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@cwebber Petnames are The Way. Ran across SimpleX which appears to only use petnames, though you do put a display name in your profile.

@cwebber #Wikipedia discovered the risks of impersonation a couple decades ago. That's why using real names is generally discouraged, *especially* for celebrities. For the longest time, non-pseudonymous accounts were instantly blocked in many language editions, until a process was established for those who wanted more official-looking usernames. (It's only worth it when necessary to declare COIs.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedi

Funnily, here's a 2004 proposal by @evan:
meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Real_n

en.wikipedia.orgWikipedia:Username policy - Wikipedia

@cwebber @spritely This could happen here in the Fediverse too, right? Or at least on Mastodon. Not your handle, but you can get the little checkmark if you link back to your website.

@richbruchal @cwebber @spritely it can happen anywhere. even in the simplest namespace, can you tell anything about the true identity of richbruchal vs realrichbruchal vs therealrichbruchal? you can link identities but without one of them having some reputation, it's not gonna help you out much

@trwnh @richbruchal @spritely Yup it can definitely happen on the fediverse within its current interfaces. Fediverse clients could be updated to a petname approach too though

@cwebber @spritely is this better or worse than what nostr does

@cwebber @spritely are you telling me the eugen-impersonation feature/bug was organically replicated on bluesky?

@cwebber @spritely that piece was an absolutely infuriating read; thank you for it

it's angering to us because this problem was so incredibly easy to anticipate. if anything, the author is too generous to Bluesky, crediting the company for not intending this outcome. even a tiny bit of threat modeling should have turned up this likelihood.

@cwebber @spritely anyway, glad to hear about petnames getting practical use. it's the approach we're enthusiastic about, too.