Getting verified as a Goodreads Author

I have been going back and forth with Goodreads for the past four days to get myself verified as a Goodreads author.

Why is this so difficult?

I know Thomas has said many times that Goodreads is an essential promotional platform, but it also is a very frustrating platform. Surely they should be able to use methods of verification that are in line with current capabilities.

The one requirement that seems to be tripping them up constantly is that the email address that I used to sign up to Goodreads is not visible on my website. It has not been good practice to have an email address visible on a website for as long as I have been using the internet actively which are decades. Yet this seems to be the major stumbling block.

Even a reply to a support email they sent me in which they requested me to directly reply to has only been met with a form response directing me to Goodreads help.

I thought getting another pen name added to my KDP Author Central account was hard but this is getting into the realms of being ridiculous.

Does anybody have different experiences?