I had a 5/5/5/5 at World's End. I am sorry for those who lost a lot of time and effort, but at the same time, my tears are tears of joy, that I have learned such a valuable lesson for so little effort invested.
Poor OpSec and lack of game mechanics knowledge caused the fall of this great city. I suppose I need to give credit to the superb meta-gaming skill involved as well. I take no umbrage against the person or people that destroyed the city or the person that made the mistake that caused it to happen. People make mistakes and douche bags are douche bags. Nothing can be done about either situation.
Lesson learned: Presently, if you trust someone you do not know personally or have not known and trusted online for a significant amount of time, it will likely be your death-nail if you join a town with them. There are people who have specifically said that they get their fun from this game by destroying what others have built and they have known and trusted each other for years. That is an insurmountable advantage in a game such as this with the present mechanics.
My advice to someone new: Create a cache of two other three built up chars on solo settlements. Once you have that, if you want to join a town for the social aspects of the game, start a new char and join with that one. Go into "maintenance mode" on your other settlements and have a good time with your social char. Once you are betrayed and your town is destroyed, you have several options to fall back on and help you build up again on a new char. If you get your main char killed in a town through betrayal, you will likely end up wanting to quit.
Regards,
Ez