This is super frustrating. Discord requires server operators to enable phone number verification if they want any of the additional "Community" features. It's a hugely backwards requirement and it's the main reason I haven't given the community feature set a second look for any of the servers I run.
> Members of the server must have a verified email on their Discord account before sending messages or DMing anyone in the server. (Note that this doesn’t apply to users that have assigned roles!)[1]
I also help with running a community server which doesn't have the phone number requirement enabled either. It's also not required for partnered servers as far as I'm aware.
You can even get around the email requirement if you just add a bot that gives every new user a role, since any role will automatically verify you as mentioned here.
Ah, I was misremembering whether email or phone verification was required. Either way, it's still a very heavy-weight requirement for what's basically a drop-in drop-out support channel for us.
From what I see the only verification related setting you need to enable for community features is the member email verification requirement - Please correct me if I'm wrong.
