If you are migrating away from Twitter, you could be searching for a approach to make sure your followers that you’re who you say you’re. Ignoring debates of how anybody will be positive of anybody’s true identification on-line, it is easy to confirm your self on Mastodon if you have already got your personal web site. This requires a really primary understanding of HTML, so when you do not keep your personal web site, then ship this text to your internet maintainer as an alternative.
1. Get your verification code
Sign in to your Mastodon account and click on the edit profile hyperlink beneath your Mastodon deal with.
(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)
In the Edit Profile display screen that seems, scroll right down to the Verification part. This part accommodates a particular verification code. Click the Copy button to repeat your verification code to your clipboard.
(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)
2. Paste your code in your web site
To guarantee people who the identical particular person working your Mastodon account additionally runs your web site, it’s essential to paste your verification code into your web site.
The verification code you bought out of your Mastodon profile web page is only a hyperlink again to your profile web page, across the phrase “Mastodon.” It’s arguably the obvious phrase to hyperlink again to a Mastodon profile, however it’s solely arbitrary. What actually issues is {that a} hyperlink to your profile web page, with the rel="me" attribute, seems on a web page of a web site you management. The contents of the hyperlink does not really matter.
You can create a web page to serve particularly for verification, or you’ll be able to put it into your website’s footer, or right into a social media icon.
Here’s a easy instance of a web page completely serving as a verification level:
<html>
<head>
<title>My web site</title>
</head>
<physique>
<a rel="me" href="https://mastodon.example.com/@tux">Mastodon</a>
</physique>
</html>
You do not need to create a complete web page on your verification, although. You can simply paste the verification hyperlink into the footer of your website, or someplace on the index web page.
3. Add the verification URL to Mastodon
Once your web page is stay, copy its internet tackle out of your internet browser’s URL bar. For instance, the pattern web page I created is situated at http://myexamplewebsite.tk/index.html.
In your browser, return to the Edit Profile display screen of Mastodon. Locate the Profile Metadata part, and kind Website into the Label area after which paste the URL of your verification publish within the Content area.
(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Click the Save Changes button and return to your profile web page to see your newly verified standing.
(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)
On some Mastodon servers, evidently verification might take an hour or so to resolve, however on two of the three I’ve examined, the inexperienced checkmark appeared instantly after saving.
Verified on Mastodon
A inexperienced checkmark on Mastodon signifies proof that the identical particular person controlling your Mastodon account additionally controls your web site. If there are folks in your life who know your web site and belief that it is yours, then verifying that you have been in a position to hyperlink again to your Mastodon profile is proof that you’ve management over each platforms. And finally, that is pretty much as good as identification will get on the Internet.
A blue checkmark would possibly feel and look official, however identification like that’s designed to be artificially scarce and but solely cursory. Mastodon acknowledges this, and offers a verification choice for each person. With nothing however a web site and a Mastodon account, you’ll be able to self-verify to your followers, demonstrating that the identical particular person (you) posting content material on-line is identical particular person lively on an thrilling open supply social media.