Currently several tasks in Wikipedia require editor's to make a guess about the trustworthyness of other editors. Right now it's all informal. Is the editor: * a friend? * trusted by a friend? * distrusted by a friend? * logged in? * a sysop? * a user with more than N article namespace edits? * on the ArbCom? * a longtime editor? Does she have: * a lot of thank you notes, barnstars, etc on her user page? * a history of conflicts, blocks, bans, RFCs etc? * a history of conflict with a friend? It takes time to evaluate all this so mostly a through evaluation is done only for a handful of other editors one interacts with. But imagine that you had an assistant who could do this for you and come up with a number and insert that number whenever you see a signature or browse RC, RFA, RFC and all others? Just like it's impossible to spend minutes evaluating each seller on eBay. The big challenge is to come up with a system that doesn't bog down the servers and cannot be easily gamed. It doesn't need to be perfect the first time, just better than nothing. Slashdot's rating system for example evolved for several years. BTW users of Cryptoderk's Vandalfighter app already use a crude version of this when they add users to their temorary or permanent whitelists / blacklists. Its immensely useful for RC patrol. -- nyenyec On 1/4/06, Tony Sidaway <f.crdfa(a)gmail.com> wrote: