Then the issue is
How do we treat a phone number like an email address?
Let’s go all the way here. Full conversion. Zero email. Only the mobile number for a user. To what extent can you treat a mobile number like an email address? To what extent can you replace an email address with a mobile number?
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Identity? Every mobile number is unique, so that sort of works. You can change mobile numbers about as easily as you can change email addresses, or you can stick with them for long periods of time.
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Notifications? Unlike email, It’s not free to send a SMS to a phone number. Say someone forgets their password or needs a reply notification. We have to send SMS because that’s literally all we have. Well SMS messages cost, like, real money. Sending email is as free as it gets… but SMS ain’t free. How would the average Discourse open source install deal with this?
That’s the way to think about this. There are some massive obstacles.