[WikiEN-l] Citizendium

[Anthony]

On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 5:05 AM, <wjhonson at aol.com> wrote:

> Well still the verification of identity really doesn't have anything to
> do with "type a 50-word biography"
>

"Will Johnson" does not identify a person.  "Will Johnson, the guy who went
to X college and works in Y industry, and likes hobbies A, B, and Z" does.

That's not the only reason they ask for a biography, but it is an added
benefit.  It brings Citizendium into the real world.

When I signed up for Knol, one thing they did was allow verification.
> So one way to verify you was that you gave them a phone number and your
> name as it was listed in the phone book.  They check that it's really
> there, they CALL you and give you a code.  You have to type that code
> back in.


I tried that for several weeks and it was always broken.  I tried it with
several different phone numbers, and several different credit card numbers.
Never worked.

Besides, it costs money.

At any rate, I don't see how a 50-word biography which could be
> anything I choose to make up, would satisfy any kind of identify
> verification.


There's an assumption of good faith, I assume, but at least you're
committing to an identity which could be further checked out later, if
doubts arise as to your sincerity.  It's a great example of soft security,
in my opinion.

I don't know.  It's been a while since I've signed up to Citizendium.  Maybe
they've significantly changed the process since then.


> To be an *Editor* that ask that you submit a CV which I
> suppose if you were so inclined you could check against some college
> database or whatever.
>

Yeah well, that's a whole different process.


> BUT to be an Author they do not ask you to submit a CV.  Just
> apparently this mini-biography.
>
> So the point is still the same.  If they are using this to verify
> something, that's not any sort of verification at all.


What if they're not using it to verify anything, but just to keep out people
like you?

C'mon, haven't you ever gone to a meeting and been asked to stand up and
tell everyone a little bit about yourself?  Did you object and use that
platform to bitch about the system?  Maybe you did...