I DO NOT HAVE A FUCKING PHONE PLAN OR FUCKING PHONE FOR THAT MATTER. STOP ASKING ME FOR SHIT I DON’T FUCKING HAVE. EVERY FUCKING MAINSTREAM SERVICE OUT THERE JUST EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE A FUCKING PHONE AND PHONE PLAN THESE DAYS. WANT TO SIGN UP FOR A WEBSITE? VERIFY YOUR GODDAMN PHONE NUMBER. WANT TO TALK IN CERTAIN DISCORD SERVERS? NO SIREE. VERIFY YOUR PHONE NUMBER FIRST. LOCKED OUT OF ONE OF YOUR ACCOUNTS OVER SOME BULLSHIT REPORTS? VERIFY YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO UNLOCK IT. LITERALLY JUST FUCKING EXISTING? VERIFY, VERIFY, VERIFY! FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK, STOP PROMPTING ME TO VERIFY MY FUCKING HUMANITY WITH A PHONE NUMBER. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LOOK FOR FUCKING WORKAROUNDS AND BYPASSES TO GET AROUND THIS SHIT. EVEN IF I DID HAVE AN ACTIVE PHONE NUMBER, YOU AIN’T GETTING JACK SHIT FROM ME. THIS IS NOT MADE TO PROTECT YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE, IT IS ONLY MADE SO THESE FUCKTARD COMPANIES CAN SELL YOUR DATA TO DATA BROKERS, WHO WILL THEN SELL THAT DATA TO ROBOCALLERS WHO WILL CALL YOU ALL THE FUCKING TIME! LOOK, YOU’RE NOT GETTING MY NUMBER. IF I HAVE TO FIND FUCKING FAKE PHONE NUMBERS OR SIGN UP TO TEMP NUMBER SERVICES, THEN SO FUCKING BE IT, BUT I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO POTENTIALLY BREAK THE FUCKING LAW TO GET SOME FUCKING SENSE OF PRIVACY. I LITERALLY HAVE A NUMBER ON TEXTNOW THAT IS BASICALLY FUCKING USELESS AND IS ONLY USABLE FOR MAKING CALLS AND TEXTING. EVEN IF I WAS ABLE TO USE THAT NUMBER TO GET A VERIFICATION CODE IN THE FORM OF A SMS, IT WOULDN’T WORK, BECAUSE “OH, YOU NEED TO SIGN UP FOR ANOTHER FUCKING SUBSCRIPTION (LOCK-IN NUMBER) TO GET VERIFICATION CODES”! FUCK, I CAN’T EVEN PARTICIPATE IN SOME TWITCH CHATS DUE TO THIS BULLSHIT BECAUSE SOME FUCKING STREAMERS SET UP THIS STUPID-ASS ‘VERIFIED ACCOUNTS ONLY CHAT’ BULLSHIT THAT FORCES YOU TO VERIFY VIA PHONE NUMBER TO ACCESS THEM. AND GUESS WHAT? MY TEXTNOW NUMBER? FUCKING USELESS ON ABOUT 90% OF SERVICES ON THE FUCKING INTERNET! WHY? OH, WELL, BECAUSE SOME FUCKING ‘GENIUS’ DECIDED TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME BY BLOCKING VOIP NUMBERS COMPLETELY. AND TEXTNOW IS A VOIP SERVICE. IF I DO TOO MANY ATTEMPTS TO VERIFY, I GET ‘RATE LIMITED’. FUCK. OFF. GIVE ME ANOTHER FUCKING WAY TO VERIFY BECAUSE YOU ARE SURE AS FUCKING HELL NOT GETTING ACCESS TO MORE OF MY DATA! I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO EVEN “START” THIS PROCEDURE, ANYWAY, BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE A FUCKING PHONE TO BEGIN WITH! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH FUCKING PHONE PLANS COST THESE DAYS? WELL, HUNDREDS, MAYBE EVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO GO BUY A FUCKING PHONE PLAN THAT IS OVERPRICED AS SHIT, GET A PHONE NUMBER, AND VERIFY WITH IT? OH, FUCK YOU. AND GUESS THE FUCK WHAT? GUESS WHO LOVES PHONE NUMBERS? FUCKING DATA LEAKERS. SHOULD I EVEN REMIND YOU ABOUT THE TWITCH DATA LEAK THAT TOOK PLACE OVER 2 YEARS AGO? PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCESSED. THAT POSSIBLY INCLUDED PHONE NUMBERS. THAT MEANS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO GOT