[Enshittification][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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The biggest problem: our current usernames can often be too complicated or obscure for people to remember and share easily.
ah yes, replacing this system with one that mandates the use of random numbers, periods (BUT NOT TOO MANY PERIODS) and underscores completely resolves the problem.
please try again.
46 -
+1 please listen to the community. nobody wants this
34 -
+1
28 -
This is an incredibly wreckless update!
If you have a common username, (Pretty much any name, location, state, business, dictionary word without numbers in it or at the end), then username scarcity a lose-lose situation.
Either you will lose your common name, and you'll have to add numbers to it.
Or you'll get your common name and then weirdos and criminals will start trying to doxx you, threaten you, and swat you unless you relenquish the account to them. Discord is going to get people hurt and potentially killed with this update and that's going to be on them. Unique usernames is such an antiquated system.
Here's an in-depth dive into how Twitter's username system got people hurt, harrassed, bullied, and even killed. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4s3afsTpKNbMjGXQSvjhDb?si=Xv92-nJlRlC6EaOQaQ6uxA43 -
I've never thought this was going to be an issue they'd create, it didn't even cross my mind. I don't know if I know of a single person thus far who's mentioned being happy about this in the server cap amount of servers I'm in. The only people who'll care are the ones who don't use discord actively and use discord for college/work only and the only reason is because those people use twitter and like that something in their lives they don't actively use is conforming to something they do. Non-nitro people, including myself from way back when, just find their number in discord, it's not like it isn't constantly signed-in anyways.
33 -
Actually genuinely an awful change. Please reconsider. You literally already had *THE* perfect solution to account names, and now you're just throwing it away for something completely stock-standard and vulnerable to all the stock-standard problems most account naming systems have.
42 -
My account is old enough that im confident about retaining my name, but i still fail to see this as anything good. most points made in the blog post are quite bad in my opinion. Badly motivated idea, please listen to community for once and scrap it.
35 -
This update really feels pointless and if anything, it gets rid of one of the unique things about discord. People are not wanting to add numbers like “Flower8364” to their name. They want their discord name to simply be “Flower”. The discriminators allowed people to have a name they enjoyed without needing to worry about whether or not it is already taken. While display names do exist, the point is is that we are not wanting numbers in our usernames. It confuses them more than anything. There’s a difference between memorizing 4 numbers temporarily (Ex: friending someone using the search function with discriminators) vs knowing someone as “Flower8364”. People had also bought nitro in order to change their discriminators. Even if they are able to cancel nitro after the fact that this update may come, it was still a little stylistic permanent choice they made to their profile. It’s also the fact that if I’m understanding correctly, people will now be pinged by their user rather than their username, which takes away a major point away from displays as a whole. Not only will this just be a race to who gets the best usernames, but it may just be up in people paying other people for discord usernames and/or scams. Although I haven’t been on discord for very long compared to probably most active users, I’ve never seen anyone complain about the discriminator system and most do seem to enjoy it.
40 -
Truly awful change. The system as it is now WORKS GREAT and people LOVE that they can get whatever name they want, even if someone else has it!
But now you just are going to throw it all into the trash. You even say in your post: "The biggest problem: our current usernames can often be too complicated or obscure for people to remember and share easily."
Really? THAT'S the biggest problem? Well guess what, if I can't remember the 4 numbers that come after my username, there's NO WAY I'll be able to remember whatever random username I had to pick for discord because the name I actually want was already taken. "Well my name USED to be deadbeef#1234, but now it's uhh... deadbeef72.... i think? maybe it was 74? i dont remember, I had to just pick some random numbers at the end because deadbeef was already taken."
Does this sound like a better user experience? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Something tells me that you're actually lying, and that's NOT the real reason why you're making this change. Because NONE of your users want this.49 -
This is a bad idea for some many reasons. Many of which are already stated:
Customisation and identity is *limited* by this feature not expanded.
Random people will be able to just find you if they know your username from other websites something they could not do previously with the discriminators in place. Making this a huge secruity and privacy issue.
People arguing over usernames
All the account selling and potential hacking everyone else has mentioned.
People just like their numbers, especially if they paid for nitro to have custom ones like COME ON.40 -
What a dumb idea to solve a problem that doesn't really exist.
34 -
+1 (2016 user made an account here just to oppose this ridiculous idea!)
33 -
Me personally, I'm not a fan. For years there's been this person I use to associate with, out of spite, would take my name in literally anything they could. Now I lose out on my discord name because they happen to make a discord account 4 months before me. Thank you discord for making things even harder than it needed to be. If someone can't remember 4 numbers and have a reasonable username, that's on them. Lets punish the whole userbase for the select minority of goldfish.
35 -
I think it's VERY telling that Discord is prioritizing "uneducated, newer users" over people who have been active users (and potentially paying customers in terms of Nitro) for years... Kind of feels like a slap in the face, especially when many users buy Nitro SPECIFICALLY for the custom discriminator option.
47 -
For shame Discord, for shame.
34 -
When unique account IDs already exist and they cant possibly think of using it as friend codes is beyond me. Do they magically not use steam or know how to add more digits to the discriminator like what Blizzard did (wow Blizzard did something good what a time to be alive)? Its like pulling out random talking points as excuses our their ass, which it doesn't even help with and in fact makes worse.
