@Lisa723 Thank you for your reply and clarification. (And for the lesson in messageboarding...!)
(Regarding my own place: I don't receive many requests. Not many people come to this area out the high season anyway, so it kind of takes care of itself. If I were to receive a "correct" request for, say, December, well, maybe it'd be worth taking it and I'd go rent a room somewhere else. But as it is, it's not something I really have to worry about. I have declined a handful of requests, but it's always been for good reasons - the person needed an elevator when clearly there is not one ... the person wanted different dates ... the person thought he was booking the entire apartment for a few euros a night when in fact he had asked to book the room ... )
4.7 out of 5 stars seems like an absurd minimum. When I've used AIrbnb as a Guest, I've given 4 stars to indicate that my stay was very good! If most guests "realize how it works" and score accordingly, it would seem to deprive the rating system of any meaning, wouldn't it? It recollects the pandemic grade inflation we see now that makes colleges students into point-grunging, meaning-lost automatons ...