Given the tiresome troll wars of late, we're in the process of instituting changes in how the system works.
Already done:
No one will achieve Trusted User (TU) status unless they've had an account in good standing for over three months. All current TUs with less than three months of service have lost it (that's 121 of you, btw). It's clear some people don't know enough about how the site works to use the troll rating responsibly.
Imminent changes:
TUs will be limited to two troll ratings per day. Too many people on these boards don't get that troll ratings were meant for trolls, and not "comment I disagree with" or "user I don't like". Limiting the number of troll ratings allowed should make this rule crystal clear.
It will also be more difficult to achieve TU status. It won't be enough to head into C&J and rack up the mojo overnight. People will actually have to earn TU status. There are obviously too many TUs running around who are acting irresponsibly. (And that's not just people who are quick to troll rate, but those who are quick to uprate obviously trollish comments.)
Other changes:
The Scoop auto-ban had been broken since the new comment boards had been brought online. Well, it's now fixed. And unlike the old auto-ban which had a grace period to see if someone troll rated into oblivion could raise his or her score, this new one shows no mercy. Instant ban. But, on the flip side, the bar is set a bit higher. Auto-ban won't kick in for someone who is otherwise a valued user but has a bad day or flips out on a single thread.
And Ajax yummies
If you guys like the Ajax comment submit form, we've got the same deal coming online for the diary submit page. That's about a week off.
Update: A reminder -- TU status isn't a lifetime award. If you don't remain an active participant on the site, racking up mojo, it goes away.
Update II: After the tightening of the TU rolls, there are now 2010 trusted users. That's down from about 2,400 before the changes.
Update III: There was a small error in the new TU algorythm that excluded more people than we intended. Some of you will be regaining TU status shortly. The rest of you will have to continue being active and valued participants in the site to get it back.