this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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Seems like discord is asking people to verify their accounts with phone numbers nowadays. I guess I won't be using it anymore? :๐Ÿคท

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[โ€“] Ziglin 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Why a phone number? Not everyone has a phone and most companies don't get my number.

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I assume it's because it scales poorly. You can't readily source 500 phone numbers, while you could spool up a $5 per month VPS and host 500 email addresses.

They don't really want to match you so much as adding a stumbling block to someone making a bazillion accounts.

[โ€“] Ziglin 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

But I don't think they require a phone number for account creation right?

[โ€“] gaael 4 points 7 months ago

Yep, they let you create your account with just an email address, and once you've joined a few servers and started using discord they're like "oh btw give us your phone number too, you won't have access to anything until you do".

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Depends on your configuration. I deleted my old account when they first got involved in phone numbers. Went back after talking with a friend and said I'll join his server if they let me create an account.

All attempts on any VPN were rejected. Service hosted and self hosted cloud VPNs (IPs were still datacenters). Tried multiple browsers, no spoofing. I refused to sign up no VPN at all though so I'm 98% sure I didnt even attempt from my local IP or cellular IP. I assume the combination of VPN/DC IPS and them seeing Linux flagged their system into wanting data about me. I did try a VoIP number at one point and it was promptly rejected.

Wish they would move to matrix but ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

[โ€“] NationProtons 6 points 7 months ago

Yeah exactly. What are they even verifying? They don't have my phone yet, so anybody could put their number there and 'verify' the account. I suppose it's to stop bots, but still, some other options should be available.