144:
well-established and respected editors, concentrating on different areas of
Knowledge, may have no contact between each other for some time. Reading an editor's user page, browsing through their contributions, and reading the threads in their talk are valuable but time-consuming methods of getting to know someone. Discovering that several reputable users, or users that you have particular regard for, have expressed their trust in an editor is a strong indicator of that editor's value to Knowledge. However, the sheer number of editors who trust a user should not be taken as a clear measurement of that user's trustworthiness: the fact that a user is trusted by dozens of suspected
290:
would not be appropriate to make statements of trust as part of deals, either for tit-for-tat recognition or for a favour elsewhere. Again, since it is unlikely that anybody offering such an arrangement is a respected member of the community, there is little benefit in having that person declare their trust in you. It is important to remember that the trust network is not a popularity contest, and so there is no need to actively seek out declarations of trust. The fact that another user has not made a declaration of trust in your favour is by no means a declaration of distrust.
152:
that their contributions are civil, constructive and of generally high quality. It is important that the trust network does not just become a popularity contest, and that the lack of an explicit statement of trust should never be interpreted as a statement of distrust. Additionally, it would be wise to consider carefully any thoughts of writing explicit statements of
21:
281:, are attack-resistant, but may require a core "seed" of users trusted by the metric itself. Different choices for this seeding will produce different results, and different users will decide on completely distinct seed choices: there is therefore no prospect of this producing an official editor rating system through Knowledge using this system.
117:. This proposed system for the English Knowledge shares the three key ideas of Vertrauensnetz: giving users a formal way of declaring their confidence in other users, a way of seeing which users have declared their trust of a particular user, and the resulting structure of trust-relationships formed between all users (
289:
Declarations of trust should be limited to users the declarer has high confidence in, but not necessarily all those that they like or agree with. Since "who trusts you?" is more important than "how many people trust you?" there is little point in creating sock puppets to declare trust in yourself. It
151:
There are a variety of reasons to express trust in another user: you may have worked together on a proposal or article, reviewed many of their edits in articles on your watchlist, or know them personally. Liking another user should not generally be enough; trusting somebody requires being confident
293:
A web of trust should not be overly relied upon. Naturally, new but excellent contributors will take time to be integrated into the web. Neither does the web document even widespread distrust of a user. For this reason, it will always be important to peruse user and user talk pages, as well as an
269:
accounts to trust oneself). Another is to count how many links there are in the chain of trust between yourself and another user: if I trust A, who trusts B, who trusts C, and this is the shortest path from myself to C, then C is three links away from me. I might decide that I explicitly trust
143:
The web of trust is neither a popularity contest nor a measurement or assessment of an editor's trustworthiness or value. However, it provides an additional piece of information that may be useful when coming across another user for the first time. The
Knowledge user base is so large that two
264:
to rate individual users. There are very many different ways to do this, which will produce quite different results, and it is important to note that no metric is endorsed by this proposal. The simplest trust metric is to count the number of users who trust the rated user, but this system is
248:
The network can help to reveal the extent to which
Knowledge contributors are trusted by their peers. This information might serve several purposes: for instance, as an indicator when considering to what extent the Knowledge content added by a user can be trusted, when taking part in
329:
The web consists simply of a collection of trust-relationships: it measures nothing. However, this information could be extracted from
Knowledge and analysed, in many different ways, to produce "trust values" for individual users. The results will vary depending on which
270:
anybody one link away from me, and implicitly trust anybody up to three links away. This is very different to the previous case: the measurement is personal, not absolute, and will not be affected by sock puppetry.
1390:
82:
The trust network exists to allow users to systematically document their trust-relationships, and to see which users have declared trust in another user. It is not a popularity contest or editor rating.
926:
121:). The key differences between the inactive system and the presently proposed are that the inactive system relied upon the editing of a centrally-stored table and allowed formal expressions of
1314:
684:
310:. The nodes are individual users, with the relationship "User X trusts User Y" resulting in an edge directed from User X's node to User Y's. The web of trust can therefore be analysed using
1171:
909:
578:
1333:
679:
1338:
1055:
904:
204:
174:
694:
1262:
899:
632:
970:
689:
674:
1154:
921:
849:
365:
620:
1115:
1075:
1008:
1080:
1060:
1018:
753:
35:
Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the
1050:
1193:
669:
1422:
894:
235:
After that, make a list of
Wikipedians that you trust, making use of the template {{I trust|User name|Reason (optional)}} – for an example, see
1304:
1085:
931:
871:
499:
1070:
946:
803:
768:
615:
605:
1459:
1181:
1065:
992:
1289:
1164:
941:
716:
548:
1454:
1294:
1279:
1040:
936:
610:
600:
590:
494:
489:
196:
36:
1442:
1402:
1343:
1326:
1299:
721:
661:
479:
358:
1571:
1105:
1001:
997:
963:
832:
711:
469:
437:
254:
43:
1566:
1380:
1274:
1222:
1200:
820:
704:
558:
484:
464:
1412:
1365:
1284:
1232:
1149:
1013:
543:
1417:
1210:
1205:
980:
157:
1545:
1498:
1481:
1466:
1385:
1159:
1030:
553:
538:
530:
511:
504:
426:
351:
207:), which provides direct links to lists of other users who trust that user, and also the contributors that user trusts.
278:
1375:
1309:
1257:
1227:
1110:
975:
953:
773:
735:
1476:
1247:
1217:
1176:
987:
839:
815:
644:
573:
386:
1427:
1321:
1237:
1188:
844:
780:
1510:
1493:
1488:
1137:
916:
881:
758:
585:
415:
1045:
827:
449:
266:
226:
217:
145:
1535:
114:
1471:
1142:
886:
743:
474:
236:
192:
102:
864:
798:
790:
656:
627:
595:
454:
307:
200:
1540:
859:
854:
459:
181:
1432:
1353:
1269:
1132:
1122:
958:
432:
394:
374:
250:
1369:
1437:
1127:
763:
748:
526:
52:
28:
20:
94:
810:
699:
188:
1357:
731:
444:
294:
editor's contributions, when trying to find out about a user you have recently encountered.
106:
1522:
1517:
568:
563:
405:
314:: a copy of the entire web of trust could be extracted from Knowledge for this purpose.
1505:
1449:
639:
516:
420:
303:
232:
template, writing {{Trust network|Example user}} where "Example user" is your username.
133:
1560:
137:
331:
311:
261:
90:
129:
110:
98:
274:
343:
177:, where Example user is the user being considered. Alternatively, use
392:
For a listing of ongoing discussions and current requests, see the
101:
on 17 February 2004. Its implementation in the German
Knowledge as
384:
For a listing of current collaborations, tasks, and news, see the
347:
15:
93:" is inspired by the mailing list thread that began with
60:
302:
Strictly speaking, the "web of trust" is actually a
27:
This page is currently inactive and is retained for
1401:
1352:
1246:
1096:
1029:
880:
789:
730:
655:
525:
404:
334:is used, and none is officially endorsed. See the
175:Special:Whatlinkshere/User:Example user/Trusted by
265:vulnerable to attack (for instance, the use of
359:
216:Make a /Trust subpage of your userpage, e.g.
118:
8:
260:The network itself can be analysed using a
366:
352:
344:
72:
128:In March 2005 it was started on Meta as
322:
164:Using the features of the trust network
273:More advanced metrics, most famously
7:
690:Science, technology and engineering
148:would only harm their reputation.
97:by Jimbo Wales and was started by
14:
335:
754:A nice cup of tea and a sit down
44:Knowledge:Personal acquaintances
19:
1376:Wikimedia Foundation elections
1051:Dispute resolution noticeboard
695:Knowledge assistance and tasks
211:To assert trust in other users
1:
1056:Biographies of living persons
187:with the username to produce
42:A related active project is
895:Administrators' noticeboard
769:Compliment before criticism
606:Featured article candidates
76:This system in a nutshell:
1588:
50:
1531:
381:
1155:Copyright investigations
601:Good article nominations
591:Articles for improvement
298:Structure of the network
253:, or when considering a
169:To see who trusts a user
103:Knowledge:Vertrauensnetz
1572:Knowledge trust network
554:Articles needing images
549:Images needing articles
279:innovative trust metric
218:User:Example user/Trust
1567:Inactive project pages
1106:Regional notice boards
998:Requests for adminship
722:Organizations category
712:Counter-Vandalism Unit
470:Centralized discussion
237:User:TheGrappler/Trust
156:, bearing in mind the
1403:Directories, indexes,
1076:Neutral point of view
1009:Arbitration Committee
559:Articles for creation
465:The Knowledge Library
338:for more information.
