In a previous question, it was asked whether it is possible to authenticate a user through the Stackoverflow API? The short answer was no, not until version 2. Now I would like to know: is there any way we can use in the mean time to validate a user and associate his account on my site with his SE account? I would like to know that when a user on my site claims to own a certain StackExchange account, he really does.

One way I'm thinking of, without authentication, would be something like asking the user to change his bio to include a certain link or keyword - then I know I can associate his account om my website with that SE profile. Not the nicest solution, but it will work. Has anyone tried something similar, or could you suggest a better way of doing it?

In a previous question, it was asked whether it is possible to authenticate a user through the Stackoverflow API? The short answer was no, not until version 2. Now I would like to know: is there any way we can use in the mean time to validate a user and associate his account on my site with his SE account? I would like to know that when a user on my site claims to own a certain StackExchange account, he really does.

One way I'm thinking of, without authentication, would be something like asking the user to change his bio to include a certain link or keyword - then I know I can associate his account om my website with that SE profile. Not the nicest solution, but it will work. Has anyone tried something similar, or could you suggest a better way of doing it?