I should add that if you simply mean to set up some sort of community standards system in which reputation counts and violation of the "laws" cause a lowering of "credit rating" that's fine... that's totally doable, and in fact is already being done at bitcoin-otc.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. I just want to try to find a way to protect people from false accusations to some extent. Clear contracts would help with that. Arbitration might be useful too. I grow tired of reiterating this in so many ways. Here's a test, let's see who fails English comprehension:
I'm talking about trying to improve the trust model we now use. I'm thinking of doing it in three parts:
1: simple contract base people can use if they feel like it, or modify at will. This is just convenience mostly, generally just a simple "I promise not to steal your shit" would suffice.
2. Ways to actually prove whether either party has fulfilled their word or not. This is the biggest one, as if you can prove foul play, you can point to the proof and be justified in denouncing a person publicly.
3. For gray areas, arbitration. Both parties need to agree to it of course. Probably this would not be used very often, but some kind of basic procedure might be nice to have for reference at least.
My motivation here is that reputation is so important in anonymous trading, it feels very risky to have no real protection against simple character assassination. I'd feel better if I could take any serious disputes to a trusted third party and provide them with whatever proof I have that I have, indeed done what I said I would. If my hypothetical accuser refused to do this, it would be telling of their claims.
