What is Trust?
Trust is the quantified belief by a trustor with respect to the competence, honesty, security and dependability of a trustee within a specified context. Quantification reflects that a trustor can have various degrees of trust (distrust), which could be expressed as a numerical range or as a simple classification such as low, medium or high. A competent entity is capable of performing the functions expected of it or the services it is meant to provide correctly and within reasonable timescales. A secure entity ensures the confidentiality of its valuable assets and prevents unauthorised access to them. Dependability is the measure in which reliance can justifiably be placed on the service delivered by a system. Thus by definition, we see that a dependable entity is also a reliable one. Timeliness is an implicit component of dependability, particularly with respect to real-time systems.
Each user has a rating called “trust” that is calculated by evaluating your posting history and the associated moderations. Trust is used by the system to periodically reallocate comment votes. Your trust score isn’t publically visible, however, trust is a valid way for the site administrators to determine the “value” of an account.
