| >Phone numbers are useful for exactly the reasons you find them frustrating: stability -- as you said, everyone and everything you associate with can and will store and contact you via your phone number indefinitely No, not at all. Most of my contacts don't have my current actively used phone number or the old one I'm forced to keep. I have a whole box full of SIM cards I once used for one reason or other. Most of them no longer work (I think). It's the same thing in the other direction. I have tons of phone numbers of some people and I have absolutely no idea which ones actually work. You're right that email is the same mess, at least for people who don't have their own domain (which is most people). But Signal is a centralised service. So why not use usernames? The reason is not stability, because phone numbers can hardly be more stable on Signal than Signal's own usernames. I believe the reason is that Signal was hoping to get faster traction by showing people who else in their phone book has Signal installed. I find that creepy to say the least. And it's a very bad reason force the whole usability disaster that is phone numbers, SIM cards and phone companies onto all Signal users. |