The need for verification in the real world is ever-present.
We’re asked to show an ID at the bank. We must authenticate the name on our credit cards by showing the cashier our driver’s licenses. We’re asked to verify our D.O.B to pick up prescriptions. We even verify to take books out of our local library!
photo source: Tony Caldwell & The Ottawa Sun
We carry our IDs everywhere, surfing, swimming, hiking in the woods, in case the need to prove “I am who I say I am” arises.
On the Internet nobody knows you’re a Dog
Yet on the internet, it’s fairly easy to say you are anyone in the world. With scammers around every corner (hello, online dating catfish much?) it becomes increasingly important for users of Steemit and other social media networks to find a way to balance anonymity with community trust! Asking for a verification of identity doesn’t make you distrusting it makes you smart! Verification is an important part of protecting yourself and building trust online.
Our Steemverify service allows you verify while you protect your identity and keep it off the blockchain.
The basis of community is trust, and we are passionate about building both community and trust to make Steemit a more welcoming and accepting place! Using a transparent team of trusted community members we will be offering unique badges to users who choose to verify their identities. Whether on the blockchain, in steemit.chat, or privatly through email we will provide a trusted environment to preserve whatever anonymity you wish while vouching for your identities to the community at large.
Our verification team values your confidentiality. Your real name, photos, and website and other details will remain private!
Steemverify Service!
Our unique, customizable, badge at the end of one or each of your posts will be a quick, visual, indicator that you’ve taken the time to verify your identity to the Steemit community!
We advocate for you and address any concerns over your verification with other users you might encounter!
We will provide weekly reports of all usernames who’ve verified, and can quickly check the validity of a badge (against photo-manipulation and copy-pastry) to streamline user interaction and build trust between content-creators and their audience.
Verification Badges are an easy, and beautiful way to verify. Our resident artists will add new designs weekly and users can personalize their own badges with a custom image, photo, avatar or their own design for a donation of a few Steem-bucks!
Getting verified is easy!
To begin the process simply contact us here, on steemit.chat, DM us at @steemitqa or @illuminaughti, or email [email protected]. If you’ve already verified on the blockchain, please include a link to your post or comment!
A Special Note about your Badge
Your badge is unique to you & your username! We use steganography to embed a hidden file in your badge and protects it from misuse.
To use:
Simply upload the image provided by your @steemverify team member to any image server.
You can embed your image at the end of any of your posts!
Our verification teams will be able to effortlessly test the badge to see if your unique file matches with your username!
To preserve the hidden file, please don’t rename or edit your badge. Ask us for another one!
Anyone caught using another user’s verification badge, or forging their own may come under a cheetah ban.
We encourage anyone curious about another user's verification status and authenticity to use @steemverify in the comment section, contact us on steemit.chat or email [email protected].
The cryptotoken world is rife with scams and ponzis and services that are aimed at taking advantage of others--even when those same people who orchestrated the scams were known to others. Paycoin, anyone?
There are several points that I would like to make.
No way exists to stop you making as many accounts as you want that are 'verified'. In addition, once an account is 'verified' it could be sold (along with the image).
I'm not saying that you would, just that it is possible.
Furthermore, you also have not indicated what documentation is necessary for verification. This could be a phishing operation to obtain users' private details that could then be used for other fraudulent purposes.
What about companies that want to verify that are owned by users (potentially by multiple people) and used to create a veil through the corporation? What is the policy for that, if any? If there is no policy for corporations, then you are leaving out a large segment of potential users who cannot be verified. However, if you allow for corporations to identify, what type of information will be required beyond what is searchable from governmental databases?
Finally, there is also no indication how much this service is going to cost (if at all), and it would be nice to see this clarified.
Now, with that said, I am not accusing anyone of anything but think it's prudent that people should be warned of any and all potential issues. I do not necessarily think your intentions are malicious and probably are not.
This is a soft-verification model. We use the same techniques that Steem Cleaner team use to verify original content creators. As far as phishing operation, these are the standard verification tools used on Steemit since it's launch, that happen everyday in the comment sections across this site. This service simply provides an option for people not wishing to put their personal details on the block chain in such a manner.
It can also serve as a repository for the usernames of individuals who've taken the time to verify.
The evidence required to verify will depend on the claims being made by the steemit user. Verification can take place through photos (The old photo-holding-a-sign), or through disclosure of a personal website, blog, or shout outs on social media accounts. This is nothing new. The only new addition are badges, that can be a quick and fun indicator to tell if a user has been verified.
It also allows users to be proactive about verification before they can be accused of fraud, which can be very unsettling to new users.
Whatever reason it won't let me format with quotes so I'm responding with answers to your points.
1.] I couldn’t agree more. You state the Paycoin as the prime example and you are correct to do so.
2.] The “selling account” aspect could be one that is hard to track. Unless, we have it where the person has to know secret behind the code ( assuming he/she sends it along upon selling the account ) behind the badge ( which is how it works ) , or do very much sign-keys blockchain type mechanism. We are already talking about better ways to do things also.
3.] I get where you are coming from.
4.] We are going to do another follow-up post explain what is needed. We figured by dropping into the chat, or via email you would get an answer this way also, but you are right. We need to clearly state this.
5.] There will be more coming up in a follow-up post, but the early answer is we aren’t equipped for this yet. We’ll ramp up to better handle this when it does come about.
6.] We really appreciate the feedback. The more the better. We are going to build a follow-up post with a FAQ this weekend to better clarified some of the issues you raised along with some others mentioned.
