Why the username change is a bad idea

Hi,

my intuition is that the planned user name change might be the result of a bad interpretation of user feedback data. The problem you're trying to solve is to create reach outside of discord by improving onboarding. But whats broken in the process of onboarding isnt necessarily the user names.

The difference between discord and e.g. twitter is that discord is not a 'one network' platform but community driven. In result there is no need for unique usernames (you have unique user IDs of course). Force creating unique usernames will lead to follow up problems/inconvenience for your existing userbase with no benefit to them.

Whats broken in discord isn't the user name handling but that the UI is thoroughly unintuitive. I'm a heavy user of discord, since almost the start and I still have problems finding and handling major functions (how to add friends, how to change stream settings, how the damn notification handling works because it still gives me notifications even though i put everything instantly on all mute). If your core user base cant explain to their friends how to add them, it's very likely not a matter of user ID handling but points to a bigger underlying problem.

The blocked UI is decent UX while using discord but its very hard to understand, when you first look at it. I guess you're stuck with it now, I wouldnt mind a full UI rework though. My suggestion would be to improve the onboarding by reworking personal message UI or the process of adding friends and not by changing user ID handling. You could even release an overlaid tutorial for new users (a very functional idea of how to do this is how Arturia does tutorials for their software instruments). I'd hazard a guess and say, if you change user ID handling it will (a) create problems (b) don't solve any problems, as (i) the problem of onboarding is connected to a bigger problem of UI and (ii) discord as a social medium is community based (no one needs or wants unique usernames).

kind regards,

Squeaky Warrior

May 05, 2023 18:21

Agreed

Falcolmreynolds

May 06, 2023 23:05

I really appreciate your analytic take on this - you're right. You've highlighted the exact logical disconnect here - the discord devs appear to be trying to make discord into a social media site, when it is NOT. It's a community chat client.

Please add your upvote and your comment to the master post here! https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/14337329256983--Do-NOT-add-The-new-discord-usernames-system Your take is really valuable!

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