4 ms·

Discord doesn’t require a phone number. It’s individual community owners who opt to require it. You can create a server that doesn’t require one but it effectiv

Discord doesn’t require a phone number. It’s individual community owners who opt to require it. You can create a server that doesn’t require one but it effectively means you can’t ban people since they can just sign up again on a new account.

LoganDark 1y ago
Discord has an account flag that triggers a mandatory phone number verification. It happens if you do things like send messages too quickly over the span of about a minute, or send multiple friend requests, or join too many servers, or start too many DMs, or indeed, join any server that is set to require phone number verification.
- zahlman 1y ago
  I am in dozens of servers and have not encountered this demand for a phone number. I have been in servers that required it for moderators as part of 2FA, and I just declined to moderate there. It had no effect on my use of any other server.
  - malfist 1y ago
    Just because something hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen to other people
    - xorbax 1y ago
      It never happened to him, so it's never happened Makes this huge data leak a real head scratcher
    - zahlman 1y ago
      [dead]
      - Aachen 1y ago
        If it doesn't rain one day, that's not evidence there exists no rain That's about the level of evidence that your specific user account offers to you about whether phone verification is a thing their anti-spam algorithms can trigger...
        jjulius 1y ago
        The funny thing about evidence is that Discord even has a page stating exactly what LoganDark said... https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6181726888215-How-to-Verify-Your-Discord-Account https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6181726888215-...
      - LoganDark 1y ago
        A simple Google search turns up results from years ago that are still valid today: https://old.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/ircyh1/locked_out_of_discord_phone_verification/ https://old.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/ircyh1/locked_o... > You'll be required to register a phone number to your Discord account in order to continue the use of it.
        zahlman 1y ago
        I didn't claim that it didn't happen to you, or that it never happens. You seemed to be implying that it will always happen, or commonly happen; my experience is proof that it doesn't always happen, and at least as strong evidence for it rarely happening as your experience is of it frequently happening.
        jjulius 1y ago
        >I didn't claim that it didn't happen to you, or that it never happens. The following is worded in such a way that it very much reads that you're saying it doesn't happen... >When other people say that something happens to them, why should I simply take them at their word when it contradicts the evidence actually available to me? You've very clearly said that if something hasn't happened to you, you're not likely to believe someone when they tell you it's happened to them. Further... >You seemed to be implying that it will always happen, or commonly happen... ... there was no implication. The comment you initially responded to clearly stated specific instances that will trigger the phone number requirement, the same instances that are very clearly stated by Discord[1] itself. [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45526721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45526721
  - BoorishBears 1y ago
    Anyone on HN should know the fickle nature of fraud detection, especially when the cost of getting it wrong is 0.
  - jjulius 1y ago
    It has happened to me on two accounts. OP is also not the only other person I've seen who has dealt with it. Bully for you that you haven't encountered it, but it's certainly a thing.
frumplestlatz 1y ago
I refuse to use their “create a server” language. It is not a server by any definition of the word server. You can set up a community on their servers. I’m not sure why they chose to use misleading language, but it is misleading.
- noitpmeder 1y ago
  I'm not sure it matters in this situation ...? Server/instance/VM/shard/... when used in this context is pure corporate naming BS. They'd have called it "setting up a new circle jerk" if they thought it would increase metrics
- Gigachad 1y ago
  It’s wrong in terms of the technical implementation and right in terms of user experience. Gamers are well familiar with different communities actually hosting servers and instances for games or voice chat pre discord. Discord offers the same experience but without physically being different servers. Keeping the name guides users in the same way OSs call it a recycling bin despite not actually being a bin.
- Aachen 1y ago
  Fun fact: Discord called them guilds before realising that they could compete with paid services that set up actual (e.g. Mumble) servers for you by pretending this is equivalent and free I also have trouble going along with the doublespeak. If a supermarket called their beer apple juice, I'd also not be offering my friends "apple juice", I'd call it what it is Guild is innocuous enough and since the API docs still call their communities that, that can be a term to use among those in the know to have common and clear terminology 'Guilds in Discord represent an isolated collection of users and channels, and are often referred to as "servers" in the UI.' —https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/guild https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/guild
  - monerozcash 1y ago
    This seems like a distinction without a difference. If you used a paid service offering Mumble servers that used some custom software that allowed them to offer multiple ... "servers" on different ports/IP addresses from a single daemon, would you really care? Focusing on the fact that it's not really a "server" because they aren't running as separate processes seems like utterly silly pedantry, and we probably don't even know if that's actually true regarding Discord or not.
ikkun 1y ago
I tried making an account once, technically my account was created but trying to log in only gets me a screen that requires I verify a phone number. I was never even able to attempt to join a server. I assume it's my browser's privacy settings and ad blocker but I'm not sure.

