RE: Account Verification Tips For New Steemians (Trust But Verify)
To be honest, anything can be faked in photoshop with a skilled artist. I have created products for prototypes that even the company I created them for could not tell they were illustrations. @dutchlife's image could even be very easily be faked. My basic skills in under 3 minutes - can make it look half faked with a very low res image - but who uses low res?? 
Photoshop is easier to fake high res images, unfortunately. If entire environments can be faked in movies, you can bet almost any image used to verify could be faked. I hope none take this as a challenge.. [palms face]
I have seen people used PS edited images as verification because as a designer you can spot certain typeface easily (yea, there are tools for that!). I've seen people using a handwriting font and photoshop 😐
Photo needs to include social security numbers, age, weight, DOB, and blood type results signed by physician 😆 Ok....maybe not. It is tricky though for 'big names' that have imposters crawling out of the cracks. Like you say "never stop verifying".
Can't We All Just Steem Along?
What's the solution then? I see people suggesting photos with signs, but I definitely do not think that's a good idea. For people who have other accounts, I think linking back to the steemit account from them is the best, right? Maybe there's another way?
I guess the bottom line is that if you are already a famous person, verifying using other social media accounts to link back works. Then for anyone without those accounts, perhaps verifying isn't as big of a deal. They can get away with more easily faked verification options since not as much is at stake?
I'm not sure there is a full-proof solution to the photos other than scrutinizing them if they seem suspect. There are ways to tell if images have been manipulated, but not everyone is a forensics expert.
I think linking to a verified account is a great way to enhance verification. One or more accounts would have to be hacked in order to alter/manipulate that means of verification.
To overcome the "photoshop" argument, all I did (and I recommend everyone doing this) was to film myself writing my user name and date on a piece of paper, and then post it.
Yes, video is great! I recommend people skip straight to video for online dating for the same reasons.
That is pretty brilliant. Video & even Live Stream verification could be a great way to throw out doubt.
Great idea @ajvest
I like this
That's what I'm talkin about! 😎👍
Of all the T shirt designs I've created... I don't have a Steemit Tee.. That's going to happen..lol
Thanks for sharing, @tecnosgirl!
I do have to agree with @grow-pro, It is fairly simple to change the screens behind me. These are square shaped objects, easy to mask out of an image. Just remove my shoulder and place any desired image on the background. I like the idea of life streaming as a good validation check. Something else you see a lot, and I am not sure if steemit has this aswell, is sending verification to a phone number. Every account has 1 phone number attached. I also like the idea of linking other social media counts. However, if steemit grows and the other social media starts to being obsolete, this strategy falls short.
Where's the bong? If you're going to edit it, you might as well make it hilarious. haha
That's true! 😆
Where is my head today?!