BREACHED PROBABLY HAD A SHIT-TON OF ROBOCALLS. GODDAMNIT, THE INTERNET IS NOT A FUCKING EXCLUSIVE CLUB, YOU GODDAMN DICKWEEDS. BACK WHEN I WAS AROUND THE INTERNET, YOU DIDN’T NEED TO GIVE OUT JACK SHIT WHEN SIGNING UP FOR WEBSITES OR PARTICIPATING IN CHAT. HOLY FUCK, IRC DIDN’T EVEN NEED THAT SHIT. AIM DIDN’T NEED IT. YOU COULD JUST MAKE A FUCKING ACCOUNT ON THE AOL WEBSITE OR YOUR IRC CLIENT, AND BOOM, YOU COULD TALK TO ANYONE IN YOUR CONTACTS. NO STRINGS OR ANYTHING ELSE ATTACHED. BUT NOWADAYS, YOU HAVE TO GIVE OUT A SHIT-TON OF PERSONAL INFO TO ACCESS NEARLY ALMOST EVERYTHING, AND THAT INCLUDES HAVING A PHONE NUMBER, BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE, THEN YOU ARE APPARENTLY JUST FUCKED, BECAUSE EVERYONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE ACCESS TO A FUCKING CELLULAR DEVICE. BACK IN THE 2000S, HAVING A FUCKING PHONE WAS A FUCKING NOVELTY. YOU COULD EVEN CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY IF YOU HAD ONE. NOW, EVERYONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE ONE. LIKE, WHAT THE FUCK? I HATE THE FUCKING FAKE-ASS EXCUSES COMPANIES GIVE BY CLAIMING THAT HAVING A PHONE NUMBER MAKES YOU MORE SECURE. BRO, THAT IS A FUCKING LIE AND A HALF. WHERE’S MY FUCKING LIE DETECTOR? ALL IT DOES IS GIVES DATA-HUNGRY COMPANIES ACCESS TO MORE OF YOUR INFORMATION, AS IF THEY DON’T HAVE FUCKING ENOUGH OF IT ALREADY. I MISSED OUT ON SO MANY GODDAMN COOL THINGS BECAUSE OF THIS SHITTY-ASS FORCED PHONE NUMBER VERIFICATION. I FUCKING MISSED OUT ON MONSTER HUNTER FRONTIER WHEN IT WAS STILL UP AND RUNNING DUE TO THIS BULLSHIT. NOW, IT IS FUCKING SHUT DOWN FOREVER AND I MISSED OUT ON IT ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF OVERZEALOUS VERIFICATION. I TRULY THOUGHT THAT PHONE VERIFICATION WAS GOING TO BE EASY AS THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT WEBSITES WHERE YOU CAN RECIEVE SMS TEXTS WITH EITHER ‘REAL’ OR ‘FAKE’ PHONE NUMBERS. NOPE! NOT ONLY DOES THE PHONE NUMBER NOT HAVE TO BE ALREADY USED BY TOO MANY PEOPLE, BUT IT ALSO HAS TO SPECIFICALLY NOT BE A VOIP NUMBER. I MIGHT AS WELL SAY 99% OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET DON’T SUPPORT THESE FUCKING NUMBERS. THEY MIGHT AS WELL TELL YOU TO FUCK OFF AND BUY A PHONE PLAN. “DO YOU GUYS NOT HAVE PHONES?” MIGHT AS WELL SUM UP TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION ENTIRELY. DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A FUCKING PHONE? THEN DO NOT ASK ME FOR A FUCKING PHONE NUMBER OR ASK ME TO USE ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES AN APP! I FUCKING HATE THOSE GODDAMN ‘AUTHENTICATOR’ APPS BECAUSE OF THIS AS WELL, BECAUSE THEY ‘ALSO’ REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE ACCESS TO A PHONE. WE ALREADY PAY FOR FOOD, HOUSING, ELECTRICITY, INTERNET, WATER, AND OTHER ESSENTIALS. STOP ASKING ME TO GET A FUCKING PHONE PLAN AND PUT IN MY FUCKING PHONE NUMBER JUST TO ACCESS NEARLY HALF OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET. BESIDES, YOU WON’T BE GETTING MY ACTUAL PHONE NUMBER EVEN IF I “DID” HAVE ONE, SO TOUGH FUCKING SHIT. GO ASK OTHER FUCKING PEOPLE TO PUT IN THEIR GODDAMN PHONE NUMBERS, BECAUSE THAT IS OBVIOUSLY YOUR FUCKING DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITY.
