Your dedicated verifier idea seems to be quite implementable.
You just have to have a pubkey that hold itself out as a "verifier" and vouch for all the pubkeys that it follows. Actually, on second th...
It is easily implementable, but not through follow lists.
Following someone signals interest. You may very well be willing to verify an account even if it's not interesting (as long as it's a human and not a spammer).
In addition, follow lists are stored whole in one event. This is fine, because you shouldn't follow too many people.
But it is absolutely reasonable for a verifier to verify several thousands of people, even automatically (through some kind of CAPTCHA, or whatever other form of verification).
So I think it requires a somewhat different implementation, but it would be doable.
I also don't think hiding all unverified replies would be a good idea, but it can be used as one element for filtering. Clients could show a verification checkmark (the one they show for NIP-05 identities, while they really shouldn't, because that one is not about verification) and maybe prioritize those replies.
Following someone signals interest. You may very well be willing to verify an account even if it's not interesting (as long as it's a human and not a spammer).
In addition, follow lists are stored whole in one event. This is fine, because you shouldn't follow too many people.
But it is absolutely reasonable for a verifier to verify several thousands of people, even automatically (through some kind of CAPTCHA, or whatever other form of verification).
So I think it requires a somewhat different implementation, but it would be doable.
I also don't think hiding all unverified replies would be a good idea, but it can be used as one element for filtering. Clients could show a verification checkmark (the one they show for NIP-05 identities, while they really shouldn't, because that one is not about verification) and maybe prioritize those replies.
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