How NOT to build and Orwellian Reputation System

[JuanSGalt]

Reputation is such an essential part of human interaction that it is easy to take for granted. It can simply be looked at as a way of knowing ahead of time the character and capabilities of another person, with whom we might want to trade or interact with in some way.

Being able to reasonably predict some one’s behavior and know what possible areas of conflict we will face can save us social beings a great deal of time and hardship. These are otherwise hidden in the darkness of a pseudonym on Localbitcoins, or some brand name of a company we’ve never heard of.

The core assumption of a reputation system is that past behaviour is a great predictor of future behavior. This principal has served human beings fairly well for thousands of years, and has great potential for good, but as Orwell warned in his epic novel 1984, the potential downfalls of top down, enforced standards of behavior could end in a “boot stamping on a human face—forever.”

So, in the hopes of dodging the massive and bloody bullet of building the infrastructure of a techno-totalitarian state, let us discuss how NOT to build an Orwellian reputation system - as I see it.

Continued . . . http://cointelegraph.com/news/115523/ho ... ellian-rep

[btc]

i agree and would love a system similar to what is over at https://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratings.php

they seem to have a hybrid top down, bottom up approach. at the end of the day the rep is there for other users to make decisions about the user (as if they want to trade with them or something). what do you think?