Hello,
It looks like
a lot of people do not know how the trust system works, ratings as well as the trust list. Which leads to many confrontations on here. Explaining everyone the implications of the forum trust will make it possible to wipe out a good bunch of strife on the forum. Please correct possible wrong statements I made, also the text needs to be finetuned and improved. It's just a base for discussion.
The solution might be a simple explanation above the trust forms that shows the current trust level and it's implications. Maybe in red or with a checkbox "I confirm". For example, everyone on default trust 1 would see something like this above the trust rating form:
You are on Default Trust 1.
Please note that you have a responsibility regarding who you give trust. Your given trust ratings are shown in bold red or green for everyone by default. So please check your ratings and make sure you can say that the rating you gave to a user should be visible to everyone by default.
You are on Default Trust 2.
Please note that you have a responsibility regarding who you give trust. Your given trust ratings are shown in bold red or green for everyone by default. So please check your ratings and make sure you can say that the rating you gave to a user should be visible to everyone by default.
You are on Default Trust X.
Please note that your rating will not be seen in bold red or green for everyone by default. It will be seen in bold by everyone who put you on their trust list. (The trust list is not the list of ratings.)
And above the trust list additionally something like:
You are on Default Trust 1.
Please note that you have a responsibility regarding who you have in your trust list. If you have >10 merit, every entry for a user you put in your trust list is a vote for this user to push him into DT1. Everyone with >10 merit takes part in this voting system.
In any case, you will push everyone you add to your trust list into DT2, which would somewhat mean you agree to the ratings that person gave and that these ratings should be visible to every member by default.
In case you added a user that reached DT1 you would also be responsible for everyone this user rated and trusted as well. Please check if you can agree to what he did.
You are on Default Trust X.
The trust ratings given by everyone you put on your trust list is visible to you in bold red or green, which is independent of their default trust level.
If you have >10 merit, every entry for a user you put in your trust list is a vote for this user to push him into DT1. Everyone with >10 merit takes part in this voting system.
In case you added a user that reached DT1 you would also be responsible for everyone this user rated and trusted as well. Please check if you can agree to what he did.
Might as well include a popup before saving though the forum practically has no popups so it's something unpopular, it seems.
Also, in case someone jumps the first time to DT1 or DT2 it might make sense to send out an automatic email to this member and explain him the implications. There is no info otherwise without checking. It would give the user time to check the trust before a fight occurs about settings or ratings other members don't like.
Greetings!
Sebastian