use text messages to validate accounts

countyxxx/hsfcomm -- how would you circumvent that?

buyer - contrary to current belief, not everybody in the world "texts". And don't really see how this would eliminate the problem, would just add another step. Judging by how dogged the "counties" are, I don't think this would stop them.

actually buyerbuyer, texting would remove anonymity even if the record is kept only by streeteasy.

So the system you suggest might have the unintended consequence of creating civility

penthouselady, remember, columbiacounty thinks you are the counties.

ph41 -- I suggest an exception for those who write in to SE explaining that they don't know how to text. I suspect they could handle the volume of that.

right conrad - CC is a paranoid as AR (or rather super protective of AR). ANYBODY who disagreed with AR was automatically either hfs, or the counties or some other "troll". Of course, AR's last "troll" (and CC's sniping victim) was Truth, who as everybody ELSE on SE knows, is NOT a troll.

when you say CC is paranoid, do you mean columbiacounty or conradcounty?

ColumbiaCounty, of course

I think buyerbuyer's idea is brilliant.

ph41 - yes, it is another step but it's also more than that. The text message has to come from somewhere. It's one thing to gin up as many new gmail or yahoo accounts as one needs to keep a step ahead of SE support as they erase counties from the map. It's quite another to get access to enough unique cell phone numbers to keep the game going if the new poster ends up being a troll, and SE kills the account and makes the cell phone that sent the verification text numero non grata. Something like buyerbuyer's work-around for non-cell users could be made to work as well.

As a transition (or maybe forever), SE, which would be worried about losing lots of legitimate posters upon implementation of this system, could use a system which tags certain users as "real" who have sent the validated text, and then allow global ignore of those who are not "real".

county/hsf -- any thoughts?

here's where buyerbuyer got cute.

Bondbuyer, I fail to see much difference between the two.

Truth, who as everybody ELSE on SE knows, is NOT a troll...

Agreed, some issues are diagnosable and treatable.

I wonder what the ICD9 code is for Troll is?