Using follows as a proxy for “trust” (and mute lists as a proxy for “no trust”) may be better than nothing, but at some point WoT needs to be more sophisticated in a number of ways. For one thing, “trust” needs to be contextual. For another, we need tools to allow us to make explicit trust attestations so we don’t have to rely upon frequently flawed proxy indicators. E.g. Alice trusts Bob to curate content on topic X (but maybe doesn’t trust for topic Y).

The question is how to develop those tools gradually. Using proxy indicators, flawed as they are, may be a useful part of the roadmap.