In reply to Terence Milbourn.

You used the word 'customer' 5 times ... the repository is not a market place.

What you describe is not going to happen (at least not in the official repository): the work would be massive (nearly 40000 plugins ...remember), the result would not be worth the effort if you ask me.

I agree with you that reputation is a big thing.

You can have a feeling of developer's reputation just by reading their support threads (on the repository and on their personal sites).

This means you have to invest some time on each of them. You can even share your results. I am sure a lot of plugins/themes developer would love some exposure: this is the thing there are lacking the most on the official repository.