Why on Earth are you still trying to go through with the new username system??

Look around you. Nobody wants this. People have been commenting on this for weeks telling you what a bad idea this is. People hit the maximum number of comments on a threat begging you not to do this. Not only will this create mass confusion and frustration over usernames, it also actively jeopardizes users' privacy and safety.

As it stands, multiple people can have the same Discord username, and what differentiates them is a set of numbers not available to people not in a server or friends with those people. What this means is that 1.) nobody fights over usernames or handles like you see on websites like Tumblr or Twitter, 2.) it's harder for hackers, bots and other malicious entities to guess a user's full name and contact them or get into their account and 3.) Discord users are granted some degree of privacy if screenshots of a Discord server or conversation are posted on another social media website or even in another Discord server or conversation. It's also just a lot easier to be able to change your username to whatever you want whenever you want.

If the new username system is rolled out, after the dust has settled regarding usernames (which will already be a great hassle with millions of users; do not underestimate the truly insane things people will say and do to get a good username), the privacy of those users will be completely eroded. Let me give an example: I know that I once appeared in a screenshot of a Discord server I was no longer in when two people who were in it had an argument on another social media website. I found out about this only because a friend recognized me in the screenshot and told me. If this had happened under the upcoming update, where my username and handle were all people needed to track me down, any number of strangers could have contacted me and tried to involve me when I wanted nothing to do with it.

People will leave Discord over this. I already know people who plan to cancel Nitro subscriptions if this goes through. I plan to cancel my Nitro subscription over this, and I'm looking for an alternate platform to use. Nobody uses Discord because they want it to be more like Twitter or Instagram or whatever. People use Discord because they like how it is already, not because they want it to mimic a company that's been driving itself into the ground for the last six months.

And for the record, this solves no problems whatsoever. Shockingly, it isn't actually easier to have to memorize that your friend's username is something like mat_thew65 than it is to remember that his username is something like Matthew#4928. This is a failed "solution" to a problem that literally does not exist, and a "solution" that excludes people whose native languages don't use the Latin alphabet, decreases internet safety and privacy, and invites unnecessary fighting over usernames.

I would like to remind you of how this kind of idea has gone in the past. Two soda companies, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, have been business rivals for a long time. At one point, Pepsi offered a challenge where Americans blindly taste-tested Pepsi and Coke and gave their preference. The results came out in Pepsi's favor. So what did Coca-Cola do? They tried to change their taste to mimic that of Pepsi. This failed miserably. It turned out that most people who drank Coke did so because they already preferred it over Pepsi in the first place. People hated the new taste, dealing an immense blow to Coca-Cola's business until Coca-Cola brought back the old taste. This scenario is what you are looking at right now, and I suggest that you correct course and learn from Coca-Cola's mistakes before you repeat them.