LoganDark 1y ago

Discord has an account flag that triggers a mandatory phone number verification. It happens if you do things like send messages too quickly over the span of about a minute, or send multiple friend requests, or join too many servers, or start too many DMs, or indeed, join any server that is set to require phone number verification.

zahlman 1y ago
I am in dozens of servers and have not encountered this demand for a phone number. I have been in servers that required it for moderators as part of 2FA, and I just declined to moderate there. It had no effect on my use of any other server.
- malfist 1y ago
  Just because something hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen to other people
  - xorbax 1y ago
    It never happened to him, so it's never happened Makes this huge data leak a real head scratcher
  - zahlman 1y ago
    [dead]
    - Aachen 1y ago
      If it doesn't rain one day, that's not evidence there exists no rain That's about the level of evidence that your specific user account offers to you about whether phone verification is a thing their anti-spam algorithms can trigger...
      - jjulius 1y ago
        The funny thing about evidence is that Discord even has a page stating exactly what LoganDark said... https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6181726888215-How-to-Verify-Your-Discord-Account https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/6181726888215-...
    - LoganDark 1y ago
      A simple Google search turns up results from years ago that are still valid today: https://old.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/ircyh1/locked_out_of_discord_phone_verification/ https://old.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/ircyh1/locked_o... > You'll be required to register a phone number to your Discord account in order to continue the use of it.
      - zahlman 1y ago
        I didn't claim that it didn't happen to you, or that it never happens. You seemed to be implying that it will always happen, or commonly happen; my experience is proof that it doesn't always happen, and at least as strong evidence for it rarely happening as your experience is of it frequently happening.
        jjulius 1y ago
        >I didn't claim that it didn't happen to you, or that it never happens. The following is worded in such a way that it very much reads that you're saying it doesn't happen... >When other people say that something happens to them, why should I simply take them at their word when it contradicts the evidence actually available to me? You've very clearly said that if something hasn't happened to you, you're not likely to believe someone when they tell you it's happened to them. Further... >You seemed to be implying that it will always happen, or commonly happen... ... there was no implication. The comment you initially responded to clearly stated specific instances that will trigger the phone number requirement, the same instances that are very clearly stated by Discord[1] itself. [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45526721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45526721
- BoorishBears 1y ago
  Anyone on HN should know the fickle nature of fraud detection, especially when the cost of getting it wrong is 0.
- jjulius 1y ago
  It has happened to me on two accounts. OP is also not the only other person I've seen who has dealt with it. Bully for you that you haven't encountered it, but it's certainly a thing.

frumplestlatz 1y ago

I refuse to use their “create a server” language. It is not a server by any definition of the word server. You can set up a community on their servers. I’m not sure why they chose to use misleading language, but it is misleading.

noitpmeder 1y ago
I'm not sure it matters in this situation ...? Server/instance/VM/shard/... when used in this context is pure corporate naming BS. They'd have called it "setting up a new circle jerk" if they thought it would increase metrics
Gigachad 1y ago
It’s wrong in terms of the technical implementation and right in terms of user experience. Gamers are well familiar with different communities actually hosting servers and instances for games or voice chat pre discord. Discord offers the same experience but without physically being different servers. Keeping the name guides users in the same way OSs call it a recycling bin despite not actually being a bin.
Aachen 1y ago
Fun fact: Discord called them guilds before realising that they could compete with paid services that set up actual (e.g. Mumble) servers for you by pretending this is equivalent and free I also have trouble going along with the doublespeak. If a supermarket called their beer apple juice, I'd also not be offering my friends "apple juice", I'd call it what it is Guild is innocuous enough and since the API docs still call their communities that, that can be a term to use among those in the know to have common and clear terminology 'Guilds in Discord represent an isolated collection of users and channels, and are often referred to as "servers" in the UI.' —https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/guild https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/guild
- monerozcash 1y ago
  This seems like a distinction without a difference. If you used a paid service offering Mumble servers that used some custom software that allowed them to offer multiple ... "servers" on different ports/IP addresses from a single daemon, would you really care? Focusing on the fact that it's not really a "server" because they aren't running as separate processes seems like utterly silly pedantry, and we probably don't even know if that's actually true regarding Discord or not.

ikkun 1y ago

I tried making an account once, technically my account was created but trying to log in only gets me a screen that requires I verify a phone number. I was never even able to attempt to join a server. I assume it's my browser's privacy settings and ad blocker but I'm not sure.