Hey everyone!
I have been frequenting the "new" section of posts for a couple of days now and I am sure many at #doyourpart have too. Like many others I had a lot of friends sign up and some of them are using it actively already. One thing that does slightly bother me is when unverified accounts hug all the real ones and makes it hard for readers to find them when browsing the #introduceyourself tag.
Now I don't want to say that you HAVE to verify your account, but considering you are tagging it as #introduceyourself it would be highly appropriate to verify it, plus its a win-win for both readers and writers:
-Readers don't have to be "oh no, this one looks like a fake account again, ugh, I'll switch tag..."
-Writers don't have to be "oh no, what did my post do wrong? no one is voting for it..."
Reasons why people create fake accounts:
-quick profit (they hope to get really lucky and hit big upvotes, hope no one finds out (remember the internet is big and deep) until they can cash it out, get SteemPower which probably will be abused more in the future)
-long term profit (even though they abuse the system, they still believe in Steem and its success, SP accumulates, etc)
So preventing these users is the one of the reasons for verification.
What verifying your account isn't:
-adding a steemit logo with photoshop/paint/similar in the background of a picture (this can be done with any picture) and shouldn't be used as verification.
-You don't HAVE to hold a paper with steemit on it, but its one of the most accessible ways to do it quickly (if you are editing your introduction post)
-adding tons of sources from other social platforms (if you in this case verify there, that works too, (example you are mostly active on twitter, you could tweet: "Doing an introduction post on Steemit, or something similar")) but if Steemit isn't mentioned anywhere there, that is also easy just to copy links of someone else and post them here
-You don't have to take personal pictures of yourself or others/other things that disclose information about you, your account here can remain anonymous if you want it to be
What verifying is:
-proving that the person you are portraying to be, is the one posting on said account
-extra trust
What this prevents, which I think would be the worst case scenario, is imagining someone signing up for Steemit some day, about to post their first blog, and they would realize through the tags that someone else has been pretending to be them for all the time she didn't know this site existed.
Thanks for reading! Would love to hear some more ideas about successfully verifying your account without doing it the "default" way of holding a piece of paper and taking a selfie.
Will give out 1 Steem to some of the best ideas!
Edit: sending steem to some of the suggestions/discussions!
Thank you, @acidyo! My wife saw not only plagiarism, but the exact type of identity theft you described! It's sickening.
Two cryptographic solutions may help:
https://keybase.io/lukestokes
https://onename.com/lukestokes
The last one is even based on the blockchain.
What this does ensure is that the social media accounts have been verified. They could then sign a message using their key for added validation.
Is this too difficult for most people? Probably.
What else can we do about it?
Skill up. I know that's harsh, but many people used to think email was too complicated. Now it's second nature. I think public/private key encryption will also be something we all have to get used to, especially as cryptocurrencies become more common.
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Sent you the 3rd reward for the suggestion! Thanks!
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Sweet! Thank you.
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haha thanks for verifying ;)
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Thanks for this post! I agree, it happens so often in the "new" section. Most thankfully get flagged or shut down early, but every now and then some make it further and some times even too high. But the community here isn't easy fooled, so that's a +!
The account verifying method you described is new to me and if it really is that simple as it sounds, that is amazing and would be awesome to have a "sticky" guidepost with it there for newbies in the #introduceyourself.
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That's a good idea. Maybe I'll put together a tutorial at some point. Public/Private key encryption can be hard and confusing, even for those in tech. I like how these sites try to make it easy.
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Can you please send me an invite in keybase?
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Hey @dumpa. I guess I could, but I think the idea behind the system is that you recommend close friends that you would vouch for personally. Since you and I are strangers at this point and have never met in real life, that might be a little odd. As for keybase, I'm not sure what they are up to as I see a long queue to signup and not much activity on their twitter feed... odd.
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Thank you for sharing.
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I wrote an article about it. I also mentioned a way better verification method!
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Although I agree that its a more fail-proof verification method to film instead of take a picture.
For most people its a hassle, most don't even know about imgur or steemits own uploading page, even verifying may sound like a hassle to them. Most users won't have a need to fake verification pics, and most users can early on tell if its edited with or not through various sites. The thing is that if something big would happen with said user or someone would need their verification for something important I'm sure they will be able to provide better proof, if not then we may know why.