255:request for adminship
251:recent changes patrol
89:This proposal for a "
1366:Requests for comment
1150:Copyright assistance
1081:No original research
1061:Conflict of interest
1041:Requests for comment
872:Controversial issues
675:Culture and the arts
544:Most-wanted articles
336:applications section
285:Potential for misuse
1418:Edit summary legend
685:History and society
628:Article translation
375:Knowledge community
158:no personal attacks
1499:Citation templates
1386:Voting is not evil
1334:Arguments to avoid
1097:Other noticeboards
539:Requested articles
1554:
1553:
1339:Arguments to make
1228:General sanctions
1172:Resource requests
1111:Requests for help
954:Revision deletion
791:Maintenance tasks
774:Kindness Campaign
406:General community
87:
86:
71:
70:
1579:
1233:Editor sanctions
1194:Page importation
1123:Asking questions
1086:Reliable sources
937:User permissions
845:Category tracker
840:Database reports
387:Community portal
368:
361:
354:
345:
339:
327:
231:
225:
186:
180:
134:m:Vertrauensnetz
73:
63:
47:
40:
23:
16:
1587:
1586:
1582:
1581:
1580:
1578:
1577:
1576:
1557:
1556:
1555:
1550:
1527:
1455:Manual of Style
1397:
1348:
1242:
1238:Long-term abuse
1182:History mergers
1165:Media questions
1092:
1071:Fringe theories
1031:Content dispute
1025:
981:Title blacklist
932:Page protection
917:Admin dashboard
876:
785:
726:
651:
521:
400:
377:
372:
342:
328:
324:
320:
300:
287:
246:
229:
223:
213:
184:
178:
171:
166:
105:was started by
67:
66:
59:
55:
41:
34:
12:
11:
5:
1585:
1583:
1575:
1574:
1569:
1559:
1558:
1552:
1551:
1549:
1548:
1543:
1538:
1532:
1529:
1528:
1526:
1525:
1520:
1515:
1514:
1513:
1503:
1502:
1501:
1491:
1486:
1485:
1484:
1479:
1474:
1464:
1463:
1462:
1452:
1447:
1446:
1445:
1435:
1430:
1425:
1423:Editor's index
1420:
1415:
1409:
1407:
1405:
1399:
1398:
1396:
1395:
1394:
1393:
1388:
1378:
1373:
1362:
1360:
1350:
1349:
1347:
1346:
1344:Article Rescue
1341:
1336:
1331:
1330:
1329:
1319:
1318:
1317:
1307:
1302:
1297:
1292:
1287:
1282:
1277:
1272:
1267:
1266:
1265:
1254:
1252:
1249:
1244:
1243:
1241:
1240:
1235:
1230:
1225:
1220:
1215:
1214:
1213:
1208:
1198:
1197:
1196:
1186:
1185:
1184:
1174:
1169:
1168:
1167:
1162:
1157:
1147:
1146:
1145:
1140:
1138:Reference desk
1135:
1130:
1120:
1119:
1118:
1108:
1102:
1100:
1099:and assistance
1098:
1094:
1093:
1091:
1090:
1089:
1088:
1083:
1078:
1073:
1068:
1066:External links
1063:
1058:
1048:
1043:
1037:
1035:
1032:
1027:
1026:
1024:
1023:
1022:
1021:
1016:
1006:
1005:
1004:
1002:bureaucratship
990:
985:
984:
983:
978:
968:
967:
966:
956:
951:
950:
949:
944:
939:
934:
929:
922:Admin requests
919:
914:
913:
912:
907:
902:
891:
889:
884:
882:Administrators
878:
877:
875:
874:
869:
868:
867:
865:Recent changes
862:
852:
850:Dusty articles
847:
842:
837:
836:
835:
825:
824:
823:
821:Admin category
818:
808:
807:
806:
795:
793:
787:
786:
784:
783:
778:
777:
776:
771:
761:
759:Charitableness
756:
751:
746:
740:
738:
728:
727:
725:
724:
719:
714:
709:
708:
707:
705:Recent changes
697:
692:
687:
682:
677:
672:
666:
664:
662:collaborations
