Honestly they should go in the other direction. Real people, real conversations. Upload an ID or a CC transaction or something in order to prove your identity, and require re-ups every few years.

the downside is no anonymity. The upside is, no astroturf, no bots, no nothing. Or maybe not 'none' but 'greatly reduced'.

That's actually a community I might be enthused about participating in. Sort of like HN, where a lot of people use their real names. The problem is how you bootstrap it. People need a good carrot to embrace the stick.

As much as I dislike the idea, someone has to try it first, and other social media has been done to death, so I'm inclined to agree with you.

Disclaimer, I paid them $5 dollars for an account last year when they restarted, and never did anything with it.