What I have observed unfortunately is not a pretty site. This site is going downhill fast. Most people here blame the PRs for that but I believe that blaming PRs is a fallacy. They have no real power. Unfortunately the any blame (or credit) for this web site falls squarely on the shoulders of the trusted users. Jeff is fond of saying that this is a community site and if you read between the lines and observe his actions by "community" he clearly means the trusted users.

I believe that it's time to shake things up. So I am going to do the following.

1. I will not post, I will only rate.
   
2. I will rate all PRs a five.
   
3. I will rate all trusted users that appear on the diary entry "TU activity" a one.
   
4. I will rate any other user according to the official rating guidelines of this web site.

Of course I am only one person. The TUs will rate each other up and and my occational 1 rating will be washed out in the recs. Neither will my rating the PRs up stop them from being hidden as dozens of TUs rate them zeros. It may just end up being a symbolic gesture of civil disobedience and nothing more but that's OK with me.

Having said that I urge all PRs to get real accounts and do the same thing. This is your chance to become a trusted user and lead this web site.  You can change this web site by changing the community, you can take this web site where you think it ought to go rather then where it is going. Get a nym, invite your friends to get nyms too. We just need 20 to 30 people to replace the current batch of trusted users. That's not a large number.

Let what is happening all around the world be an inspiration to you. Look at the Ukraine. Look at lebanon and palestine. It's possible to effect change and oust tyranny no matter how powerful or entrenched without violence. We can do it  through peaceful protest, civic action and disobedience and of course moderation.

Some of you may be scared, I know that I am. I expect retaliation to be severe. I fully expect the trusted users to try and find my real identity, I expect them to stalk me online and perhaps even in real life should they find out who I am. There have been numerous threats of legal actions so I don't rule out being sued or charged with criminal offenses either. This is America and anybody can press charges or sue anybody. That is why I am not going to post, only rate. It will be very difficult to go the FBI and file a complain that somebody is rating you down. OTOH I am not a lawyer, perhaps there are legal theories I am not aware of. I take don't take the threats of criminal or civil action lightly and neither should you. This site is not more important then your family or job, if a TU says he knows who you are and is going to press charges it's not wise to push it. I believe they are very serious about this, you could have your life ruined. Be careful

Here is my non legal common sense advice. If you do plan on getting an account please take precautions. Use throwaway email addresses (like spamgourmet), use proxy servers (try proxyrama) or an online anonymizer. If possible post from public places. You can never be sure who will get your private information and share it with whom. Make copies of any offensive or abusive post you see by trusted users (they might disappear once charges are filed). If you are savvy with code maybe try to mirror the site, you never know if all those posts might come in handy during your trial.