[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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+1
The idea of a single @ is from the past. It seems like a lot of companies are moving towards a discrim model, yet discord decided that now is the time to move backwords? Seems like a lot of the recent changes tbh.
I know the idea is to give new users an easier time, but surely there are better ways to go about it, such as even giving new users a popup on what a discrim is and what it does.30 -
it's really insulting you think your community can't remember four numbers (or FIND their numbers on their own). plus people whose language doesn't use the latin alphabet should be allowed to have a name in their own language but what do I know 🤷
30 -
I will be ending my nitro subscription if this change goes through. Please listen to your userbase and do not implement this change.
24 -
My username is often sniped on signup sites, I don't wish to be impersonated or to make it more difficult for my clients to find me.
Plus what is the point of discord nitro giving you the option to choose your numbers anymore? You haven't even mentioned anything about nitro. We already paid you for more customisation to find us! We don't even get earlier choices for our names...25 -
Okay, so I'm going to just summarize what I just went through to get to the point of typing. discord.com and support.discord.com are two entirely different websites. you cannot use your login info from discord to even log in on here. Im sure all of you are aware, but the reason I'm writing this is because discord in their infinite wisdom thinks its more convenient to have:
- An email and password to access discord
- An email and password (separate from above) to access support
- A display/user name (with a 4 digit identifier)
- A server nickname
And this is before their announcement, and now they want us to have a unique alphanumeric username too?! 100% against this.
27 -
+1
17 -
+1, all this does is alienate the existing userbase.
The vast majority of people have no issue with discrims and the username system, and the single Reddit post linked in the announcement isn't much evidence to the contrary.
35 -
+1
I can't see how any potential benefit would outweigh the impending hassle and problems that would come with this change
31 -
I have had my username and numbers since I made my account. I can easily recite them off the top of my head, or easily open the app/copy and paste otherwise. I like this way of self identifying and I don't have to worry about anyone stealing my username or getting me confused with someone else.
I do not WANT to be found by anyone other than who I directly give my username and numbers to, this is NOT a social media, and I don't want it to be treated like one.
36 -
I understand you want it to be easier to find people but why when in truth this has never been a problem for me in the past.
because in truth it feels like you are ripping away the name I gave myself and the name I may share with others to whom I do not know.
So what if there can only be “one”? if you want to do it like this then make the username hidden, like STEAM DOES. because I do NOT want to be seen! I like being in my safe little corner of the internet, sharing memes with my friends and living the best I can, without worrying about sudden and time consuming changes! And yes for me this is time consuming, the stress is going to keep me up for a while while I try to plan how to combat this very urgent problem.
Also how you plan on “rolling this out “ is a hidden anxiety pop quiz that will creep into my DMs and then tell me I am no longer me and now I have to find out who I am all over again.
Do you even know how liberating it is to have an identifying number I don't have to have in my username? Do you know how happy I was to no longer have to have a 57 or a 25 included in my name? (there is no shame if you do though to be fair, i simply was glad to be unique for once.)
Have you also considered that maybe I do not want to be found?
Do you think I use this to be like Facebook? This is not Facebook! It is a messaging app! So I would imagine having a postal code would be normal.
I urge you to reconsider this. Please, even if you never read my plea!
I use this to hide with my friends and feel safe, and be myself. (WHO IS AN INTROVERT.)
How the heck can I be me if I do not even have my name?
Who will I be if I can no longer be the me I have been for years?
And if you do decide to take it from me, I will simply add my number back on because I refuse to let that go.
Why would you make this change when it has never been a problem in the past.38 -
made a support account just to upvote this, real bad decision on discord's part
32 -
Ou good God, it's one bad change after another. Minor things like the mosaic layout were already stacking up to be enough of a bother, but such a major change like USERNAMES? This is an irreversible, uncalled-for and obviously terrible change. For the love of God, Discord, don't add this.
32 -
The #0000 system is literally the best username system ever created, absolute braindead decision to want to change it.
If Discord wants to make braindead decisions they ain't getting my dollar. Nitro cancelled.
33 -
Most of the problems that this would solve, were minor inconveniences,
this causes more problems than it solves.If you didn't want names using the fraktur letters like in the announcement,
one could restrict to only certain sections of Unicode.All lowercase? WHY!? Capitalization isn't a problem. Nowhere else has "solved" that, because its a non-issue. I guess "Therapist" and "TheRapist" are the same now.
The Discriminator gave the usernames on Discord a unique vibe, and it wasn't that hard to remember, its 4 digits. It's not like a phone number.
If there are already 9999 of a username being used, like in an example as to why they're doing this, That is a user problem. Reducing to just one of any username is just a waste of potential names.
Overall, I see this as nothing but a waste of time, that will lead to users being hacked or selling accounts for unique usernames as has happened on many platforms in the past.Where are the benefits to this? It removes a benefit of Nitro, It's going to restrict new users, and the default name being added already exists, its the same as a Nickname, but for the lazier.
28 -
+1
23 -
+1, Added to the post influx to ensure they can hear the people I know have too much anxiety to voice their concerns with this system.
This change shall not be made, if I can help it.23 -
Agreed!
I seriously don't see how this will benefit us in any way. If someone with special characters in their user wanted to be easier to add, they can just change it temporarily or write it down somewhere. And what's the difference between "Username#4023" and Username4023? Eventually, we'll run out of unique usernames and people will start adding a random bunch of letters and numbers to their usernames just to sign up. Imagine how much worse that'll turn out compared to if we kept the identifier system in terms of memorising names.
