hedgielibMay 1, 2022
FediTips has moved!

PSA: The "verified" symbol you see on Twitter etc means absolutely nothing on Mastodon or the Fediverse. On here, symbols like  are just custom emoji that anyone can use and put after their name. Don't be fooled! 😁

There are ways to verify your identity on here, but the  symbol is not one of them.

The easiest way to verify your identity is if you have a website that people already know is yours. You can paste a special code into your website which will verify your address and it will turn green on your Mastodon profile (see here for instructions: https://mstdn.social/@feditips/106274105538953001).

Alternatively, you can set up a server as a subdomain of your known website address. For example, the European union set up their own Mastodon server at https://social.network.europa.eu, and we know it really is the EU because the server address is part of the EU's well-known europa.eu domain.

#MastoTips #FediTips #Mastodon #Fediverse #Verification

Fedi.Tips (@[email protected])

You can (sort of) verify your identity on Mastodon if you own a website. 1. Go to Edit Profile > Appearance > Profile Metadata, add your website address (including https://) to the metadata section. 2. Copy the verification code into your website's code. (The verification code is next to the Metadata section) 3. Click "Save Changes" after you have done all of the above. Your website will then be listed on your profile with a green background and a tick next to it, proving you are the owner.

Mastodon 🐘
May 1, 2022 at 11:22amWeb
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

p.s. If you want to see an example of a verified link on Mastodon, try looking at the profile of @libreoffice

Unfortunately the verified links aren't visible on the official apps yet, so you would need to do this via the website or a third party app.

I've included a screenshot so you can see what I mean.

Show threadLinuxUserGD May 1, 2022
@feditips @libreoffice Depends on the client, e. g. screenshot from Yuito https://github.com/accelforce/Yuito
GitHub - accelforce/Yuito: Mastodonクライアント Yuito

Mastodonクライアント Yuito. Contribute to accelforce/Yuito development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadRevK May 1, 2022
@feditips @libreoffice I have yet to work out how to get the link in my YouTube profile to get it verified…
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@revk @libreoffice

I am not sure if YouTube accepts HTML code so it might not be possible?

By the way, that's an amazingly short website address! 😮 Shortest possible?

Show threadRevK May 1, 2022
@feditips @libreoffice it’s wrong though, I don’t own me.uk. I own www.me.uk which is different. Mastodon gets it wrong taking the www off the front. I do however have an even shorter web address than me.uk though, several actually, E.g. 4.gg
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@revk @libreoffice

Ah, think you have found a bug there!

I guess not many people have a domain that's www.something.

Show threadRevK May 1, 2022
@feditips @libreoffice I would suggest not taking off the www anyway. People can list the site without www if that works for their site (obviously does not for www.me.uk). Even with a more usually domain the www prefixed version does not have to be the same page as without.
Show threadmuradMay 1, 2022
@theblackcatsays
Show threadn3wjackMay 1, 2022
@feditips when does it check for the verification links? I added the link, but it doesn't show yet, but maybe it takes a while?
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@n3wjack

Did you add the special verification code into the HTML of your website?

Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@n3wjack

By the way, I'm wondering if the verification might be affected by your Masto link being in a dropdown menu? Maybe it can't "see" the link there?

You could try putting the link into somewhere else where it isn't in a menu. It only has to be there while you do the verification, you can remove it afterwards.

Show threadn3wjackMay 1, 2022
@feditips Ah, good to know it doesn't have to be there permanently. Thanks!
I'll add it properly and see when it picks it up.
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@n3wjack

Yeah, it only has to be there at the moment you click "save changes" within Mastodon. That starts the process of looking at the site and seeing if the rel tag is there.

(You would have to add it back there when you next alter the metadata though, otherwise it won't find the tag.)

Show threadn3wjackMay 1, 2022
@feditips so it should pretty much be instant then if you get it right? I'll have to try something else then, cause it's not picking up the link yet.
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@n3wjack

Yeah, it works straight away.

