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Probably more effective for .gov handles, which can’t easily be acquired by fakers.

give me an example of someone important enough to need to be verified but who isn't associated with a domain that would identify them?

OK, from outside looking in, that was seamless? There were some grumbles from the more radical free-web folks that it required tying to bsky domain registry, but I haven't kept up.

I just did this, thanks Will. I also noticed that doing this leaves another opportunity for imposture:

I think for this reason the domain verification will cause some issues/be deficient in its purpose— especially for folks who don’t have clear identities tied to a web domain. Makes sense for nasa.gov for verification or for a big brand. Less so for individuals.

That is why after I changed my handle, I quickly created another account to reclaim the bsky handle.

They can! That's why I created a new placeholder account with my old handle, just in case.

here you go bud 👍

..it at least gives credit to the good old fashioned own domain 😎

DNS validation is used all over the place. As long as you keep your DNS zone secure, everything using it for validation (including SSL certificates for HTTPS via the ACME protocol widely employed) it's far more authenticating than a password or credit card number.

hmmm, I almost think it is an answer in the long-term and we need additional signals in the short-term. But I also could totally be wrong!

You’re absolutely correct that it’s not a full solution to verification. I hope/believe that the Bsky team are working to replicate something closer to Twitter’s old blue check (once there are more than 20 employees)

But, how many people have their own domain? And hackers are getting good at creating domains that look legit, like willoremus1.com

I think it's a better system than begging some anon employee to trust that you're worth authentication. Don't know if an ideal verification system exists but I'm glad this self-verification model is here.