Recently, I had to send in a number of forms via a PostIdent procedure in Germany. You have to sign an additional form and be present with your papers for verification in the Post Office.
There was a problem later on in the process - The signature I gave at the Post Office (produced in a crowded situation, under stress) did not match the one on the forms (6 pages, all individually signed in the comfort of my home). As a result, I was asked to re-send the 6 pages and have them match with my initial PostIdent signature. Not redo the process so all match - reproduce the PostIdent signature six times.
As this was in dealing with an online service, I could see exactly what those pages and their signatures looked like in my account and indeed, the PostIdent signature looked a lot different. It looked: impossible to reproduce.
Cutting the story short: I found myself having to fake my own signature 6 times. I tried for about half an hour to reproduce my meaningless squiggles. I ended up taking a completely different route than using this service - not solely based on this problem, but hugely influenced by it.
That is to say: Yes, signatures truly are a ridiculous form of verification.
There was a problem later on in the process - The signature I gave at the Post Office (produced in a crowded situation, under stress) did not match the one on the forms (6 pages, all individually signed in the comfort of my home). As a result, I was asked to re-send the 6 pages and have them match with my initial PostIdent signature. Not redo the process so all match - reproduce the PostIdent signature six times.
As this was in dealing with an online service, I could see exactly what those pages and their signatures looked like in my account and indeed, the PostIdent signature looked a lot different. It looked: impossible to reproduce.
Cutting the story short: I found myself having to fake my own signature 6 times. I tried for about half an hour to reproduce my meaningless squiggles. I ended up taking a completely different route than using this service - not solely based on this problem, but hugely influenced by it.
That is to say: Yes, signatures truly are a ridiculous form of verification.