[DO NOT ADD] Discord Username System
Did you know? Discord is reworking/removing their partnership program (as it currently stands)
Hey there @everyone! Been about 2 months since I changed this post. And it's been a hot minute, but the username update has now been worked into Discord. No matter if we liked it or not. And people will now (forcefully) get used to it.
As a suprise, this idea has the MOST ever comments and votes recieved on a single post on the feedback platform EVER. The story around this event is the most interesting I have ever seen. And the gerne around it still hasn't ended either. We'll see where all of this goes.
On that note, I have been working on a little project regarding that, since Twitter, Discord, Reddit and Tiktok are heading all into the same route. Our own little enshittification.social! A mastodon instance for the enshittification of companies and they services they used to offfer. (Twitter, Unity, Discord, and so on)
Would you like to participate in an UNOFFCIAL poll? Click here!
(NOT affiliated with Discord in any way, shape or form)
We thank everyone for their votes, comments and joining our DIscord server and enshittification instance. The story of enshittification will never end and we can see that with the recent Unity Pricing changes.
I've recieved a press request through Discord, however I'm moving that to email, if any press wants to reach out about the update from someone willing to represent the entire discord community against this change, send an email here:
- press@stefanocoding.me
Need more information? Check NTTS's Video:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3LUtBVe3Jk
Want to talk with people about the update? Check this server:
- https://discord.gg/jpFhkeqGHS
An anonymous Discord Partner has spoken out about the reservations, check it out.
- Original post was deleted by reddit admins, link is now for archive.org
Hey, even game devs are struggeling getting their official name as verified servers:
- https://www.gamesradar.com/indie-studio-has-their-discord-username-stolen-out-from-under-them/
- https://twitter.com/rustylakecom/status/1659556388526338048
So what is it with this update?
So generally, this update has recieved a TON of backlash. And this feedback post has already recieved just about 13k upvotes at the time of writing AND a change.org petition with 13k people having signed it,
Fundementally this change to discord is going to cause more issue's for it's users then it could be worth. Among the comments, there are a few I'll display/mention.
One of the major issues that can be confirmed is the resale of Discord accounts. That is something that is unable to be denied and is going to be a major issue. Example here:
What discord has done absolutly wrong during this update:
Discord staff has been claiming double the names, one for their private account. Another for their staff account. Some of these usernames that are being claimed are so rare that people are speculating they are planning to sell it one day or another. The communication is absolute crap, they have not communicated how they where planning to do the roll-out and the way people are now claiming names left and right, from piewdiepie, markiplier and other names that should have been reserved. Then the way access get's rolled out? Verified bots where supposed to get access first, then supposedly brands, moving on to the staff and then the partnered and verified servers. Then the general population. But this has so far changed even more, starting with people from the moderator program, and suddenly the Hypesquad event team. And we still do not have enough information to know what the next bracket will be. There is no proper communication apart from Discord telling us to append our tag/discriminator to our usernames if we can't use it. Or you know just don't make usernames unique. The reddit has been stormed with people hating this update. And when people go to the support page, they're told to respond to feedback, or create it. We've all done this, but Discord still hasn't made an official statement. The entire update wasn't even properly announced like they do with everything else. Hidden behind their Birthday suprises. With the nitro trails providing people with 2 weeks of nitro to forget they signed up and pay an additional month. Normally, this would be tweeted and announced everywhere properly. People are moving away from Discord in an attempt to revolt, they're disbanding Nitro to put a dent somewhere in Discord's earnings. But that'll probably be recouped by investors. Discord claims to listen to feedback. But we've seen nothing of this yet. As a ton of people are saying, Discord is turning into Twitter, we don't want to see it happen. But with the 300 million active users on Discord, we're barely making a dent with this feedback post.
What are some good ways to fix this update?
The previous system worked perfectly, nothing to change about it. However using the display name system is a good idea. Maybe even supporting for official known people to get a username, or a checkmark to define "hey they are official" without the Twitter "pay for a blue tick" bs.
> BELOW ARE COMMENTS MADE BY THE COMMUNITY, NOT BY ME DIRECTLY <
Mikey's, Gen, Rain
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+1
^^^ if you don't know how to copy and paste on any device, that's a serious you problem.the number system not only allows anyone to express themselves with any username they want, it allows more people to join your platform with no issues. pushing this update will cause a black market for discord usernames, it'll be just as bad as neopets. do you guys want to be just as bad as neopets??? i don't think so.