One thing that caught me out when I first used it, I did the steps in the wrong order.

You have to put the rel me code into your website, and save/update your own website, and THEN go into Mastodon and save your address in the metadata section. It has to be this way round, because the Masto metadata saving process is what makes it check whether the code is there.

If you put the code on your site after saving the metadata, Masto won't know to check the updated site.

Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@n3wjack

Small update, looks like there is a bug in the rel me code:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18233

rel="me" backlink is not recognized if there are other rel values too · Issue #18233 · mastodon/mastodon

Steps to reproduce the problem add a link to a website to your Mastodon profile metadata on the website, add a backlink to your Mastodon profile with rel="me nofollow" (for example) Expec...

GitHub
Show threadn3wjackMay 2, 2022
@feditips I found the problem. The check found the first link in the menu, and didn't bother looking for the other one in the footer. That one has the rel="me" attribute, but the first one doesn't (because WordPress doesn't allow you to set it).
So I temporarily removed the menu link, saved the page, and then ran the check again. It turned green right away. :)
Thanks for the tips!
Show threadn3wjackMay 1, 2022
@feditips Yes I did. I also put it in the footer, without text in the link ;) It should find it, but maybe not having text in the link isn't allowed?
Show threadn3wjackMay 1, 2022
@feditips It's not possible to put the rel="me" attribute in the menu item, so I added another "hidden" link on the page, without text.
Show threadElliot Alderson May 1, 2022
@feditips 🥲
Show threadKevin HughesMay 1, 2022
@feditips is there a similar website link thing for Pleroma, do you know?
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@kev

Not as far as I know.

Show threadKevin HughesMay 1, 2022
@feditips although, after I asked I realised that the fact my account is on my own instance on my own domain serves the same purpose, really! 😂

Thanks for that EU link btw, I absolutely love the idea of the fediverse for that sort of concept. Don't suppose you know of any other instances running accounts for a company, government body or similar?
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@kev

Yeah, the self-hosted server works on any platform. The address proves you own the site the domain leads to.

And yes, there are many accounts have their own instances proving their identity.

The biggest one after EU is probably the German government with an official Masto server at https://social.bund.de

Most of the others I know are smaller organisations like Matrix at https://mastodon.matrix.org or FediLab at https://toot.fedilab.app etc.

social.bund.de

Dies ist der Mastodon-Server der Bundesbeauftragten für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI).

Mastodon hosted on social.bund.de
Show thread₿ereanMay 1, 2022
@feditips on bird site a blue check indicates the opinion of the poster is probably worthless... in fediverse a blue check is actually worthless 👍😁
Show threadDarrenMay 1, 2022
@feditips In my opinion, that's a horrible system. People know to look for the check mark for verified accounts, and all this does is confuse people. If you want Mastodon to grow, stuff like this needs to be changed.
Show threadloganMay 1, 2022
@darrsil @feditips literally not possible.
Show threadDarrenMay 1, 2022
@logan @feditips If it's really not possible then a notice when searching for accounts that the blue check does not signify verification should be created, at least for new accounts.
Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@darrsil @logan

Yeah, new people should definitely be warned, hence the original post 👍

Show threadFediTips has moved!May 1, 2022

@darrsil

I know it seems like a "why change something that works?" situation, but there is an important reason for verification working this way.

Simple check mark systems require a central authority which could then be bought out by Musk or Zuckerberg or Google or whoever. If that happens, they could use it as leverage over the whole network (e.g. "We'll only verify people who are on our own approved servers" etc).

The point of verifying identity through website ownership is that it doesn't require any central authority, so there is no way for such a system to be bought out by nasty people.

Once you get used to it, website ownership is pretty good at telling you who is real, and it keeps us safe from rich megalomaniacs.

Show threadGayCookie.dev 🏳️‍🌈 May 1, 2022
@feditips when will PGP be implemented haha! 😊