Ugh, stupid google voice...

[cashew]

For some reason, google voice numbers are suddenly no longer able to receive verification SMS anymore. This pisses me off as this means all the accounts that required a phone number to activate, I can no longer access because I opened those accounts with my google voice number.

A lot of those accounts are fandom related.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth registering under my real phone number or if I should just...stop using those sites. The biggest problem is stupid Reddit, which won't allow me to read any of the posts without logging in and I'm just so, so reluctant to actually register a Reddit account. I've been using a throw away gmail account to sign in for a while, but that's a no-go now due to the verification SMS blocking that's happening.

The amount of hoops one needs to jump through just to get access to some fics or read up a few emulator recommendations is bonkers. The real ID registration for internet sites is also immensely annoying and I don't understand why fans are OK with giving away their real ID like this. Like...what happened to not wanting potential employers know about your fannish indiscretions? Are people just that numb to the idea of privacy now?

(Obviously I'm talking about CN fandom, which is shockingly stupid about keeping their fannish stuff private. Lofter at least is semi-privacy aware in that they haven't demanded for a real phone number to sign up for an account...yet. And obviously, Wland continues to be mysterious and underground. But the problem is there's a significant amount of fan activity on more public sites, but those sites are seriously unfriendly to anything slightly less mainstream...and fans keep flocking there for some reason. Gah.)

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Edit: Suddenly struck by desire to go find a less frustrating fandom, but then looked at the stats of AU dominance in Ao3 fic and it's like...there is no escape.

Comments

[tanithryudo]

I used to have a google voice account, but it expired and is also passed the reclaim deadline. It also won't let me sign up for a new number anymore because I guess you can only link one number to your real number. So, yeah.

Maybe you can look around for other VoIP services? Just did a quick search and came up with 2ndLine and TextNow.

[cashew]

Sadly, most VoIP services can't receive verification codes. Google voice was one of the few that could, but that's not the case anymore.

At least signing up for Reddit won't require a phone number (just the annoyance of making yet another social media account), but things like Instagram, Weibo, Bilibili...ugh. (At least Bilibili so far has been letting me in due to cookies, but not sure what'll happen once cookies expire and I don't really wanna test until that day comes.)