Verification

The act of verifying your account on steemit by posting a photo of you holding up a timestamped sign with steemit on it is quite common. It puts a face to the account. Doing this can make people perceive you as more trustworthy. Because they will have something to fall back on if you do something wrong. This way you can build a good reputation for yourself.

Verifying yourself can be particularly helpful if you already have a good reputation outside of steemit, or if you're widely known. Examples of this are @dollarvigilante (Jeff Berwick), @barrycooper and @charlieshrem. They use their outside reputation to almost instantly become top steemit users.

Anonymity

Anonymity disconnects your identity on steemit from your real identity. It protects you from doxing, real-life harassments or even worse. It gives you the ability to change and have second chances. If you verify your account, personal information will be forever on the blockchain. Anonymously you are also able to build a good reputation on steemit.

Why would you want to be anonymous? After all, if you're not a bad person, if you're doing nothing wrong, you should have nothing to hide. Because you never know what someone can or will do with your personal information.

Conclusion

If you have a good outside reputation, it might be a smart idea to verify yourself on steemit. You are already widely known, and your cards are already on the table. It will boost your steemit career.

In almost all other cases I would advise against putting personal information on the blockchain, to protect yourself from potential real-life harassment.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue