reaper0268wtf Wrote:TheDopp Wrote:reaper0268wtf Wrote:Profile and thread rep can both be manipulated.
What
Profile rep is not rep. It's fine that you're a trader that can be trusted, but your profile isn't something that supports that. Profile rep is the hallmark of scammers and sharks, as it can be faked, negative stuff deleted. The fact you don't have a rep thread that points to your real profile is a safety measure your customers are missing.
How many scammers and sharks have had actual rep threads here? Where was the safety measure then? Oh joy.
The safety measure is the mods check each (granted some may slip through) new rep thread. For a steam profile link (which we check against SR), check their IP's (because banning for alts/fakerep is just fun) and make sure the first few reps are applicable to SOP.
A SourceOP rep thread is meant only for SOP transactions. Scammers might link to them, but by having your steam account link in it keeps it from being usable when people bother to read. Profile Rep doesn't (it can be faked a lot better than the above example, unfortunately I'm too lazy to look for one, but I assume the traditional method is idlealts that scrap bank, friend all the people who trade for normal items, leave fake rep on a main idle account over the course of a few months, doing the same to other idlealts, and done).
We're not the governing authority for all things TF2, but I will say we tend to implement best practices here, which includes having a more reliable method of sale tracking than a profiles moderated comment system. It's not perfect (limited by our forum software from 1993) obviously. But its a hell of a lot better than profile rep (not agreeing to disagree on that point).
Your profile doesn't tell me how upstanding you are in the trading community - your recorded actions on community sites do (SOP mainly in this case). That can't be faked (with the ocasional exception of sharks, who eventually fuck up and support it, always), and in your case is your true rep. Point in fact, your sales thread is a better indicator of your standing than your profile.
I've proposed (sorta) a couple different solutions to the Rep issue to a few influential (and bored enough to put up with me) people in the community, and the main issue is time and coding. In the mean time, SOP rep threads are for SOP trades, for both positive and negative trade results (something no one ever really bothers to note), kept above board by the staff; profile rep is for sharks/scammers/people that don't know any better.
