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I fixed my issue by installing the Microsoft Start News App on my Android phone (Microsoft Start: News & more - Apps on Google Play).
I started the process using the Microsoft Start home page (first appears when you open MS Edge) on the MS Edge browser on Mac (Big Sur). When I was configuring MS Start, it is then I ran up against the "...username violates out guidelines," issue when signing up for the Community section. The username line in the 'sign up' dialog was EMPTY. I went through the normal motions and changed my Full Name under the "Your Info" section of my MS account, but nothing worked. No matter what I did, while using MS Start home page (or website) in the browser on my Mac, the username was always empty when trying to sign up for the Community section. I believe the empty username is a data fetch error. Furthermore, since the username line is empty in the Community sign up dialog box, it violates user guidelines of having a blank username. So, it is not a conspiracy but a programming issue (or maybe a browser specific issue not caught in testing).
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Unfortunately, MS Rewards is only available in a select few countries. If you're not from these countries you have no way to fix this issue.