The concept is simple and wouldn't be too difficult to implement. Basically, there would be an option to leave feedback after sending or receiving forum gold. The seller and buyer (or, in the case of services, the person offering the service and the person requiring the service) would give each other a general rating based on various factors, eventually resulting in an average that could then be viewed. I would suggest a simple zero to five star rating, but it could be made more complex as well in order to convey more information about that particular buyer or seller. A history of past transactions could then also be viewed.

The goal is to rid the trading sections of people asking about various users, and to provide a trustworthy guide to whether a trader or seller is trustworthy or not.

Obviously, there will be people who, in an attempt to "troll" will give poor feedback. In order to resolve this, the poor feedback could be either completely ignored (in which case, after many more trades, the feedback would be outweighed by positive feedback) or there could be a small mod team put together to review cases (this would work much like the S/A forums).

I believe this would be an excellent way to prevent scammers from going on long sprees, and would help to prevent people who are new to the site from getting scammed.

Edit: Now, I admit that given the personality traits that many users have on JSP, the ratings system would not be perfect. However, no rating system is perfect - there will always be users that wish to tarnish another persons appearance. What is important is that this system would be easier to control and more accurate than user-created systems currently in place.

Regardless of your vote, please leave a brief explanation, I would like to toss around ideas (especially for those that vote no).

Edit: In response to comments regarding abuse:


This post was edited by Furthur on Jan 29 2012 10:20pm

*applause*

this has been suggested many time (once by me)
it will not be added because they say it would be abused, but still a yes from me

Them saying that it will be abused is them being lazy because they don't want to police it.

There are ways to prevent that abuse though. The main way it would be abused would be people who are looking to pad their reputation. Now, I would bet the average user makes approximately 50 - 100 traders per month. If you limit the amount of feedback that one account can leave for another per day or per month, you could control people who have multiple accounts (or friends) from padding their rating.

Edit: As for those looking to hurt others through leaving poor feedback, that would be quickly evened out if the person trades regularly. This system requires a little bit of mutual trust, but so do the systems currently in place.

This post was edited by Furthur on Jan 29 2012 10:19pm

Voted yes. By the sounds of things it gets so technical. But I am positive and believe things can be worked out so it would work.

Nope. As said before. It would be abused with multis and paid "vouches" etc.

Never going to happen. Sorry buddy.

It is impossible to completely police the rating system with a user base this high, especially when there are users that have no issues breaking the rules.
The mod team already has a lot of work to do and you're asking them to take on more work to implement a system open to abuse.
Someone doesn't like you so they trade and downrate you, while giving a seemingly legitimate reason to downrate you would be impossible to prove one way or another.
Or scammers use the system to get high ratings via bribes and friends. For every counter you can bring up, njaguar has already analyzed and countered in previous discussions involving the discussion.

It works for eebay because to use the system, it involves a law binding contracts and monetary exchange of goods.
eebay can be abused, but policing those matters are a lot easier when they can involve law enforcement agencies for paypal fraud and the court systems fro breaches of contract.

I'm letting you know now that this thread will be closed eventually.

I have absolutely no emotional connection to this thread. I had assumed this was previously posted but perhaps without the limited feedback point of view. I posted this in attempt to brainstorm a way to better the site, not in an attempt to be praised or feel accomplished. As stated, I recognized from the beginning there was room for this to be abused. However, the systems that the users of this site have created are beyond abused already.

Absolutely, its a great idea
And make it for trades only like 100fg and above to prevent padding
As well as limit 1 review per person (cannot review the same person multiple times)

This post was edited by holypimpsta on Jan 29 2012 10:38pm