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Comment on Discord Servers asking for Phone Numbers and 'Verification Levels'

MoogleMaestro@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I mean, I sort of get why the developers say it's Discord's policy even if it's a bit misleading.

Game developers don't really want to moderate their own discord server and simply want to use the strictest automated filtering system available and this just happens to include phone number linking. The operators of the servers themselves do not have access to these phone numbers and they are only stored by discord directly to prevent spam.

I would personally prefer games to not have their communities tied to discord, akin to how forums were big deal for games back in the day, but even then they do need some kind of automated way to filter out all the crap. This is a problem with moderating any community, including a lemmy/kbin/mastodon, and I don't blame them for simply picking the strictest option to ease the burden on the 1 or 2 people who are charged with managing these servers (especially if they are unpaid or volunteers, which is a whole other can of worms that shouldn't happen...)

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CosmicCleric@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I mean, I sort of get why the developers say it’s Discord’s policy even if it’s a bit misleading.

“It’s Discord that’s asking you for verification”

The language on that is very plain, and a lie, as it is the server admins, and not the Discord corporation, who are asking for it, by having the ‘Highest’ verification level setting, vs. just the ‘High’ setting.

Game developers don’t really want to moderate their own discord server and simply want to use the strictest automated filtering system available and this just happens to include phone number linking.

The only difference between the ‘High’ and ‘Highest’ verification level setting is the asking of the phone number. All other verification features (email validation/verification, time on the server before approval, etc.) are the same.

The operators of the servers themselves do not have access to these phone numbers and they are only stored by discord directly to prevent spam.

How exactly does that prevent spam, vs just using other existing established verification methods like email validation? If the only goal is preventing spam, its overkill, and other web sites who also have to contend with spam don’t use it.

Finally, I’d feel allot better about it if a trusted third party verified that its not used for marketing reasons, and that we all just didn’t take Discord’s word for it. I don’t know this as fact, but I can’t help thinking that we are being lied to, and that the number is used to link our Internet pseudomnames to real-life persons (via agregate gathering/purchasing of data via third-party brokers).

Having said all that, my post wasn’t about what is done with the number (that’s a whole other topic), just the fallacy of stating who is requesting the number (Discord vs server admins).

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- boothin@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  How exactly does that prevent spam, vs just using other existing established verification methods like email validation? If the only goal is preventing spam, its overkill, and other web sites who also have to contend with spam don’t use it.
  It's trivial to create new accounts and emails to verify those accounts. It is not trivial to get a new phone number since virtual numbers are blocked by the verification process.
  
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  - CosmicCleric@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    It’s trivial to create new accounts and emails to verify those accounts.
    
    Is it really that trivial, especially while having to spend your own money to do so?
    
    And can’t that be detected in the same way that virtual phone numbers are detected by Discord currently?
    
    You get your ISPs email address, and you could have your Google address, what else?
    
    Granted, a phone number is better than email for verification, but plenty of websites work off email verification today successfully.
    
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    subignition@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    What are you talking about? There are endless services where you can get a free email address without spending a cent. Verifying that an email is genuine is a much harder ask than you might think.
    
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    Chozo@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    As the owner of a 2000+ user server, this setting is an absolute necessity because yes, disposable email accounts are plentiful and Discord still does a poor job of detecting them. Server raids still happen, and temporarily restricting access to non-verified accounts helps mitigate this.
    
    However, Discord's phone number verification blocks most VoIP or burner numbers from being registered. It's one of the few things Discord does pretty well these days, IMO.
    
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    DarthYoshiBoy@kbin.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    You get your ISPs email address, and you could have your Google address, what else?
    
    I host my own email. I have literally billions of email addresses available if I want them and getting billions more only costs however much I can get a new domain registration for, which isn't often more than $10. I already own a dozen domains or more and I can have any username I want at any of those domains for any email at no additional cost.
    
    Now I'm not some dickhead harassing people online or spamming discord servers, but I will admit that Wendy's once had a deal where you could get a free frosty for creating a new account and I had free frosty coupons for weeks before they realized that email only verification for unique users was a losing proposition and they switched to requiring that new accounts attach a phone number.
    
    Email verification only works if you've got nothing to lose. As soon as there's anything on the line, you'd better look for something more concrete like a phone number, a credit card, or a government ID. Personally I'm more comfortable with Discord having one of those pieces of info before the other two, but that's just me, you do you.
    
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