OpenAI Shut the Door, and Relays Are Out for Blood: The "Tragedy of the Commons" in the Token Economy

Right now, when you try to sign up for a new OpenAI Codex account, you are no longer greeted by that familiar email verification interface, but by a cold, hard wall – overseas phone number verification is now mandatory. This is not just a UI interaction change; this is an iron door, and one that has been completely welded shut. Once upon a time, all kinds of "freeloading" secret manuals circulated through tech circles: account generators, account pools, seamless switching. That was the idylli...