I’d like to be clear. This isn’t supposed to be 100% proof as nothing is, BUT we like to think of it as a ‘soft verification’ , or a ‘trust leg’ to get the conversation started and establish some best practices on how we can get people into the trust economy ,but keep their Identity protected. We are glad to engage in this discussion! We are also building the website. More to come and thank you!
Thanks for the reply.
Also, I know that @ned and the Steemit team have been looking at verification solutions as well.
I'm sure they are happy to see other users work on this in a decentralized fashion.
It'd be also nice to see what sort of other legal protections can be given to other users if they provide you with documentation of their identities and what legal means you are doing for collecting these documents.
Can you track or be notified if a password changes on an account? If so that is a signal that the account has changed hands and needs to be reverified. Also could have an expiry date, that all accounts need to be reverified after 3 months or 6 months.
Is there a way you can host the image and then have the image connected to the link switch after expiry to say "verification expired", when reverified it gets restored back to original verified image. Url must stay constant, only image switches.
Lastly, charge 5$ per verification to make your project sustainable longterm and keep you involved.
@steemdrive good suggestion. There should be a way to figure something out like this. Good thinking on that aspect of things. Expiration for re-verification is a good idea.
These are all very good points and I wish I had more to add to the methodology/concerns side of the conversation.
On the user retention side of things, the idea of being able to verify proactively, even if the goal isn't anonymity, does seem very important. Especially with intro posts commonly not being first posts any longer. While I understand exactly where the community members are coming from when asking others to verify, being burned countless times has made the way it's sometimes being asked somewhat harsh, even when not intended. This easily start a new user off on the wrong foot.
I've personally worked with users in the steemprentice group on getting them verified in a manner that the community and the user are comfortable with. Having a service to direct them to when some degree of anonymity is desired takes a sometimes time consuming task off my, and I'm sure others, plate.
While I'm excited to see how the dev teams implements verification in the future, in my eyes we can't just wait for that, especially considering a week on Steemit feels like a month. Personally I'm all for groups finding intermediate (even if imperfect) solutions to implement and refine. If someone finds it's inadequate and makes a better one...all the better for the community.
In my opinion Steemit NEEDS such imperfect solutions; Robinhood Whale, Project Curie, MinnowsUnite, SteemSquad, Steemprentice, ProjectNewbie...all mid term solutions that in many's eyes are necessary to deal with where the site is right now, while we wait for the long term solution of the dev team.
I feel like an appropriate solution is not one that will appoint gatekeepers to become the authority on the legitimacy of an account. This is a well intended effort, but I am quite apprehensive...
This service is not to replace good judgement.
Yet, a seal-of-approval from trusted community members can make the difference between healthy pseudo-anonymous verification process and a witch hunt. Keeping a database of verified users, either on the block chain or off will curtail repeated (and aggressive) requests for verification.
I don't think it has no merit.... I just think that it doesn't solve the underlying problem. In fact, it creates a singular point of failure, rather than a more transparent solution.
I can agree it doesn't solve an underlying problem. I think it offers something people can show though.... like recognition-at-a-glance credentials.
I see it as an available avenue and option, one not required by any means, but if it could be helpful to some... it could be nice to have.
Awesome! Thanks for the support ant interest everyone...and thank you in advance for you patience as we get rolling!
haha
Excellent stuffs, I worry that I may be exposed for the dog that I am though ;0)
Nothing wrong with being a dog :P
Wonderful idea! Thank you for such a great service! You'll be getting my link here shortly :)
Thanks for the support @alchemage !
Just sent my email!
Working on it @lscottphotos !
Wonderful idea! Thank you for such a great service! You'll be getting my link here shortly :)
Great idea, thank you
Very cool, especially the idea to use image stego for verification :)
I'd love to test this out, I put my verification pic in my intro post.
Hit us up via email or steemit.chat and let's get you a badge!
Thanks! So others know this was sorted in no time and i grabbed design 1 :
Thanks guys :) Let me know if i can help with tools once you figure out your average workflow and what would save you the most time/effort
The idea looks great but it has big trust issues....
I would never trust you to keep data of all steem users
We're not keeping any data at all. Just a list of user names who chose to verify. Whatever verification evidence someone wants to share is ephemeral, and either deleted with their emails or chat history.
great idea, and I'm pleased you went down the soft varification route rather than asking for ID. I'll be in touch shortly.
Hi @phoenixmaid I see you in chat and just ping'd you. Thanks!
oh sorry Steemitqa, illuminaughty pinged me earlier. i forgot to hop back in and say it had been sorted out.
Great :)
hello @steemverify, I stopped back to let you know you were one of my favourite reads today. You can see what I wrote about you here
Thanks :)
One thing I don't understand. Who'd stop me from making the badge myself and claim that I am Napoleon Bonaparte?
Hi @steemverify, I wanted to ask if it is enough if I scan a handwritten note with date, username and signature to verify?
Alternatively I could offer my voice on video stating date, username and doing a shout out too steemverify! ;D
Hi @thatgermandude we are re-working our system as we speak and might have another way you can verify. If it's urgent we can work it out.
It is not urgent. I followed you so I should get info about about the rework, when its done.
:) @steemverify https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@jaymacvapes/hi-fellow-steemians-my-name-is-jason-aka-jay-aka-jaymac-i-really-enjoy-anything-crypto-and-mining-vaping
Yard mowing is calling me, but, quick query while I cool off here. Have those alternate verification methods been put in, if so, what are they? For instance, I play editor on a communal account, or at least that is the plan. I didn't put a photo verification in my intro post, I was having a bad hair day :P
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@erelas/hello-steemians