1. A method for providing decision support through the visualization of participant past performance, the method being performed using a computer system associated with an electronic marketplace, the method comprising: retrieving stored past performance information for a plurality of participants reflecting performance of the participants in connection with one or more previous transactions conducted using the marketplace; generating a plurality of substantially linear viewable objects for display to a user, each viewable object corresponding to a particular participant and comprising one or more subdivisions each defined by first and second subdivision boundaries, each subdivision in a viewable object corresponding to a past performance measure and having a length that is proportional to a value of the past performance measure determined according to the retrieved past performance information for the particular participant corresponding to the viewable object; receiving user input selecting a particular past performance measure; and aligning the first boundaries of the subdivisions corresponding to the selected past performance measure, such that the past performance of the participants with respect to the selected past performance measure can be readily visually compared by the user in connection with a marketplace decision.