This thread is not about any member or incident but is about a general situation that exists in the forum regarding counter-feedbacks.

There are cases where deserved or not, negative trust has been left for a user. Then another user comes along and deems that negative trust as wrong/unfair/inappropriate or as a breach of the trust system and decides to leave positive trust for the same recipient stating it is to counter previous feedback.

I think it is an inappropriate use of the trust system for anybody to give positive trust ratings to users just because they received negative trust that was (or could debatably be deemed as being) in breach of the trust system.

I believe that any action of trying to counter-balance either an out-and-out breach of the trust system or a perceived breach of the trust system by giving positive trust to those who received negative trust is in itself a breach of the trust system.

I myself have received (positive trust) counter-feedback and have seen others give it too so I am not saying counter-feedback are not being used for good purposes or that it cannot be used for good purposes but as for whether it is an appropriate use of the trust system - that is not even questionable because clearly it is not, however it is widely accepted without issue.

So the thread has been created with a view to have some form of consensus in ascertaining if handing out a counter-feedback to users is acceptable then should or should it not also be widely accepted in the forum and not frowned upon for leaving negative trust for users by widening the criteria in which they deserve negative trust such as for trolls, spammers, alt accounts?

I see some users adding others to their distrust list just because they have left debatable negative trust for others yet to my knowledge they do not add those who leave counter-feedbacks to their distrust list. It is as though one breach of the trust system is looked down upon and the other is not when both are breaches.

I also know some users give warning or time to others to remove negative trust otherwise they will be added to distrust lists but to my knowledge they do not follow the same process for users posting counter-feedback. Again, both are breaches of the trust system yet one is accepted and the other is not.

Maybe other actions that are widely accepted should not be questioned too or no deviation of the trust system should be accepted as a blanket ban so to speak.