We're using the users' online presence as a way to bootstrap their initial reputation. This is especially useful now, at our early stage, where we don't yet hav

We're using the users' online presence as a way to bootstrap their initial reputation. This is especially useful now, at our early stage, where we don't yet have many ratings & vouches, but we anticipate that over time the weight of ratings would become much more significant than that of the linked accounts. Regarding anonymity - building a reputation anonymously makes no sense. You'd need to have some kind of identity that can have a history and ratings attached to it. That identity could, however, be pseudonymous and not attached to a real world identity. In which case, you could also have a Twitter, HN and Reddit accounts for that same pseudonymous identity, so pseudonymity does not preclude you from linking accounts.