The semi-proven reasons why the Username Change Update won't help.

wafflesticc
  • Edited

For me personally (as well as many other content creators), I use the same username for everything. Everything. Now, this isn't much of an issue as i'm aware of the consequences of such.., being easy to find. However, Discord's userbase is known to have hackers, doxxing, and more. Being easy to find is not a good thing on Discord.

  • you will be easier to find online
  • your information will be spread 10x faster
  • doxxing? buckle up! if you havent experienced it now you will.

 

Okay, so don't pick that same username. Easy fix! Right? Wrong. Not picking that username (again, thinking of content creators and well known people here) will risk kids using your username and pretending to be you. 

  • drama in the content creator circle
  • drama in smaller circles
  • legit just those two but i'll light some lightbulbs:
  1. pedophilia accusations
  2. grooming accusations
  3. slurs
  4. etc.

all of this will be said by those with your username.. all because you didn't claim it and/or didn't claim it fast enough.

 

If you don't care for the above, Discord.. like the many of us do care, think about the clean-up you're going to have to sort through. Yes, there are 9999 people assigned to one username. Yes, I can see how that is an organizational mess. However, you will become less organized after this update.

Quotev is a popular site used for quizzes as well as posting updates & statues, much similar to Twitter. This site uses a similar username feature to this upcoming Discord update. So, what does this mean for Discord? Why did I bring this up?

Many users on Quotev loved making "aesthetic usernames".. So much as that they would make alternative accounts under new emails JUST to "claim" that username. I'm unsure the date of popularity of username claiming, but this carried over through Tumblr and Twitter.

How can one person run all of those accounts? Are they even using the username claim accounts? No, they're not. They don't care for running the account. They just care for the funny username that no one else will get. Usernames like "Starbucks", "Target", "RealMichaelJackson", etc will be claimed. I'm unsure of the future legalities that will pop up with people claiming these, but it will happen. There is no avoiding it. We've seen it been done. 

  • organizational mess for you guys
  • instead of 9999 people assigned to one username, you'll now have 1 signed to 1.. per every slight alteration of a username. Sounds like a mess to me
  • username claim accounts
  • more dead accounts
  • higher acts of account selling
  • making new emails are free. so is making a new account. that means more username claims & more dead accounts. what are you gonna do? limit accounts per IP?
  • more clean-up/deletion of accounts on your side
  • possible accidental deletion of accounts: angered users
  • potential legal issues with big corporations since kids like to say silly things under a big name.

 

Don't believe the last bullet point? Tiktok released a new app called Lemon8. It was a popular trend on Tiktok to show off your "rare" username on this app. "TaylorSwift", "JackBlack", "Pyrocinical".. all made by children and not those actual people.

"Maybe that was a one off thing! It won't happen here!" You're wrong. When Twitter allowed users to pay $8 or so dollars to become verified, this allowed people to change their username for free to mimic big corporations as well as political figures.

Don't believe me still? Someone managed to become Gold Verified on Twitter because they had the same username as Disney Junior UK. People were unsure if this account was true or not. They posted racial things as well as curse words.. doesn't sound very much like Disney Junior to me.

  • twitter allowed those to change their username/become verified. this lead to many issues

 

Yes, Discord does not have as big as a reach as Twitter does.. but it is still possible to have similar consequences.

With this update if my account is old enough, I can easily pretend to be YandereDev and do some drastic things as listed earlier in this post. Now, you wouldn't be able to tell if i'm him or not because everyone knows he has a presence on Discord. I can use this to further ruin him and his online presence. Not saying I will, just kind of putting into perspective how easy it is.

  • again, issues with kids saying bad things under a big name

 

 

I could possibly list way more points as well as go into further depth in each paragraph.. but I doubt you guys will actually listen. Based off how well you've been responding to community feedback. (Psst.. you haven't been doing well at all).

 

TL;DR: read the bullet points under each paragraph. It will give you a basic understanding of what I am talking about there.

Though I encourage you to read this fully.

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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • Risinglion

    Thanks for saving my time and effort. I am here to make this post. The points are straight on, I wouldn't have done it better. 
    Dear Discord, everyone hates this system on other platforms, this isn't the solution. We like the old and unique way discord has handled this username chaos over the years and we'd like to keep it that way. 

    17
  • SpaceBees
    • Edited

    Hoarding usernames just for the aesthetic is common on another social media site I use as well. It probably happens on every service that only allows one person to have a given username. Does Discord want that on theirs too?

    0
  • Aerictus

    If they cared about their users this idea would have died in the meeting it was suggested.

    4
  • DEATHBEAM

    I agree with all of your points. (however, i am laughing a little at your blatant misuse of the tl;dr.)

    2
  • Falcolmreynolds

    Yep, fully agree. Under no circumstances is this a good idea.

    Add your voice and opinion to the main thread as well! https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/14337329256983--Do-NOT-add-The-new-discord-usernames-system

    2
  • Squeaky Warrior

    Exactly! This is a horrible idea, discord

    1
  • Wyrm-Sidekick

    You said it all! I 100% agreed.

    I just sure hope that they don't hear your 'limit accounts per IP?' as Discord is aware that users have multiple accounts that's why they added the account switch option. I myself have a personal account and a work account and wouldn't want that merged into one that's for sure.

    2

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