FUCK. YOU. ALL. 🖕
I used to use discord a lot for the different games I played, I started using it less because of privacy concerns. I had my phone number linked to discord for “security” but once I unlinked my number since SMS is shitty verification anyway nearly all of the servers I was in blocked me from sending any messages or reacting to people with emotes. I had to stop using discord for all but one server my friends run. I’d like them to use something else but they are normies who don’t care. I use an authenticator app for discord for security but that isn’t good enough for discord, I NEED to “verify” my phone number by having it constantly linked. Bullshit.
BTW you can use authenticator programs for PC if you do not have a smart phone or want to install an app. I use KeePass for my PC (and phone). Pretty much open source is good for this stuff, just make your own backups. Very important to have backups. You can use something like Yubikey on your PC too (that can also work on a phone). Authenticator apps don’t ask for your phone number, at least not the ones I use. I’m adding this because I do think it is important for security to have MFA, just not shitty ones like only email and SMS. My debit and credit card companies only deal with email and SMS, it is infuriating because that is where I want MFA the most.
First paragraph: That is a server issue, not discord (enforced), though discord is stupid too; requiring a verified phone number is the highest level of trust/security one can select on a discord server. I’ve never run into one where that setting is active myself, and it’s not on my server either, but just some clarity. It’s an attempt to make it difficult to attack servers/users via the fact that having multiple phone numbers can get expensive, and most potentially harmful users are just butthurt teenagers raging at nothing, but with no money so the potential situation (repeat ban evasion etc) is nullified. It’s low-friction for the masses, and is moderately effective at its task. That’s why they use it.
I know why it is used so I don’t need it explained or defended, discord will do just fine if me and OP continue hating it. It doesn’t make it less infuriating that every company wants your phone number instead of a captcha like it used to be. Nowadays the check box captcha fails if you have a VPN on and you’re stuck trying different servers to get through. I could pay $5 for a burner and use this number just to verify but because discord wants it linked the whole time unlike other platforms that only need it once it defeats the purpose. I know not every server does this hence why the one my friends use still works for me, others not so much. Other platforms require you verify SMS once and that is it and you take their word they only verify it and don’t store it (signal, google, facebook, etc.). Others don’t have it at all (matrix, xmpp, revolt, simplex). I don’t think it is effective because I’ve seen a server still get attacked by a kid with a million accounts. I didn’t have money as a kid and had to pirate if I wanted to game but others like nearly all of my peers did have money and can flush money down the toilet like this. The masses don’t care about privacy, that’s why they let corporations get away with it and vote for people not working in their interest.
Being restricted access to a Discord server over phone verification for the 10,000th time in a row today was the final straw for me, and that is what drove me to my breaking point and is what encouraged me to make this long and rage-induced rant. I am glad to know I am not alone when it comes to Discord being overzealous with its phone verification system.