Even if you were talking about the people who don't know how to use the simple copy and paste. Your not even back at square one, you looked in the opposite direction and sprinted 30 paces, you know why? xXMyUsernameXx__1926491 doesn't exactly make it easier. Is these decisions made by people who don't even use the platform and 30 other YES-Men or what????47 -
The more I think about it, and the more I read your blog post, the worse and worse it gets. I can't believe you're moving forward with this decision. Some key points in the blog post:
> "We've heard from tons of people that they've run into problems like these: You like to change your username a lot and get rate limited."
So the solution to this is just to prevent people from changing their username completely?
And since the username is unique, but not displayed anywhere, and instead the Display Name is what's displayed, then nobody is going to even bother remembering their username, especially because they weren't able to get the username they wanted because it was already taken. So when my friend asks me, "Hey whats your discord tag?" My response will be: "Well, my Display Name is deadbeef! My username is uhh... deadbeef72.... NO it was deadbeef772.... no no it was deadbeef 702. Sorry I can't remember it because I never look at it or use it for anything."
So you're just going to make the problem worse!TERRIBLE TERRIBLE CHANGE!!!
51 -
+1
29 -
+1
The current username functionality is fine as it is. Trying to “fix” it will risk issues.
32 -
This is a bad change that is going to make discord worse to read than Neopets names. Get ready for the return of xxdahrun0luvs0hockyxxxx
41 -
+1
28 -
Please do not add this, one of the best features about discord is being able to have the exact same username as someone and not have it conflict with someone elses, this will massively ruin discord functionality and make a lot of people, including myself upset
36 -
I don't know if I'm seeing this correctly but,
"Your new Display Name will be how you primarily appear and will be your most prominent form of identity. Think of this as your main name. You will be able to change your Display Name whenever you want, even minute to minute."
What's actually the point in this when you can change your display name in servers anyway? Surely users are communicating and posting there most of the time on Discord.
Maybe in private DMs, sure, it'd be nice to have a display name you want rather than this new username but then again, this is easily fixed by the very feature of the discriminator - you can choose whatever name you want with a unique number tag.
I don't get it?
Like, it just seems unnecessary to add in a feature that's not really needed whilst actual security issues with current features are ignored...anyways.
34 -
+1
25 -
agreed..this update would suck
28 -
I have been on Discord since Oct 2015. I have gotten used to and even enjoyed some of the changes that Discord has rolled out over the years (the soundboard is one of the best things you have added to date, imo). This is genuinely one of the worst things you could implement.
Discord has been around for eight years. Eight! That's a long time, and a lot of users! Even going by waves, everyone in that wave will be scrambling to choose their name! And then a display name so their friends can still recognize them. If this change had come at maybe, say, a year into the service, it would not have been that big of a deal (I still would have been upset, and many others too, but the service was smaller back then and not anything like what it is currently).
Rather than upending the entire system and restricting creativity and freedom that many people seek when they use your service, it might be better to prioritize educating those newer or confused. There's nothing wrong with not knowing what a specific thing like a discriminator is. It's incredibly bad practice, however, of Discord itself to just do away with it entirely rather than helping them.
Currently, there is NO helpful hints on what those numbers mean when going to change your username. They don't even appear when you sign up and you only see them after you do so. Why not add a hint, like a tooltip or a clickable mini-article, that explains what they are? It also does NOT mention that Discord names are case-sensitive. I cannot fault people for not knowing what these are because Discord, as a service, is just not explaining what they are! Then you use their supposed ignorance to push this very bad idea.
If people have trouble remembering their discriminator, perhaps you could allow a one-time-only change for free, to something more personally memorable. Or perhaps you can have the custom tag set with Nitro be a permanent change. Or you could even have a one-time-purchase to set a custom discriminator for those who cannot afford full Nitro but wish to change. Many people choose Nitro to change their discriminator but if they cannot afford it for whatever reason, it goes away, so some people do not bother in the first place. You may see an uptick in purchases if you go one-time-purchase route, as some people will be able to afford this over a recurring subscription.
Honestly, this is just a terrible idea at this late in the game. You, as a company and dev team, should have polled users for this and asked for feedback. Mandatory email sent out. A pop-up when logging in. I can deal with receiving voice messages not being a toggle, but this is enough to warrant me to cancel Nitro and only use the service minimally.
43 -
+1
Everything that's been said about "rare" usernames and name sniping. All of it. This is a terrible idea. I'm so paranoid I'm gonna lose my username because my account isn't old enough :(
34 -
This would 100% be one of the worst changes for the platform. Its going to cause so much scams and phishing attempts. Not looking forward to my 3 character username being subject to daily phishing attempts. The whole point of having discriminators was so that users could have the name they wanted without fighting others. There are simply too many users to get rid of it. Terrible change
35 -
there is not a universe that exists where we want to be easily reachable on discord. the discriminator means that people can't randomly dm us based on our username on other platforms, and that is a feature
38 -
The fact of the matter is that this change would solve nothing, currently 9999 people can share the same name with no issues and still be found. We don't need to copy twitter.
36
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