Don't pander to people who don't know their way around a computer. looking at your update post, that's exactly what you're doing.
18 -
this change is gonna annoy so many people, myself and my friends included
+113 -
Update all looks like discord is, classically, NOT LISTENING so don't just threaten to cancel your subs, just go ahead and cancel them. Do it. They'll ONLY listen to money.
also shoutout to the person who pointed out that they're going to lose a MASSIVE chunk of non-american market due to removing characters used to make names.
update: wow! this post is on the SECOND PAGE of most upvoted posts in the account management forum. Keep up the good work, guys!
22 -
literally the worst idea discords come up with to date
13 -
i personally agree that this would be a bad decision, and will discontinue my nitro subscription if it goes through. I don't want to have to fight over usernames, nor do i want usernames to become unnecessarily cluttered (e.g. Daniel#9921 --> Daniel0119).
13 -
this update is garbage and i might jump platforms entirely if it goes through. discord isnt social media- its a messaging app. it doesnt need unique usernames. it's never going to be easier for someone on a server to say hi im p1n3a.p-pl33 because every iteration of "pineapple" was gone than it is to just say im pineapple#1234. who does this benefit?
17 -
+1
i also really enjoy the current system and love that it lets me have a simple username. the four numbers really aren't that hard to remember. i'm sure security will be a huge issue if this change is implemented15 -
I truly cannot understand why this decision was made. The username discriminators were one of the nicest 1.0 features of this app
12 -
I'll definitely be leaving discord with this change coming. I typically buy a few boosts every month for my servers, for the record.
12 -
This is a horrible change that no one asked for. Abandon this idea and keep the current system.
14 -
+1
On top of account selling / username sniping, this isn't going to fix the impersonation issue at all. Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Tiktok - all of them have Unique User Names but still get issues with impersonation all the time. All it's going to do is cause more issues, not to mention a way for people to easily find others when they may not want to be found.15 -
This sounds like another instance of Discord trying to be what it's not. A messaging/community app isn't the same thing as social media, and I'd really rather them not try to be the latter.
14 -
+1
horrid horrid HORRID idea. hate this so much
<-(changes my username really often)14 -
this is just bad. leave the old username system in peace or just add 2 digits more. if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
13 -
Yeah, this is a terrible idea in a long list of bad ideas Discord has had over the years, but unlike those, this would be very hard to go back on after the fact.
14 -
+1
No one asked for this update, people will get stalked, it will be easier for people you have blocked TO find you because of this. The system as is is fine, there is no need to be like Twitter and every other social media platform. Discord isn't even a social media platform, so what is the point of this?
The fact that the moderator team thinks that this is the best course of action based on untrue facts and statistics is beyond idiotic. One of the only things that I enjoy about Discord is the ability to have whatever tag I want, and even THAT is being taken away.
This is a purely self-destructive motive that will cause them to lose money (as if they don't have enough already), and also actively harms the userbase
23 -
who even asked for this to change? there's literally no point in trying to become just like all the other social media sites by adding usernames instead of keeping the number tags
not finding one person on discord because they have a similar tag to someone else's or because their name has a fancy font isn't that big of a problem compared to all the issues the username feature would bring19 -
+1, also another post that says everything I would want to say on this:
https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/14353614360599-Removing-Discrimnators-is-TERRIBLE-A-cybersecurity-long-term-user-perspective-Edit: If Discord is willing to continue down this path that affects peoples' safety, security, wellbeing and privacy, I will simply give people I know another platform to reach me on and move off Discord altogether. I don't imagine they care one way or another that I say this but I encourage people to take their own safety, security, wellbeing and privacy very seriously.
25 -
+1. cancelled nitro
22 -
Seriously? Like, what is Discord even thinking with all of this? Are they even thinking at all?
There's just way too many problems with this and why it isn't good. Let's go over some of them, shall we?
