Ideas
+12
Under review
Verified accounts
This is more of a "would be kind of neat to have" idea: verified accounts, like what Twitter does for celebrities and other high profile people. People pretending to be popular artists doesn't seem too common in the fandom, but this would help for that. Might also be good for artists coming from other sites that find their usual username is already taken (obviously for unique names and not something like "foxyboi92").
Customer support service by UserEcho
Loving this idea. Making my own post about UNVERIFIED accounts and how many "shell" accounts their seem to be, e.g. @taki, who may or may not be TakiSkunk. It might be a way to hold namespace hostage.
It's also a fantastic idea for those wanting to take commissions and secure their business. Can't tell you how many times I've seen people ask for commissions from untrusted sources. Having a neato "badge" ontop of their icon or on their profile somewhere would be a really unintrusive yet still representable way of letting people know they're the real thing.
It wouldn't be too much information storage either on FN's behalf, just another filing cabinet. I think this should be promoted more! You're onto something.
Love the idea! But what would determine if a furry becomes verified or not?
I can see furries like Kage, or Varka (furcon / network owners) becoming verified. Perhaps even the higher end artists and fursuit makers. But in the end, we're all furries with our own skills!
Perhaps the verification process would be a bit less strict in that sense. For example, a slightly less noticeable badge on users profiles which marks them as "VERIFIED", if they were able to produce enough information to prove they are who they say they are (accounts, etc). This would please the greater community, and may be a selling point to driving more users onto the network, feeling that they can use FN to "verify" their other accounts by listing them here as their main outlet.
This is essentially what I had in mind when I came across this topic-- providing harder materials to identify someone as the person their username/profile purports them to be. Verification isn't the same as with Twitter, with follower requirements and whatnot. While a major benefit would be providing a safe haven for prominent members of the community, the broader goal would be to avoid the abuse of namespace hoarding.
While I'm here and thinking: If a user is verified and then chooses to change their non-immutable information, e.g. Username, verification needs to take place again. This will prevent me from making an account, verifying as Jane Doe, and then repurposing the account to be John Stag the Convention Host.
We're currently reviewing this option. It's not high on our priority list, but as the site grows, I imagine the possibility of artist impersonators will, as well. Being verified likely wouldn't be required for commissions, but having it as an option would be helpful so people can have confidence that a seller is who they say they are.