15. A method for processing an item by computer, the method comprising: querying a personalized database of trusted metadata concerning the item, the personalized database of trusted metadata including at least one report, the at least one report emanating from metadata received from an informer network, the informer network including a computer user and at least one informer, each informer in the informer network being trusted by the computer user either directly or indirectly to have opinions that coincide with those of the computer user, each indirectly trusted informer being trusted directly by at least one other informer in the informer network, each of the at least one report including one of an explicit subjective assertion, by an informer in the informer network from which that report originated, regarding the quality of an item and an explicit expression, by the informer in the informer network from which that report originated, of a degree of trust in another informer regarding the another informer's opinions; determining the item's subjective quality based on at least one report about the item from an informer in the informer network in the personalized database of trusted metadata; and processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein processing the item in accordance with its subjective quality includes adding the item to a compilation of items of interest to the computer user.