This is something that needs to be more widely understood. Direct feedback is gamed. Even Amazon reviews, which are more indirect than even professional reviews

This is something that needs to be more widely understood. Direct feedback is gamed. Even Amazon reviews, which are more indirect than even professional reviews, are gamed. It's a common response to the need for regulatory systems that we should "trust reputation systems" instead. This is what happens. Regulatory systems can at least be audited and held accountable. In reputation systems, absent an unforeseen innovation, you'll never be able to do better than currency. That's how reputation has been used since the dawn of man. It has always been currency. Sites like Elance merely made efficient.