Coli was supposed to be a bigger deal than it ultimately ended up being. Culturally, thecoli has birthed too many things on/for social media. However, the recognition is just not there as a bigger platform due to a relatively small user base. Closed registration keeps undesirables away but also limits your reach.
There have been known people on thecoli, and likely still many famous/semi-famous people still lurk the forum, but ultimately not many are active and on easily recognizable profiles like Hot Rod. I just always assumed the verified tag was made with similar intent to the blue check on Twitter. For people that have been/are in the public eye and/or people of authority in their fields; i.e developers etc