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Will Oremus
@willoremus.com

just verified myself in bluesky fashion, linking my account to a personal domain. my new handle is willoremus.com which is kinda cool i guess? if you're into that sort of thing? but still doesn't feel like the long-term answer to this site's impersonation problem. i could be wrong though!

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Will Oremus
@willoremus.com

i mean, part of the problem is that it really isn't made obvious to the average user. but my handle is now @willoremus.com which would only be possible for someone who has access to the DNS settings for the domain willoremus.com -- i.e. either the real me, or someone squatting on that domain i guess

1 repost8 likes

Bill Stewart
@billstewart.bsky.social

And yet all .gov handles HAVE just been acquired by fakers, effective January 2025... I'm particularly concerned for cdc.gov. But yes, it's still a good start, since unless you're using a subdomain like myname.some-domain.com it takes actual work to impersonate someone.

Bill Stewart
@billstewart.bsky.social

Independent anybody, really. You mentioned journalists, but authors, artists, artists, political columnists (not quite the same as journalists), celebrities, politicians in office, politicians not currently in office, ...

Zaxxon
@zaxxon.bsky.social

Or who change companies, or have a non-well-known company domain. What Bluesky is verifying is that you have some level of control over a domain, not that you the person are the person you say you are. Both can be useful, but they are fundamentally verifying different things.