[dboyd]

> even more offensively intrusive than Facebook

Not sure if that statement is specifically related to your wife having to "provide a phone number", but... Facebook does the same thing.

[alextingle]

No, they don't. FB want to know what your number is, but they don't prevent you from using their service if you can't/won't give it to them.

[dboyd]

I tried to create an account the other day and they explicitly required a mobile phone number they could send an SMS too.

I suspect that different people see different behavior.