659:
653:
652:
650:
649:
648:
647:
637:
636:
635:
625:
624:
623:
618:
613:
603:
598:
593:
588:
586:Vital articles
583:
582:
581:
576:
571:
566:
556:
551:
546:
541:
535:
533:
523:
522:
520:
519:
514:
509:
508:
507:
502:
497:
492:
487:
482:
472:
467:
462:
457:
452:
447:
442:
441:
440:
435:
430:
418:
416:Administration
412:
410:
407:
402:
401:
391:
382:
379:
378:
373:
371:
370:
363:
356:
348:
341:
340:
321:
319:
316:
306:rather than a
304:directed graph
299:
296:
286:
283:
245:
242:
241:
240:
233:
220:
212:
209:
170:
167:
165:
162:
130:m:Web of trust
85:
84:
78:
77:
69:
68:
65:
64:
56:
51:
48:
33:
24:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1584:
1573:
1570:
1568:
1565:
1564:
1562:
1547:
1544:
1542:
1539:
1537:
1534:
1533:
1530:
1524:
1521:
1519:
1516:
1512:
1509:
1508:
1507:
1504:
1500:
1497:
1496:
1495:
1492:
1490:
1487:
1483:
1480:
1478:
1475:
1473:
1470:
1469:
1468:
1465:
1461:
1458:
1457:
1456:
1453:
1451:
1448:
1444:
1443:Abbreviations
1441:
1440:
1439:
1436:
1434:
1431:
1429:
1426:
1424:
1421:
1419:
1416:
1414:
1411:
1410:
1408:
1406:and summaries
1404:
1400:
1392:
1389:
1387:
1384:
1383:
1382:
1379:
1377:
1374:
1371:
1367:
1364:
1363:
1361:
1359:
1355:
1351:
1345:
1342:
1340:
1337:
1335:
1332:
1328:
1325:
1324:
1323:
1320:
1316:
1313:
1312:
1311:
1308:
1306:
1303:
1301:
1298:
1296:
1293:
1291:
1288:
1286:
1283:
1281:
1278:
1276:
1273:
1271:
1268:
1264:
1261:
1260:
1259:
1256:
1255:
1253:
1251:
1245:
1239:
1236:
1234:
1231:
1229:
1226:
1224:
1221:
1219:
1216:
1212:
1209:
1207:
1204:
1203:
1202:
1199:
1195:
1192:
1191:
1190:
1187:
1183:
1180:
1179:
1178:
1175:
1173:
1170:
1166:
1163:
1161:
1160:Text problems
1158:
1156:
1153:
1152:
1151:
1148:
1144:
1141:
1139:
1136:
1134:
1131:
1129:
1126:
1125:
1124:
1121:
1117:
1114:
1113:
1112:
1109:
1107:
1104:
1103:
1101:
1095:
1087:
1084:
1082:
1079:
1077:
1074:
1072:
1069:
1067:
1064:
1062:
1059:
1057:
1054:
1053:
1052:
1049:
1047:
1046:Third opinion
1044:
1042:
1039:
1038:
1036:
1034:
1028:
1020:
1017:
1015:
1012:
1011:
1010:
1007:
1003:
999:
996:
995:
994:
991:
989:
986:
982:
979:
977:
974:
973:
972:
969:
965:
962:
961:
960:
957:
955:
952:
948:
945:
943:
940:
938:
935:
933:
930:
928:
925:
924:
923:
920:
918:
915:
911:
908:
906:
903:
901:
898:
897:
896:
893:
892:
890:
888:
883:
879:
873:
870:
866:
863:
861:
858:
857:
856:
855:Special pages
853:
851:
848:
846:
843:
841:
838:
834:
831:
830:
829:
828:Edit requests
826:
822:
819:
817:
814:
813:
812:
809:
805:
802:
801:
800:
797:
796:
794:
792:
788:
782:
779:
775:
772:
770:
767:
766:
765:
762:
760:
757:
755:
752:
750:
747:
745:
742:
741:
739:
737:
733:
729:
723:
720:
718:
717:Accessibility
715:
713:
710:
706:
703:
702:
701:
698:
696:
693:
691:
688:
686:
683:
681:
678:
676:
673:
671:
668:
667:
665:
663:
658:
654:
646:
643:
642:
641:
638:
634:
631:
630:
629:
626:
622:
619:
617:
614:
612:
609:
608:
607:
604:
602:
599:
597:
594:
592:
589:
587:
584:
580:
577:
575:
572:
570:
567:
565:
562:
561:
560:
557:
555:
552:
550:
547:
545:
542:
540:
537:
536:
534:
532:
528:
524:
518:
515:
513:
510:
506:
503:
501:
