considers himself "some what of a anarcho-capitalist", which is all fine and dandy, but after a while it becomes a bit childish to run a forum as your personal social experiment when some very simple rules would prevent so many problems for the user base. The fact is the forum is a centralized entity. All the fantasizing in the world about anarcho-capitalism is not going to make that any different. It is kind of hard to have anarchy when he is ultimately the dictator of the forum. Also anarchy means without rulers, not without rules.