What is a 'trust point' on WikiAnswers?

Answer 1

They are points that you get when people Recommend you. But is it because they trust your answer? Perhaps. At the bottom of the questions that have been answered appear two bits of information. One is the "First answer by" and the other is "Last edit by" with each followed by a Username or User I.D. After the Username on "Last edit by" you'll see [recommend] there. (It does not appear after a user I.D. but only for registered users.) If you click on that link, you will have given a Recommend to that last contributor. The Trust Point could be looked as a "thank you" to the person whose answer you found acceptable. (This, even though the last editor may not be the primary and "most contributing" individual to the post.) It may be a "reward" to that person. Or it could be, as suggested, a measure of how much to trust the answer of the person posting. There's always that. But it may not be what you think. Note that, as mentioned, the last Contributor who edited the post may not be the one really "responsible" for the bulk of the answer. Also, lots of trust points may be an "artificial" way of measuring the performance of a Contributor. There have been instances where someone has posted a fabulous answer, and someone else has come along and dotted an 'i' or the like and failed to check the "minor edit" box and then "taken credit" for the answer - and gotten a bunch of recommends for it. Even though they didn't do any "real work" on the post, they bag points. The post stays up until some Supervisor does a "Revert" to restore credit to the original editor. But the points stay up. How fair is that? How "phony" the trust points "earned" by that Contributor? Give a bit of thought to trust points and what they are and how the system works. It may even be worth it to check to see who posted that bit of the answer that really "pushed it over the top" for you and caused you to want to recommend a Contributor. That individual may not have his name up anywhere on the answer and can only be found in the "Question history" to that query.
As written from the Help Center:

Trust Points enable you to vote for a WikiAnswers member whose contributions you think are worthwhile and legitimate.

It is important to note that Trust Points are not a good measurement of how much you can trust the answer to a question. They are simply an indication of how trusted the last contributor is as a member of the WikiAnswers community.

All answers should be critically considered. For reliable advice of any sort you need to consult a qualified professional in your local area.

Trust points can be given by clicking on recommend contributor next to the contributor's username, which can be found either on the contributor's contributions page or on any Q&A page where that contributor was the last to answer.

Contributors are notified by email when they are recommended. This email does not include the name of the person who recommended them, preserving their privacy.

You can always thank someone directly by posting a message on their message board. Just visit their profile page and click Message user.