Keep Discriminators, Discard the Announced Username System

As far as I can recall I've only posted in the Feedback forum during one other event, when Discord was considering implementing NFT's into their service. Ha, remember that? I recall saying something along the lines of being proud of being a Discord user because historically, Discord has listened to and fostered more goodwill with its wider community more than the average tech company does. I really want that to remain the case.

At first I didn't really understand what all the fuss is about, but then after reading through what other folks have said, I understand now, and I agree: We as a community prefer the Discriminator system.

While there are many other reasons to keep the system the way it is, some arguments that particularly stuck out to me included:

1) Discriminators allow a more private experience than usernames do, without the hassle of having to make multiple accounts or something. This is useful in the case of users with internet followings or users who are dealing with harassment or stalking. I saw multiple users in the feedback forum saying they feel much safer on discord due to the Discriminator system.

2) The Discriminator system is nice for users who don't use the latin alphabet. International users who type with different alphabets were able to make their names identifiable and easy to type in their language, and enforcing limited characters in a username is going to take that away from them.

3) Is it *really* that hard to deal with four numbers? Most people add friends through servers. If they don't, jeez, how hard is it for someone to pull up their phone and check their discriminator if it's not on the top of their head? And do you honestly think people, when sharing usernames for other sites in real life, just say their username out loud and leave it at that? No! Most of the time they're either going to send a link to their profile or specify exactly how it's spelled, same as you'd do for a discriminator. Plus, anyone who wants a "John" username is going to end up with something more complicated than John#xxxx. That's how we get x_X_John_X_x.

4) People are PAYING you for this feature! It's a nitro benefit!

We love Discord for why it stands out, not why it's like everything else. Please keep hold of what makes you special.

Aerictus

May 04, 2023 11:30

Cancelled my nitro because of the announcement. Even more than thinking the decision was stupid, I'm honestly pretty insulted at how stupid they seem to believe their user base is. I also took pride in discord over them backing down when there was an outcry about NFTs. It was a stupid thing too, but they listened pretty quick. If this sticks I'll be pretty bummed out because I love discord.