[JumpCrisscross]

> Why? If someone wants to use a phone number for their identifier, fine. But make it optional

Network effects.

If you’re only findable via custom handle versus the phone number your network already has, you’ve reduced the network’s value to your contacts. Put another way, if I join a messaging service and it says two of my contacts are on it (but many more may be), that’s close to a non-starter.

[Freak_NL]

I'm fine with people not finding me automatically. If Signal wants to keep the low-resistance method of bulk-checking your contact's phone numbers, fine. Just give me the choice of joining without it.

[JumpCrisscross]

> fine with people not finding me automatically

That’s a private gain at the network’s cost. For a challenger, their decision to bar that albeit limited form of free-riding is perfectly rational. For a dominant network, I am much more sympathetic to the call for anonymity.

[turminal]

Prioritizing your market share over private gains of your users is precisely the thing that makes you "not an ally of user freedom"

[JumpCrisscross]

> Prioritizing your market share over private gains of your users

Network effects make these virtually indistinguishable. If a network is unusable it doesn’t help anyone.

There may be an argument, however, for charging for the opt out.

[gefhfffh]

Unusable is a big stretch

[lucian1900]

If a network is not usable by anyone with a smartphone, it's strictly less usable than WhatsApp. That means in practice, it's unusable.