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Identity: addresses, names and ORCID

ARIADNE has no accounts, no passwords and no profiles to fill in. A person is their wallet address. Two optional layers make an address easier to recognise: an NFD name (name.algo) and a verified ORCID iD. This page explains what each one proves, and what it does not.

The address is the identity

Section titled “The address is the identity”

A wallet app on your phone or computer holds a private key and signs each action; your public address (58 capital letters and digits) is your identity. ARIADNE never sees your key (see Wallets and your address).

Every action on ARIADNE (publishing, reviewing, voting, commenting, flagging, following) is a transaction signed by an address and recorded on the blockchain. Everything the website shows about a person (publications, reviews, reputation per field, followers) is attached to that address, and the profile page is https://ariadne.press/testnet/u/<address> on TestNet.

An address proves An address does not prove
that every action under it was signed with the same key who holds the key
the exact order and date of those actions that the person has only one address
authorship: the article token in the author’s wallet, and the author recorded on chain anything about a person’s degree, job or institution

One person can create several addresses. ARIADNE does not prevent it. Groups of fresh addresses that vote for each other gain reputation only slowly (each new vote weighs 1, and the square root and the daily limit damp it), but they are not stopped; stronger protections are planned after the first phase (see Reputation and vote weight).

Addresses are the same on TestNet and MainNet, but activity is not: a profile shows “Activity and reputation on TestNet only”, and the two networks never mix (see TestNet and MainNet).

NFD names

Section titled “NFD names”

Wherever the website shows an address, it shows the address’s name ending in .algo when it has one, else a short form of the address. These names come from NFD (Non-Fungible Domains), a naming service on Algorand: the owner of an address chooses the name and proves that the address is theirs (DECISIONS D-097).

  • A name is shown only when it is well formed, not expired, and verified for that address on the network’s own NFD service. TestNet and MainNet names are looked up separately and never cross networks.
  • The full address is always one click away: in the tooltip and on the profile, which says “The name comes from NFD and was chosen by the owner of this address.”
  • https://ariadne.press/testnet/u/<name>.algo opens the profile of the name’s verified address.
  • You can mention someone as @name.algo in a comment. The name is turned into its verified address when the comment is sent, and the address is what the blockchain records, never the name.
  • In search and in the people filters, a typed name.algo becomes its address.

A name is a convenience, not a certificate of identity. It shows that the owner of the address also controls that name, which they chose themselves. It says nothing about who the person is.

Avatars

Section titled “Avatars”

The picture next to a name is the NFD avatar its owner chose, or, without one, a symmetric pattern generated from the address. ARIADNE’s server fetches the names and the avatars from NFD itself, so your browser never contacts NFD (DECISIONS D-103).

ORCID iDs

Section titled “ORCID iDs”

An ORCID iD is a researcher’s identifier at orcid.org (16 characters, like 0000-0002-1825-0097). On ARIADNE it is verified by a link in each direction (DECISIONS D-107):

  1. the address declares the iD in a signed transaction;
  2. the ORCID record lists the address’s ARIADNE profile among its websites, visible to everyone.

The indexer reads the public ORCID record and marks the iD verified only when both are true. Readers see an iD only while it is verified. It then gives the address the name on the ORCID record, used on the profile, on articles and in citations, and lets co-authors find the address by the iD. The procedure is in Link your ORCID iD.

A verified ORCID iD proves It does not prove
that whoever controls the ORCID record also controls the address that the name, affiliation or e-mail on the record are true: the record’s owner writes them
that the address’s activity can be read together with that ORCID record that the person has no other address

The declaration is public and permanent: unlinking hides the iD from readers, but the declaration stays in the blockchain history (see Privacy and permanence).

Comparing the three

Section titled “Comparing the three”
Address NFD name ORCID iD
Required yes no no
Who creates it your wallet you, on NFD you, on orcid.org
Shown as short address name.algo ORCID icon, iD link and the record’s name
Proves the same key signed every action the address’s owner controls the name the address’s owner controls the ORCID record
Recorded by ARIADNE’s contract yes, as the signer of every action no: looked up from NFD when shown the declaration, yes; the check, no
Gives reputation through others’ judgement of what it does never never

Why reputation never comes from outside

Section titled “Why reputation never comes from outside”

Reputation on ARIADNE is earned field by field, from the votes and reviews of other people, and it is weighted by their own reputation in the same field (see Reputation and vote weight). Nothing from outside adds to it: not an NFD name, not an ORCID iD, not a publication record elsewhere (DECISIONS D-107).

This is a principle of ARIADNE: reputation is earned, not granted, and it belongs to people rather than to journals. It is kept by the ARIADNE contract on the blockchain and changes only through actions recorded there, so it is the same for everyone and does not depend on any outside service staying online or honest.

Outside data does help readers in two limited ways, never touching reputation or vote weight:

  • the profile can show the citations of a person’s works counted by OpenAlex, as Citations (all works) (see Citations and Thread Score);
  • for the Peer-reviewed seal, a review counts when its author knows the field: reputation 10 in it, or a verified ORCID iD with 3 works in its area on OpenAlex. ORCID records are also used to detect conflicts of interest. This lets established researchers’ reviews count from their first day; it gives them no reputation.