What makes someone trusted?

Been wondering this ever since i arrived on sythe, heres a little poll to see what you guys think!

 

To most people, donor rank, amount of vouches, how recent the vouches are, how big the vouches are and your join date.

 

A mix of all of the above but I like to value community involvement and commitment as well. Seeing you care about the site, and helping out its users is a little gesture that I think goes a long way between two people who have traded the same amount, have similar vouches etc.

I personally don't think donations say a whole lot, but logically it would make sense that if a user donated $100 you can trust them with $5-$15 because they wouldn't want to throw the money they gave to Sythe down the drain.

 

None of these things makes someone trusted for me. I've seen people who have excess of any combination of the poll choices and have still scammed.

There's no real gauge of trustability, especially since I'm convinced everyone has their "number." The amount for which they're willing to scam.

 

Would you say your perception of a trusted user has changed after being here for 8 years?

I wouldn't have called myself gullible, but I definitely valued vouches and donor ranks a lot more than I do now when I was new here. Being here for so long, and seeing countless members I once considered friends / trusted scam definitely changes my perception of things.

 

I see vouches as the number of trades someone has held out on scamming, but that doesn't mean, when presented with the opportunity for whatever amount they would steal, they won't take that opportunity. I don't believe everyone is just waiting for that scam, I just believe that decision can manifest in ANY person at any time randomly.

For example, Pen was a douche bag, yeah, but he handled thousands and thousands of dollars in his time here, and had a clean record. He randomly returned one day and stole blue party hats, several hundred dollars worth of cash, who would have guessed! Don't even get me started on plznate.


With that being said, there's definitely users here who I do trust. It's not because they're market giants, or have handled thousands of dollars. It's because instead of seeing them as a cashcow for e-business, I like to see internet people as IRL people, and I like to get to know them personally. No metrics, no vouch-induced bias. Just a nice conversation, similar ideals, and good humor.

You, for example. I talked with you regularly when we were both super active, IRC and TC and mod forums when you were around for WoW modship. Because I knew you on a personal level (as much as possible with our distance), I sold you my old iphone and I didn't sweat a single drop wondering if you'd eventually charge back. That's because I trusted YOU, and not your vouches

 

that's a good point although don't you find this view kind of pessimistic?

But i guess it's on par with human nature as a whole.

I believe that Humans in general are selfish when it comes down to it.

 

These are my views exactly. I still get nervous selling to some people with tons of vouches if I've never interacted with them on a personal basis just simply because they're basically strangers.

 

To me, it's how they carry themselves in combination with the quantity of quality vouches. I'd trust someone who has 10 vouches of account sales 100M+ 07 then someone who has 100 vouches of 5-10m 07 in value

 

it's true that some types of vouches are kind of "worthless", like "Vouche he used my service" type of vouches don't really add anything to the user reputation IMO

 

Vouches to me is a big thing but their personality also is a thing that I look at. To me trusted means that the person has manners and isn't rude to the people they are dealing with.

 

I usually trust people on internet based on how well I know them or how I see them behave. I also tend to trust people who care about the safety of the customer or atleast that show some interest in keeping them safe (like properly formed confirmation PMs etc.)
On the internet I will never trust someone that behaves like a 10 year old kid, this is not the only factor however.
Also donator means something, but only if the account is old enough, new members with high donor ranks are the same as new members with no donor rank to me. And I'm more likely to trust a 5+ year old member that has gotten a lot of (high quality) vouches with no or low donor status, I can respect that they got the reputation the harder way.
If the user has scammed in the past, that's a simple no to me, wouldn't even think for a second about going first to them.
Another thing I like when dealing with someone is patience, impatience is a warning sign to me.

The main reason I donated was because I wanted to occasionally trade on here but I hated going first after being scammed a few times, also because it's easier to get "trusted" this way, due to uni and irl stuff I don't have all day to jump around the forum and be active to get more reputable.

 

It's good to see that there are many trusted users on sythe that have been doing what they're doing for years, It makes it harder for us new guys to start up. Starting up is rough.

 

A combination of the amount of vouches and how well I know them.

 

For me it's about the person's reputation, how they act/speak but also donations sometimes.

 

Lately I've been placing my trust largely based upon the quality of memes either created or recirculated by the individual in question.

 

At this point, I agree completely. When I was newer on Sythe I put too much value in vouches and $$$ traded. Definitely something that came with time though. It's a bit of a cynical viewpoint to have, but it all comes down to the level of character and morality each of us have. Everyone gives into different temptations.

 

its a mix of all for me, its easy to see sometimes people just buy and sell really small amounts of runescape gold (for example) just so they have alot of vouches, gotta be careful and take everything into account.

 

For me it's mostly about their recent trades, and how their past trades have gone. If their recent trades are good, they're willing to work with you, and not against you, I generally see that as a good starting point.

 

Of the 3 options you listed, Donor rank is the most worthless when taken into account regarding being trusted. The amount of time you've been here and your vouch count are about equally as relevant but each have their upsides and downsides. A lot of users have been around for a while and a lot of users have a lot of vouches, but a lot of them still end up scamming at some point as well.