1. Nitro UsersThis is already a bad change right off the bat due to Nitro users. Especially the Nitro users that are paying 10 USD per month in order to change their discriminator (or what some people call them as tags). It's a feature that's included in Nitro, and it can easily justify a whole 10 USD per month. Why? Simply because it offers more simple and clean number combinations following your username. Nitro Classic users (who still have Classic) also get access to this feature for half of the price. Even for 10 USD per month, this feature alone can be easily justifiable for people to pay for. It's not only just an aesthetic thing, but it can help others add them as well while having an easier to follow discriminator. It's a premium that Nitro users are and have been paying for a very long time now. If this username system goes through, it's a guarantee that many current Nitro users will be cancelling their Nitro subscriptions. There's already lots of people that have cancelled their Nitro subscriptions as well. If you think this may not affect you since maybe you don't pay for Nitro, then think again. Discord Nitro is the main source of Discord's revenue. Without Nitro users, you sooner will have a platform that you will no longer be able to use. Period.
2. Harassment
It's just going to be god awful and the harassment is going to run rampant. Anyone with a rare or sought after name, they are all going to be targets. It's not going to be worth getting potentially doxxed and facing major security risks over all of this. The safety of the community isn't going to be good whatsoever, and people's lives are surely going to be put in danger. Most are aware of the very malicious individuals that inhabit Discord, and this really won't make things any better. It's only going to be another thing that will lead to more crimes being committed and activity that's highly illegal.
3. Scamming
Scamming is already a bad enough issue as it is on Discord, and we all know Discord has also tried to combat it here and there. However, this is just going to be opening up so many opportunities to scammers that it's going to be absolutely absurd. Account stealing? It's going to be far worse than it has ever been. The great amount of lengths and all the hoops that scammers will jump through just to get the most sought after and rare Discord names is going to be freaking insanity. There's been people with rare and sought after on other platforms that have been swatted and even killed before. We really do not need this here happening in this community and on this platform as well.
4. Account Selling
This is already enough of an issue as it is, and this makes it essentially 10,000x worse. Accounts are already sold with rarer badges just like the Early Supporter one, as well as others. Coming along with this update, now older accounts made in 2015~2016 have already skyrocketed massively in price. It's already horrible enough as it is seeing a 2015 account going for hundreds upon hundreds of dollars now. Just think about how much accounts with much rarer and sought after names are actually going to be. This is what Discord actually needs? A black market like this surrounding this platform? Being just like every other social media site like Twitter, Instagram, etc.? It's going to be an absolute bloodbath, especially with a platform like Discord.
5. Aesthetic
This is also going to tie into #1 as well here, but even as of now (especially people with Nitro) they like using a name along with the following discriminator for aesthetic purposes. You see, coming along with this new system, it will no longer be possible to have a nicer looking profile. This is especially due to usernames also being shown on your profile along with your display name. This means if you don't have a good-looking username (one that you actually like looking at which you most likely won't get/have), then it's going to throw off the entire vibe of your profile. Sure, you can always make your display name look nice, but it's going to be stupid not having both of them look nice. This especially goes for people who like changing their name more often simply for aesthetic reasons and styling up their profile. Not even having and paying for Nitro isn't going to help you there with this either, even though Discord as of today and prior to this update rolling out, it's pretty much perfectly fine. It's not hard finding a name you like and a nice tag you'd like to use with Nitro and having your profile look all nice. People literally pay for this premium and having nice aesthetic with their username. Now this is being taken and stripped away. Something Nitro users had for such a long time now. You can't go hiding usernames either because then that most definitely is just going to make things much more complicated and is going to make the mention system a bigger issue than it even is. The mention system is going to be a huge mess with this update rolling out as well and it's going to be overly complicating to many. It's so unnecessary and pathetic.
6. Impersonation
This is already a bad enough issue as it is, but this is just going to be a much more far-reaching issue now than it will ever be. I can't even begin to imagine how many different content creators, authority figures, brands, and so many other entities, are going to have to deal with impersonation. It's going to be absolutely outrageous. It's already a very bad and prominent issue that goes on with other platforms, and now Discord is going to have to deal with it just as much, if not even more. Not only that, but it's something that no person should ever have to face and deal with, yet here we are. Discord wants to really open this can of worms, and it's by far one of the worst ones.
