>This is the one main problem Steem really faces: the lack of digital identity.

I am hoping for a good SMT for this.

How would you define 'active'? Aren't spammers 'active' as well?

It is not hard at all. Just look at the evidence its all on the blockchain !
This whole thing is just one of then many witch hunts manufactured my bernie :  )

That is a great idea, with the current system being so capitalistic.

 For a platform like this to succeed, it CAN'T be dominated by only the few people who invest larger stakes in the coin. This drives outsiders away. 

If steems focus is money as an incentive to create higher quality content, it needs to be a more communal system. If their goal is a couple of people buying a bunch of steem power and taking over the entire platform, then they've succeeded.

Very interesting points, and I'm inclined to agree. We may never know whether the accounts are legitimate or not, but my aim was to inform users by showing that they exist. I don't know, however, that this is a function of a lack of identity. I think the problem may lie in the potential ease of creating these accounts, the lack of enforcement of this kind of abuse, and the removal of post limits. I am open to the possibility that these accounts are perfectly legitimate, what is more concerning to me is that there is a distinct possibility that they are not, and that even if this case is legitimate, there is always the chance that someone else could be abusing the system because there is no failsafe for this behavior.