Hello!
I am trying to setup Discourse. I want only those people to be able to register who have a valid cell number. Is it possible?
סיכום מבוסס בינה מלאכותית
The discussion revolves around the feasibility of requiring phone verification during registration in Discourse. sca seeks a way to verify real users via SMS without making phone numbers the primary login method, citing partner requirements for avoiding fake accounts. anon73664359 references a past discussion on mobile-based login but notes SMS verification is insecure and not implemented. pfaffman agrees, highlighting that SMS is easily bypassed and not a reliable method. He suggests Discourse already has tools to detect fake accounts and mentions that implementing phone verification could be possible via a custom plugin, potentially costing $1000–$5000, with a recommendation to post in the Marketplace category. sca appreciates the input.
Many years ago, there was a long discussion about allowing such a feature. It didn’t go anywhere, but it’s definitely worth reading if you’re interested.
Thanks for sharing this post @anon73664359. You are absolutely right.
However, what I am looking for is a bit different. I want email and username to be primary source of identification & login. However, I just want to verify that the user is a real person via text message (or alternate way) at the time of registration.
I wish there was plugin.
You can request for somebody to create a plugin by creating a topic in the Marketplace category.
As for verification VIA text message, that was also addressed in the topic that I linked above. To say the least, SMS is too insecure.
There is nothing about a text message that proves they are a person. It’s cheap and easy to get short term text messages. I used to do it to create accounts for my customers.
Is this about spam? What is the problem you have with people right now?
I don’t have any problem yet. But phone verification is becoming a common practice now. Also, our partners, who would evaluate the page views, would want to see some way by which we avoid fake accounts.
Where? Most sites and services still use email verification for a reason. Phone number verification just wouldn’t work with Discourse.
I see it mostly used mostly as a bad second factor implementation. It’s apparently not that hard to steal a phone number.
Discourse has some stuff built in to do that. You can track accounts with the same up address, for example, and a whole bunch of people are convinced that fake accounts are not much of a problem. If your community is much more likely to attract people who want to create fake accounts than most, some version of phone number verification could likely be implemented for something like $1000 to $5000 if you post in Marketplace.
This is very helpful. Thanks Jay!