Thing is that verifying it quickly is enough for us not to not trust the user, or think he is fake. If anyone would need more verification later because person C wants to create a charity for X and we want to make sure this is a real person who can stand for what he is doing.
Thanks for the reply!
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sent you a steem! :)
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Wow thank you very much!
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goob job @acidyo excellent! upvoted
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Thank you! :)
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upvoted! upvoted me?
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Sure, it just feels useless when my votes don't even give a cent since my voting power is around 40%. Too much activity. :P
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lol! me too
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This is an important issue , @acidyo
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This is a VERY important lesson for people making introduceyourself posts. I think that the key to ALL interactions on this platform are about demonstrating that you are "real" even if you don't reveal your identity. Great post.
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"ALL interactions on this platform are about demonstrating that you are "real""
Exactly! Its a win-win situation for both readers, voters and writers, win-win-win. :P
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Sent you a steem! Was thinking there would be more suggestions so in lack of that I decided to award the ones that brought discussion too.
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Thanks!
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maybe it can be hard, but how about verification with passport? Like in electronic wallets. We have the deal with money too.
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The best way to verify your post, IMO, is actually to just be yourself. Humans are very good at instinctively perceiving whether someone is real or not. If you talk about your passions, your loves, your hopes and dreams, people will believe you're real.
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You don't want strangers to have all of your names. Passport is not a safe method of verification on the internet.
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i meen verificaation while you are sign in firstly
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Someone else suggested taking a selfie with a calendar and/or clock.
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Interesting
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I agree with you!!! Include this as well:
"Introductions should Include a picture of themselves Holding a piece of paper with the username written on it and with one finger in He's or Her's Left or Right ear!"
Explanation on why? and more in my post Here
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A good solution is a #snapstorm (video content). I tried it today and would love to see others do the same! https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@ntomaino/i-m-nick-tomaino-a-vc-at-runa-capital-excited-to-introduce-myself-today-on-steemit-via-a-snapstorm
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Everyone trusts verified accounts more i think, and people tends to be slightly less assholish when using their real identity.
Thanks for the post
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You've reassured me! My decision to offer links instead of a portrait photo might not have been so stupid.
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to be honest I haven't bothered verifying my account so far and don't know if i will. i think doing it on one post that will soon be lost on your blog page makes it a bit pointless.
I'd much rather see an app that you use to take a selfie and asks you to put a set message on your twitter of Facebook account . your picture and link are then sent to set number of moderators who will check your account for the message thus verifying your identity. we could then have a symbol next to our names to say our accounts have been verified.
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What about for people who wish to preserve a layer of anonymity? But are also clearly an "authentic" persona or persona?
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Did you read the whole post?
"-You don't have to take personal pictures of yourself or others/other things that disclose information about you, your account here can remain anonymous if you want it to be"
There are ways to verify you are the persona you say you are without showing your face or other personal stuff that would give your anonymity away. If you have other anonymous social networks, by using them and adding the word steem or linking to your steem account works as verification as well.
The whole point with verifying is so we know you are real. No need to give out personal information when verifying.
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No I saw that part I just wanted to know what best practices would be for someone in my situation. Thanks!
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Hey @adicyo, another awesome post on a great topic!
What worked for me is linking back from my post to my personal Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn profiles.
This seemed to work, and I haven't had anyone question me yet on whether or not my account is fake or real.
If you're having trouble verifying your account, I would say give this a try.
Thanks!
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I don't understand what you mean in the end. Are you asking me if I have trouble verifying my account?
About the linking part, like I said, think about it as "could someone online do this without proof that its really me?" Yes, if they do link to their twitter account, and on twitter there is no mention about steemit, any steemit followers, etc. Then yes, anyone online could do this.
But if you on your "verified twitter" account say that "hey I'm doing my intro post on steemit" then we know that its really you the real owner of the other social platform, not someone just linking to a random one pretending to be them.
That was the point of the blogpost.
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valuable post and thanks for clarifying for us all
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I don't really understand the concept of verification...as in what needs to be included. But if I don't want a picture of my face on my post, what about taking a pic of my fingerpads so you can see my fingerprints? From what I've read it seems like you also need to have "steemit" somewhere in the pic...so you could write in on your palm? Or...if that's acceptable...what about taking a pic of unique tattoos (with a steemit written nearby)?
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