Phone Number Requirement

I was pretty disappointed and upset about the fact that I couldn't access my account because of a phone number requirement. Now, if I had a phone number to verify with, I would've verified, because I had a lot of friends and conversations on that account, if I did have a phone number, and not many people added, I would be fine, and I would NOT have entered in my phone number because it honestly should be optional. I don't have a number to verify with, but I got an email, and that email is verified. I can't verify with a phone number, but that isn't my fault, is it? It's not fair, that I've been using this account and talking to people, and friends, making new experiences, and now out of the blue, Discord, wants me to verify with a phone number. I could be talking to my friends right now, who are probably wondering what happened, but I can't. All because of a phone number requirement, that shouldn't even BE a requirement, it was optional before, and now it isn't. I get that a phone number would keep your account more safer, but there's more than one way to keep your account secure. People could be making fake numbers, and all of that other stuff. I really do love discord, it's efficient, neat and secure, but it isn't fair that I lost access to my account and my friends because of a requirement, that isn't even needed, there are many other ways to help people secure their  accounts. Please make the phone number optional again, because I'm positive that I'm probably not the only person with this problem. Thank you!