Not to mention how this is just "social media"-fying Discord. I'm here to chat with my buddies, not DMed by randoms online who decide to put in my username. I know I can just put random letters at the end and beginning of my username, but that just defeats the whole point of this username system and it makes it harder for me to add people. Imagine if I had to tell someone my username was "name-here-five-one-two-seven-b-six-four-eight", they'd just tell me to write it down. Which I reiterate is literally the problem Discord was trying to avoid
TL;DR: Changing the name+identifier system to the usual social media username system is a horrible idea. Not only does it not fix the problem, it'll just eventually make it even worse
30 -
i think the biggest issue is this update assumes that discord users are either stupid or incapable of doing anything other than speak their usernames out loud. the issues outlined in discord's update note are not issues I have EVER encountered when sharing my user with friends, and, frankly, if special characters/untypeable characters are such a large issue, why does discord not simply ban untypeable characters?
also the link they put with the 40% statistic is untrue. if anyone clicks the link they will find someone asking what the #0000 code is for and EVERYONE in the comments section explaining to them what it's called and what it does.
they banked on nobody clicking the link. they banked on us taking them at their word. this change is going to alienate almost everyone.
32 -
+1 you'd think that with twitter in shambles every social media on the planet would stop trying to be it
25 -
This is quite possibly the worst change I've ever heard proposed for Discord other than maybe the NFT nonsense and somehow the announcement manages to add insult to injury.
25 -
Everything that can be said about this has been said. It's a dumb idea.
Don't be stupid, Discord.
24 -
the only reason im paying $9.99 for nitro is for the tag. the file uploads and emotes are nice but i didnt sub for that. im going to unsubscribe if you guys actually go through with this, nobody asked for the change. theres a petition you can sign btw!
25 -
r/discordapp is against the change, and people on twitter are also negatively responding to it on discords latest tweet, which isnt even one addressing the username plans. please for the love of god discord listen to your community for once
23 -
This update is awful. I do not know how they managed to think this over and still land on this being a good idea. The main goal of usernames being easier to share doesn't even make sense. How is remembering a username and then four numbers harder to share than a username with random underscores, periods, and numbers in them because they want to get rid of the discriminators.
I think it's a little condescending that they're saying "... to give you more control over your identity on Discord!" This update is taking away the control people have over their identity on discord. People will no longer be able to share the same name and have their identities separated by the numbers that aren't shown. Instead they will be forced to messy their username with dashes and periods. How is that control over your identity? What happens if you want to change your username and then a few days later you decide you want to go back but somebody has already taken it? Now you're forced to put the numbers, dashes, and periods into your username instead of just getting the original username back. How is that better?Sometimes people react poorly to change, even if it's good change. But this isn't a good change. It's a bad design choice and the reasoning comes off a little condescending and poor in taste. These discriminators are a very unique and appreciated part of Discord's interface, and the fact that they are taking it away is very upsetting.
Do better. Don't change it.
Edit: I'm adding this reddit link in because I think it adds another layer to this, that this update could be dangerous for people. It's obviously an extreme, but it has happened.26 -
+1
I like usernames the way they are and "simplifying" them with cause more complications. I don't know why this was even considered really
22 -
C'mon Discord, you'll just lose money doing this, AND everyone will be mad at you guys for causing problems instead of fixing them. Don't be idiots and stop this change already!
19 -
I too believe that the proposed change to the discord username system is an outrageous step backwards and will actively worsen the end user experience.
The 4 digit discriminator is a FEATURE, not a bug. It protects users from account impersonation, its not hard to remember, and the application already goes out of its way to make sharing and connecting with others quick and painless.
Please, for once Discord, listen to your community and Don't. Do this.25 -
1. People don’t remember their OWN discrim
that aint a problem for anyone other than the new NEW people who probably never played games before
because discrim is literally a gamer tag system
but even like?? dead ass it’s only 4 fucking numbers and you can’t bother to remember it???
IT’S ONLY 4 NUMBERS
if they can’t even remember 4 it’s so stupid to assume that they will remember the long af Pomelo name they gonna make because they are fucking new and those good names are 100% taken2. Case sensitivity.
People don’t remember their name is case sensitive? that’s a skill issue on their part
this is not even a problem of the discrim system itself
this is a people problem
they assume that people are not capable of remembering anything
then why the world would discord think
“AYO how about we make the name MUCH HARDER to remember instead?”
now instead of @Dave#1234, you have to remember @Dave_e.e._12462973929
the newer they join, the worst and longer the name they have to make
which makes account sharing significantly HARDER
another to fix that another post requested is to make a search engine that ignores case sensitivity
which is a huge QoL upgrade that would solve the current problem WITHOUT breaking it3. Only 1 singular Jane instead of 9999 of them
dramatically decreasing the amount of Jane that can exist
but like how is this an improvement???
people are getting LESS chance of getting the name they wanted in the first place
so now instead of Jane#9999, they now have to use xXx_J.A.N.E_xXXx17483938 instead if they are lucky
and like the previous reasoning, it will get worse the bigger the user base gets
your math is not adding up Discord4. Rate Limit
so you change your name a lot and get rate limited
that’s not even a problem
you can literally come back to change your name after 5 minutes
not only that, how is the new system gonna solve this?
if anything they make it even worse because now not only you are rate limited
you are also hit with the extra “this username is taken”
HOW IS THIS AN IMPROVEMENT5. Special characters
they are indeed annoying to look at and to add friends
but there’s literally a super easy solution
just DONT ALLOW special characters in usernames
it’s already a common etiquette for other social media to not allow special unicode characters
and it would be a much MUCH easier fix than whatever this that you guys tryna sell me0 -
+1
please. I'm begging. don't do this stupid crap
22 -
this proposed change is abysmally bad. it gets rid of basically the one thing that made discord stand out as a platform, that being the ability to have the same username as someone else. i can't imagine what benefit they see in taking that away.
22
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