Like with "Email Verification" add Phone Verification!
As a moderator of a few channels, we've had a massive issue with one particular troll using a VPN to evade bans. This is a massive issue for us because; this user will spam hateful messages, racist slurs, bullying/harassment and even spam the streamer's private personal info. This has been such an issue, that some people I know have had to take a long break from streaming or quit altogether!
I implore you Twitch. Please add an option to enable Phone number verification!
I believe this will strongly deter users from ban evading, as it commonly costs to use phone number changers, and takes a lot longer to set up!
With this, it is unlikely that trolls would find a phone number changing software that is both fast and free.
Alternatively, having an option that forces chatter's accounts to be older than a day, would also help greatly!
Please Twitch! This issue has gone on for so long and it really destroying streams!
nekora_core
shared this idea
As mentioned by MonicaElleRose, phone verification was implemented to heighten channel security! You can review the update in our blog post: https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2021/09/29/securing-your-chat-with-phone-and-email-verification/
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taburz_blism
commented
I Strongly oppose this idea as it discriminates against people who cannot use a phone due to their; religious beliefs, lifestyle choice, or other reasons. A Person should not be alienated due to what they believe in or forced to choose between their religion and twitch.
Online Communities such as these are meant to be built on social interaction and allowing people from all walks of life to partake (as long as they adhere to ToS of course). However forcing phone verification on all users, excludes a portion of well intended people from having access to twitch.
Inclusion is a chief cornerstone in the community, doing things that damage that or taking it away (as suggested with forced phone verification) is a step backwards in terms of allowing all to be part of the community, and a step forward towards something Orwellian.
Let's be real, the main reason this phone verification thing is even being suggested is out of a desire to stop people with malicious intent from abusing the system and creating accounts easily, yes? Well it looks like everyone without a phone then gets painted with the same brush and has to suffer just because of a few bad eggs. Seems HIGHLY UNFAIR in my opinion. it also forces people to buy phones too, or to have a phone number (or lend of one) at the very least.
i completely understand your intentions, however forcing phone verification on all is not the way to go about it. i would suggest something else, something device based i guess, or a code? i'm not sure with all this technical computer stuff as i can barely use a computer myself. i would have suggested ip blocking, but vpn's get around that. Maybe something that checks 2 days later if a person is still using the same device and ip (or location) as they created the account on? idk. i'm just super against forcing people to need to own phones to be able to use the internet. Google via YT already blackmail some people with demanding/forcing to give a phone number or else they lose access to all their private family videos and account they grew up with etc.
Please don't let the same thing happen twitch!
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WilderWolfMan
commented
i could see account age option being Great idea but i dont see phone verification doing much as i have little faith that trolls or ban evaders are good at money management
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twitch.tv/MonicaElleRose
commented
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DarkBloodWolf13
commented
This would make it inaccessible to some people, and some don’t want to link their phone numbers over safety and privacy concerns.
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Soabie
commented
We recently get followed and unfollowed by many bots recently, what if you could include the option of "E-mail verification" with following a twitch streamer? Since we already have email verification for chatting, would be neat to add to it aswell I think
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Sir_Electric
commented
What's needed is Twitch Verified. Have a system in place to #1 verify the user accounts if this is phone or credit card or some other form of deterrent. #2 allow streamers better access to tools to manage the users connecting to chat. The ability to set minimum account age to connect to chat or twitch verified only in the same way we have the ability to have follows only of subscribers only.
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PlokGamingTwitch
commented
Totally agree with @ElleRows here.
Linking an account to a phone number and having an option to only allow accounts with a linked phone number could have a massive impact on trolling.
It will not totally remove it, but it will surely make a huge difference. -
twitch.tv/MonicaElleRose
commented
i had commented a similar idea... and Id love to see this too so much using a phone number even if its a toggle option. my idea suggested 2fa as a toggle feature.. requiring users to be unique... as 2fa is already a built in system with twitch and a requirement for all streamers who are partner or affiliate.
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Tei2
commented
I love this idea. The extra step(s) will make things just that much more troublesome / tedious for the trolls. Anything to help clean things up.
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Kohlrak
commented
Faking numbers isn't impossible, just harder, but then there's people like me who don't have SMS, and it's even worse in poorer countries.