Second trust line for the same currency should produce a warning dialog

[vinniefalco]

When a user attempts to create a trust line for a currency, and there are already one or more trust lines for that currency present, the confirmation dialog should have additional text that warns the user of the potential consequences:

You are about to trust ____
to the Ripple user _____
Are you sure?

*Warning*
By pressing CONFIRM you are extending trust to multiple issuers for the
same currency which may result in your account balances changing without
your direct action. Make sure you understand these consequences, and that
all your issuers are trustworthy. For more information on trust lines please
visit https://ripple.com/wiki/Ripple."

BACK< / CONFIRM

There is currently a scammer named TradeFortress who is enticing unknowing Ripple users to extend him 100 BTC of trust. He then uses these trust lines to drain the victim's accounts of good IOUs, leaving his worthless IOUs in their place. For more information on TradeFortress please visit:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=207841.0

[arsenische]

I think it would be nice if I could not only specify the trust limit, but also specify a "discount" rate for each issuer, that would reflect the probability of default.

E. g. I have a limit of 1000 btc to Bitstamp with discount = 0.99, and 100 btc limit to TradeFortress with discount 0.01... thus if one wants to exchange TradeFortress to Bitstamp using my liquidity, he would need to give me 99 TradeFortress btc for 1 Bitstamp btc.

I don't yet fully understand how Ripple works, so sorry if I wrote something stupid/impossible to do.

[vinniefalco]

Not impossible at all in fact it is built into the protocol. The trust line is described by a "Ripple State Entry" which includes a conversion rate. This rate is specified as two numbers "Quality In / Quality Out" which is the conversion ratio. The word "quality" is a little bit confusing in this context. You can read more about it here: https://ripple.com/wiki/Ledger_Format#Ripple_State_Entry

I'm not sure if a feature like this belongs in the reference client though. At the very least it should be accessed by some sort of "Advanced" button.

[dchapes]

I like the idea of a warning but please make it with a "Do not show this warning again" or something equivalent so that those that know what they are doing don't get bothered with it. Also this won't magically solve the issue of people misplacing trust or doing unwise things with Ripple; people don't read dialog boxes.

@arsenische The server lets you do that now with quality_in and quality_out (see the wiki) but the client doesn't present these options. Making the interface even more confusing at this time may not be wise.

[vinniefalco]

dchapes: Ripple already shows a confirmation dialog whenever extending a trust line so we can just add text to that. Therefore, it should not be necessary to have a "Do not show this warning again." Unless you also want to do away with the already existing confirmation, which I do not recommend.

[ghost]

I would add something to the effect of "If the account you are trusting is malicious, the trust you are granting them could be used to steal money from you" to the warning above. Someone who doesn't really understand IOUs might not be put off by account balances changing – something more direct seems prudent.

[thekelsey]

what needs to be done is txt warning dialoges about the difference between IOU's/trusts/hard currency etc

[thekelsey]

yes already see this being expoited

[maxweizhao]

I like this idea. The warning message can help the new users a lot.