User blog comment:PsiCubed2/Creating an ad-free, troll-free googology center. Anyone interested?/@comment-32697988-20190220213306/@comment-30754445-20190220224330

I'm open to suggestions, as long as the system gets the job done.

And if we decide to require giving a verifiable real life ID (like a phone number) it will only be accessible to one or two people we all trust on this matter.

We could also require moderators to sign a legally binding document that will prohibit them from using this data for any purpose besides the moderation of the site. This would obviously include sharing any part of the list with a third party. If we're serious about doing this, I can get an actual lawyer to create such a document.

And of-course, there may be other ways to authenticate users. It's actually an interesting mathematical problem: What's the best way to prevent sock puppetry while minimizing the breach of privacy for the participant.

The only thing I'm really adamant about, is that we'll have some sock-puppetry prevention system in place. I understand that you were seriously considering phone-based confirmation for Discord, to prevent Edwin from sockpuppeting the heck out the place. I also understand that shortly after, miraculously, Edwin announced that he stopped being an ass and that you have nothing to fear.

That was really convenient, don't you think? And you guys swallowed it without question, hook line and sinker. But I, personally, do not believe for a minute that he stopped with his shinanigans. And I do not want to spend many months and hundreds of dollars on creating a new quality site, only for this guy to turn it into his personal playground.

Nor do I want anybody else to be able to do that.

So while the specific method of authentication is open to discussion (and this is - really - something that we'll need to decide together), the fact that we'll employ some kind of authentication is not open to debate.

BTW Edwin will be welcome on the new site just like everybody else. I have no interest in trying to kick him out. I just want to make sure that he can't continue playing his silly games on our new site.