Benefits of having "trusted / high quality" user recognition

FT2 is right that some of these processes are a little too vulnerable to whims and personal opinion. The reason that FA's are great is because they're the only status that's given by consensus. I've actually seen apparent GA's try for FA and get slammed hard, with people arguing they should be demoted.

Not to say that FA should be the only way to tell if an editor understands quality. But going with other measures could make it possible for a faction to pump up the credentials of their own narrow-minded editors.