4 ms·

And how exactly would you "verify" someone's name anyway? Ask them to scan in their passport? I doubt many, least of all here, would transmit sensitive document

And how exactly would you "verify" someone's name anyway? Ask them to scan in their passport? I doubt many, least of all here, would transmit sensitive documents to a website just so they could register an account.

gizmo 16y ago
Typically via creditcard. Pay a symbolic amount (e.g. $5) to create an account, allow at most 1 account per credit card. I don't like the idea of verified accounts either, but if that's the price we have to pay to keep our discussions civilized I'm okay with it.
- younata 16y ago
  Personally, I'm of the opinion that we downvote comments that aren't civilized. I think that has proven to work fairly well.
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    Flag uncivil comments. Downvotes should be applied to comments that don't add anything to a discussion. Never downvote because you disagree. If you respond to a comment, upvote the previous comment, as whatever it said sparked you to add something, which is hopefully constructive. That's my take on comments, flags, and upvotes.
- asdflkj 16y ago
  There's already a place that does that--Something Awful. And it is, indeed, awful.
- Natsu 16y ago
  > Typically via creditcard. Pay a symbolic amount (e.g. $5) to create an account, allow at most 1 account per credit card. That might work on a normal website, but people around here are likely smarter than that. It's not hard to make "extra" credit card numbers/accounts. Here's one amusing account of how it can be done: http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/mj-credit-card/index.html http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/mj-credit-card/index.html Incidentally, I would also like to note that they were dumb for blurring the credit card number in that picture. The blur is probably guessable (people have managed similar reversals in the past). Hopefully they canceled that card a long time ago, but they shouldn't have obscured information like that when they could have eliminated it.
- MichaelSalib 16y ago
  Given how many good discussion forums there are on the web and how easy it is to start a new one (freehackernews.com anyone?), do you really think that people will pull out their credit cards? This proposal is based on the same mistaken assumption that newspapers make: a failure to realize that in a world where there are tons of free alternatives, adding an entry charge is a bad idea.
- joubert 16y ago
  I can walk into a Duane Reade and buy an Amex gift card that will probably get around this technique.
- alextgordon 16y ago
  What if they don't have a credit card? Not everybody on HN is from a western country where everyone can get a card when they're 13. Also, many credit cards don't have the person's full name but their initials and surname, which is useless for googling (or is the full name accessible when processing?).
jasonlotito 16y ago
You don't need to "verify" yourself. I think you are taking it a bit extreme. After all, both you and I have been able to identify ourselves well enough that we can be found out.

gizmo 16y ago

Typically via creditcard. Pay a symbolic amount (e.g. $5) to create an account, allow at most 1 account per credit card. I don't like the idea of verified accounts either, but if that's the price we have to pay to keep our discussions civilized I'm okay with it.

younata 16y ago
Personally, I'm of the opinion that we downvote comments that aren't civilized. I think that has proven to work fairly well.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  Flag uncivil comments. Downvotes should be applied to comments that don't add anything to a discussion. Never downvote because you disagree. If you respond to a comment, upvote the previous comment, as whatever it said sparked you to add something, which is hopefully constructive. That's my take on comments, flags, and upvotes.
asdflkj 16y ago
There's already a place that does that--Something Awful. And it is, indeed, awful.
Natsu 16y ago
> Typically via creditcard. Pay a symbolic amount (e.g. $5) to create an account, allow at most 1 account per credit card. That might work on a normal website, but people around here are likely smarter than that. It's not hard to make "extra" credit card numbers/accounts. Here's one amusing account of how it can be done: http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/mj-credit-card/index.html http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/mj-credit-card/index.html Incidentally, I would also like to note that they were dumb for blurring the credit card number in that picture. The blur is probably guessable (people have managed similar reversals in the past). Hopefully they canceled that card a long time ago, but they shouldn't have obscured information like that when they could have eliminated it.
MichaelSalib 16y ago
Given how many good discussion forums there are on the web and how easy it is to start a new one (freehackernews.com anyone?), do you really think that people will pull out their credit cards? This proposal is based on the same mistaken assumption that newspapers make: a failure to realize that in a world where there are tons of free alternatives, adding an entry charge is a bad idea.
joubert 16y ago
I can walk into a Duane Reade and buy an Amex gift card that will probably get around this technique.
alextgordon 16y ago
What if they don't have a credit card? Not everybody on HN is from a western country where everyone can get a card when they're 13. Also, many credit cards don't have the person's full name but their initials and surname, which is useless for googling (or is the full name accessible when processing?).

jasonlotito 16y ago

You don't need to "verify" yourself. I think you are taking it a bit extreme. After all, both you and I have been able to identify ourselves well enough that we can be found out.