Privacy settings are still insufficient and confusing

Your privacy options could really use some updating. I'm seeing more spam than usual within the past week, one with a Twitch impersonator offering VALORANT beta keys and one pretending to be a Discord giveaway. I blocked them when they happened, but at that point I think your system has failed already.

I've been talking to some folks looking for solutions, I've noticed some shortcomings and really common confusion around the settings.

First off, I'm getting spam from accounts without shared servers. In settings, the only options about direct messages is in regards to "server members" but says nothing about accounts without shared servers. How do I prevent non-"shared server" randoms from messaging me? If the issue is that we once shared a server but no longer, why can't I see what servers we once shared or at least have the messages disappear now?
Section 1 has issues because it makes people think you're PREVENTING who can message you, instead of simply filtering out "explicit media content." What does that phrase even mean? Does that include outside (and potentially dangerous) links? Had a couple of people tell me I could prevent spam with this setting, but clearly not.
Section 2 is just simply confusing. I'm seeing messages from people that seemingly don't share a server with me. Why? Did we once share a server so they can send me a message? This doesn't seem to prevent someone from joining a server, spamming a bunch of users, then jumping off the server.
Also in regards to section 2, this doesn't match the way many people set up their Discord servers. Many servers are public but then control user access via roles. Almost all popular servers have levels of access to prevent spam/scams in their channels, but still allow "anyone" to join. This mean this setting allows "anyone" to message me if I'm on a public server.
Section 3 I'm not even sure what to make of this section. I don't generally add/remove "friends" because there doesn't seem to be any other features (privacy or otherwise) around them. Since seemingly "anyone" can message me with my current settings, why even bother with a "friends" privacy feature?

All of these current privacy options seem like a good starting point but don't actually do much to allow people to restrict messaging from bad actors without restricting practically all messages from everyone (or maybe anyone that's not a "friend"?).

Commentaires