7. Snipers
And you don't think that there's people with lots of extra 2015 dated accounts sitting around? The amount of snipers there's about to be is going to be absolutely unreal. People already have more than enough time in advance to create and generate massive word lists, and are going to be firing up their burner accounts the moment they possibly can to go run names. Do you really think people are that dumb and are not going to do whatever they can to turn a profit on all this? You really think that is fair when the majority of people won't be able to do a single thing about it? Like this is supposed to be a chat platform mostly for gamers, yet look what this crap is all turning into and what the community has to deal with now. All the stress and anxiety that even the most loyal and legitimate users of the user base have to deal with now. People who pay for Nitro and even support Discord all have to deal with this crap as well. Not even they are getting any sort of priority with anything either, not even people with long time running subscriptions on this platform. It's absolute insanity.
8. 40% or more unsatisfied users
It's already very crystal clear that over 40% of users do not want to see this change.
Now Discord, is that better or worse than the alleged 40% or more of users that don't remember their discriminator, or don't know what a discriminator is? What's the bigger problem here?
Actually give it some thought. It's a genuine point here.
Just for the record I have indeed cancelled my Nitro subscription. I have got everyone that I possibly know to cancel their Nitro subscription as well, and I encourage everyone else to cancel their Nitro subscription as well if they have one.
30 -
+1
this system they want to replace the current one with is already annoying all of us enough on all other social media/games/psn etc. so DO NOT DO THAT DISCORD it's so annoying💀 and whats the point of doing that ? if theres a problem with the name not being unique enough for each user (which is a lie, i never heard of anyone having a pb with that on discord lol), you can just add digits to the #tag or add caracters to it (like letters or special caracters to make the number of possible combinations higher than it currently is)i'm so mad rn...
was already mad with the voice message addition, now this???? please, instead of doing shitty updates to make discord a look-alike to other social media, when it's main attractive point was the fact that discord is so different from them, add the "switch account" feature to the mobile app maybe idk? do something USEFUL and dont try to solve problems that do NOT exist💀
we still have to log out/log in to change accounts on mobile app unlike pc app, so itd be much more welcomed if you did something about it tbhanyway, if they really do change the usernames idk if i'll keep using discord as regularly lol
and as everyone mentioned already it'll decrease the number of nitro users and create impersonation problems... not mentioning bullying etc. when your identity is set in stone online you can't escape from abusers after all
(as for me, i changed main accounts two years after i created my first account so i'd have to wait longer to get to change my username albeit i was quite an early user💀 and im sure im not the only one in this case)
26 -
Agreed
15 -
Unique usernames is an outdated practice, why are we going backwards from a MUCH superior username system?
26 -
Don't go to @s! I like my discriminator!
19 -
This will be an absolute disaster, considering how many people can (and will) hijack usernames, especially to troll and/or screw over people they don't like. That and you'll have people "selling" certain usernames for money, which is extremely scummy.
23 -
+1 this literally feels like I'm in a nightmare right now. Well, hopefully we'll have a transgirl from tumblr invent the next discord. It was fun while it lasted.
16 -
+1 Honestly if they wanted a better system, they should have just copied Steam
14 -
Yet another case of bigwigs and overpaid software engineers trying to justify their existence.
None of the problems in the original blog post are even problems in the first place, and none of them need this drastic of a change.
Case sensitivity: make them case insensitive. That's such a trivial code change in the first place it's kind of insane to suggest we need an entirely new system because of it. The argument that "this would make 1/3 of our active users change their names" is bogus, case sensitivity would impact 1/3 of users so we decide instead to implement a change that impacts 100% of them?
Hard to give your name out to others: Is this actually a problem that literally anyone has? You just copy paste it... How about a QR code system for friend invites that other platforms use, or say, the invite links we already have for servers??
Out of numbers: Add more digits?
25 -
Discord's own image thats been going around of the display name before and after even highlights one of the exact problems I have with @ usernames broadly, and its that you can have a unique username that you use on multiple platforms, but then have to change it entirely on other platforms. I love that about the numbers discriminators.
The other thing I love, which has been highlighted by others, is the degree of anonymity that the number discriminators allow. I love that I can't be searched for by username and that you have to have my exact number code to even find my profile. It functions like a phone number, and thats awesome. In fact, I'd love it if that was the case even within servers. Not being perceived is wonderful when on quite literally every other platform you don't have a choice, even with a private profile.
It's not broken. Don't try to fix it. Having something unique about your platform is good. I can feel a pivot towards twitter-ifying discord and I really don't like it. As I did when NFT integration was announced, I'll be cancelling Nitro.
24 -
+1
this is a terrible idea13
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