this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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Asklemmy
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I'd ask for their cell number and send a verification code. That'll stop 95% of all duplicate accounts. Keep the hash of their phone number in a hash list, rather than the number itself. Don't allow signups from outside whatever region you can SMS for free.
I realize this would mean relying on an external protocol (SMS), but it might just keep the crap out. Would help for ban evasion too, at least within an instance.
It would set a higher bar for a bot, but SMS wouldn't stop them.
There are SMS providers that will happily spin you up a number with one API call, then return any messages sent to them. The spam account could have a number, confirm the message, then delete the account faster than a human could solve a captcha.
Is this really true?
Twilio is the biggest sms back end and it's like $10 per number month or something.
$1.15/number/month, though that is still some cost.
You're right, the cost would make it a huge filter for spam. But you could conceivably have 1000 accounts on a verified server for just over a grand.