I noticed the similarities when I updated
Users who Created or Wiped their Trust list - weekly data, and was
notified about
this Russian post a bit later. Unfortunately, I can't read Russian, Google Translate is not ideal to read 2 pages of posts, and I can't post in Russian so I'll respond in this topic. Since my data collection is being used to hand out negative feedback, I hope someone will transfer my concerns to the Russian topic too.
Conclusion: trust abuse.
Even if they're all alt-accounts (we can't check the "family members" claims), I don't agree it's Trust abuse to add your own alt-accounts to your Trust list. To quote myself:
Don't confuse your Trust list with feedback
Trust feedback: leave feedback to people you trust or don't trust. Or leave neutral comments.
Trust list: a list of people who's judgement on others you trust (username) or don't trust (~username).
The only "abuse" that happens by adding an alt-account to your Trust list, is influencing
DT1 voting. If that's a concern, open a topic in Meta so
theymos can exclude them from DT1-voting.
Including your own alt-account(s) on your Trust list means nothing more than trusting the feedback left by those accounts. It's not the same as leaving yourself positive feedback, in which case I would agree it's Trust abuse.
In this case, however, I can't say it is abuse. It's quite useless to do though, because one account only left one neutral feedback, and the other account didn't leave any at all, but that's a mistake
many users make when they create their own custom Trust list.
To prove my point:
I wouldn't call hilariousandco and DarkStar_ Trust abusers for adding their alt-account to their Trust list.