Account Disabled

Yet another victim of the automated 'Account Disabled' bot. 

I was using the service on my desktop PC without any issues. I decided to try their app and have Discord on the go. I logged in and get a message to verify via email that I'm logging in from a new location. Did that, no problem.

Next, the app is asking for phone verification. Okay, no problem. I enter a post paid T-Mobile phone number via my PC. Nothing. Black screen. I try again. Nothing happens. Okay, no worries, I'll do it via the phone. Log in, get phone code, I enter the code and I'm back in, no problem.

Except a second later I am logged out again. I try to log back in on my PC. "Account Disabled" it now says. I check my email and there's one from Discord with the topic "Account Disabled - Violation of TOS/Community Guidelines Notification". 

The email continues to say that:

"Discord has disabled your account for spam and/or platform abuse. Our anti-abuse measures may have flagged your account for any of the following behaviors:"

"1. Sending a large number of direct messages in a short span of time."

Absolutely, most certainly did not do that. I use my Discord to communicate with other gamers while we play, and mostly via Voice Chat.

"2. Participating in a server dedicated to spamming Discord"

Again, this is absurd. We play video games and chat via voice. We spend most of our time in-game, no in Discord.

"3. Automating your user account or self-botting"

I'm not sure what this means. There's nothing automatic about my Discord account. I log in via my web browser and I am a part of 4-5 channels. My mistake was obviously to try the Discord app, as it clearly set in motion a series of events that apparently made their bot think I was spamming. But aside from installing the App, I was also giving them a real phone number, which is normally something I never do.

"4.Taking other actions on Discord — for example, joining a ton of servers — faster than humanly possible"

Never did any of that. I using around 5 channels on Discord, and I don't leave and rejoin them all the time. I join and stay and that's it.

"5. Attempting potentially fraudulent activity"

Again, what exactly does that mean? I have no idea. I'm just using Discord to chat with my boys when we play. That's literally it. I would never have joined Discord in the first place had it not be a requirement to be in the game group. 

That's pretty much the entire message. It is automated and without human review. I suppose I should be grateful that I have an opportunity to appeal, as well as write this message, but it is still rather frustrating to have the burden of proof be on my side, having to disprove and fight against these ridicules accusations. 

I get that there must be a ton of spam here - actually, now that I write this sentence, I recall having been the recipient of much unwanted spam myself on Discord - so I fully sympathize with the need to cast a wide net to catch the spammers. However, when you cast a wide net, you will also catch a lot of innocent people, and if you are going to have that arrangement, you will also need to have amble staff to deal with the repercussions of disabling the accounts of innocent people. 

In closing, and hope for a good outcome for everyone where. Unfortunately, the Discord support track record has not been great, and users on Reddit report weeks of wait times to get any response. This is of course entirely unacceptable and unsustainable for any business in the long run. The only question is how long.