A rating system with such importance placed on it certainly brings up this idea of a "social credit system" which is justifiably troubling to many of us.
A simple version could be a "Leo Finance score" a "3speak score", a "Natural Medicine" score, and even a "Blurt score" etc.
The system I want to build is quite different from a "social scoring" system, and even more individualized than you're suggesting in your second paragraph.
The web of trust system I'm envisioning will actually give you personally unique results, different from those of anyone else, unless you by chance or on purpose configure your personal system the same as someone else.
This system will allow you to specify how it rates information, and allows you to modify how it computes ratings, based on your experience with it over time. The potential variations in how an individual's rating system works are nearly limitless, although there will be some commonalities in how they function.
You've got me very interested. I think it would have to encourage people from different perspectives to make peaceful relationships despite their disagreements without pressuring people to give up their ideas. I have no idea how you'd do that but maybe I will once I see the dummies guide to your rep system.
It sounds very similar to what I heard from someone at holochain. You might want to check them out. Don't know how you feel about them but more collaborations with other strong communities would be nice if the goals are the same. I will try to find where they mention that.