Today, Xiaoping posted on the forum (see: What do you think about implementing real-name verification for Bailanyuan?)

I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon and still can’t figure out how this would actually work. It’s indeed a tough issue.

Looking at major portal forums and even gaming websites, their approaches to this problem vary. The most common verification method is using ID card numbers, but nowadays, ID number generators are everywhere on the internet, rendering this method practically ineffective.

On the other hand, methods like those used by Taobao, which involve verification through commercial banks such as ICBC and CCB, are particularly cumbersome.

Following the Ministry of Public Security’s ID card query system, there seems to be a good verification method. However, as mentioned in the post, the cost is too high—10 yuan per verification—which is indeed a significant burden for any website.

The Bible prophesies that in the future, everyone will be marked with the number 666. From a scientific perspective, embedding chips is a close approximation, but it’s difficult to implement in the short term.

However, some efforts have been made abroad, such as targeting criminals and some endangered wildlife.

Identity verification should be unique, universally applicable, and low-cost. From this perspective, implementing real-name verification on the internet is indeed a huge challenge.

As for implementing this on university forums, I believe it is feasible.

First, the forum’s user base is quite concentrated, mainly consisting of current students, graduates, faculty, and new students. The likelihood of other social members joining is relatively small.

From this angle, generally, the login information recorded by the website for most users would be specific, especially for members using fixed IPs within the campus network. By slightly using network behavior judgment methods, the real identity of users can be basically determined. However, for users using dynamic IPs, proxies, or WAP access, it is more difficult to confirm their identities.

Additionally, the feasibility of negotiating with the school to provide historical student data is also low, as student information has often been leaked extensively. Often, even before new students enter the school, their ID cards, student numbers, and other information are already widely circulated. As for information during their time at school, although it is rarely disseminated again, there is no guarantee that it won’t appear widely on the internet after the forum implements real-name verification.

In fact, after all this discussion, internet real-name verification is still only at a low level. If our forum wants to implement real-name verification, I believe the best way is still to rely on everyone’s self-discipline.

After all, based on past experience, members who extensively promote reactionary, violent, or pornographic information on the forum are extremely rare.

As for the fact that we administrators cannot monitor the spread of harmful information in real-time, I think we can add a “report” function to the forum, relying on everyone’s cooperation. If several people report a post within a short period, the post can automatically be placed in “pending review” mode. Of course, malicious reporting and other behaviors also need to be appropriately controlled.

Concepts such as freedom, rule of law, rights, and obligations should be deeply ingrained in modern society, especially on university forums. Individual freedom is based on the self-restraint of others, and similarly, the freedom of others requires the restraint of one’s own behavior.

If a person has unlimited freedom, then that person’s identity can only be that of a mythical deity.