500:Miscellaneous
498:
496:
493:
491:
488:
486:
483:
481:
478:
477:
476:
473:
471:
468:
466:
463:
461:
458:
456:
453:
451:
450:Mailing lists
448:
446:
443:
439:
436:
434:
431:
429:
428:
424:
423:
422:
419:
417:
414:
413:
411:
409:
403:
399:
397:
396:
389:
388:
380:
376:
369:
364:
362:
357:
355:
350:
349:
346:
337:
333:
326:
323:
317:
315:
313:
309:
305:
297:
295:
291:
284:
282:
280:
276:
271:
268:
263:
258:
256:
252:
243:
238:
234:
228:
227:Trust network
221:
219:
215:
214:
210:
208:
206:
202:
198:
194:
190:
183:
176:
168:
163:
161:
159:
155:
149:
147:
141:
139:
135:
131:
126:
124:
120:
116:
112:
108:
104:
100:
96:
92:
83:
80:
79:
75:
74:
62:
58:
57:
54:
49:
45:
38:
32:
30:
25:
22:
18:
17:
1472:Five pillars
1381:WP Democracy
1143:Adopt-a-user
993:Bureaucrats'
947:Open proxies
905:Edit warring
887:noticeboards
744:Reward board
680:Geographical
657:WikiProjects
475:Village pump
438:In the media
427:The Signpost
425:
393:
385:
383:
332:trust metric
325:
312:graph theory
301:
292:
288:
272:
262:trust metric
259:
247:
244:Applications
222:Include the
189:Example user
172:
153:
150:
142:
127:
122:
115:23 July 2004
95:this posting
91:web of trust
88:
81:
37:village pump
26:
1523:Wiki markup
1413:Departments
1250:discussions
1019:Enforcement
942:Sockpuppets
799:Task Center
596:Peer review
455:Wikipedians
146:sockpuppets
107:Sansculotte
1561:Categories
1482:Guidelines
1460:Simplified
1391:Milestones
1327:Undeletion
1300:Miscellany
1290:Categories
1033:resolution
804:Open tasks
460:Statistics
267:sockpuppet
205:trusted by
31:reference.
29:historical
1546:Templates
1494:Templates
1489:Shortcuts
1354:Elections
1295:Redirects
1280:Templates
1223:Education
1211:Whitelist
1206:Blacklist
1133:Help desk
971:Usernames
959:Oversight
910:Vandalism
900:Incidents
860:New pages
670:Directory
640:Main Page
495:Technical
490:Proposals
433:Goings-on
395:Dashboard
119:see below
1541:Category
1477:Policies
1438:Glossary
1310:Proposed
1275:Articles
1248:Deletion
1128:Teahouse
1116:Category
1014:Requests
976:Changing
833:Category
816:Category
764:WikiLove
749:Contests
736:feedback
616:Pictures
574:Creation
569:WP:AFC/C
564:WP:AFC/R
527:Contents
512:Holidays
480:Idea lab
275:Advogato
197:contribs
160:policy.
154:distrust
138:Arnomane
123:distrust
61:WP:TRUST
53:Shortcut
1177:Mergers
964:Request
927:Closure
811:Backlog
781:Thanks!
700:Patrols
531:grading
445:Meetups
308:network
1428:Essays
1358:voting
1322:Review
1305:Speedy
732:Awards
645:Errors
621:Topics
485:Policy
408:topics
201:trusts
173:Go to
1536:Media
1518:Tools
1511:Today
1467:Rules
1285:Files
1270:Today
1263:Admin
1258:Guide
1189:Moves
633:Pages
611:Lists
318:Notes
182:trust
111:Elian
99:Pcb21
1506:Tips
1450:Help
1433:FAQs
1370:meta
1356:and
1218:Bots
1201:Spam
1000:and
988:OTRS
885:and
734:and
660:and
579:Help
529:and
517:Bots
421:News
193:talk
132:and
109:and
1315:BLP
505:WMF
277:'s
257:.
136:by
113:on
1563::
230:}}
224:{{
203:•
199:•
195:•
185:}}
179:{{
140:.
125:.
46:.
1372:)
1368:(
398:.
390:.
367:e
360:t
353:v
239:.
191:(
39:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.