Discord’s Planned Username Change Is Causing Serious Annoyance

Discord’s plan to drop four-digit-appended usernames for Twitter-style “@” handles is causing considerable upset.

The instant messaging app announced it would switch its current format which sees names combined with a four-digit suffix called a “discriminator” earlier this week. 

Most of the criticism around the idea stems around concern that it could leave many without the username they want. Some Reddit users said that a battle for desired usernames could ensue and lead to scammers and opportunists stealing usernames and selling them for inflated prices.

“Bro discord usernames [will] be like insta now, adding _ and . in random places to try find a unique username” wrote one(Opens in a new window) redditor, while another complained(Opens in a new window): “I can’t wait to pick a username and find out it’s taken by someone else already.”

Tweet(Opens in a new window)

Over on Twitter, the change was called a “huge step backward(Opens in a new window)” and it was also compared(Opens in a new window) to a mobile phone network changing customers’ phone numbers to their full name. Another Twitter user said(Opens in a new window) the change would make it “more confusing to communicate with those who have different display names and handles.”

In a blog post(Opens in a new window), Discord’s co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy admitted the change would be “tough” for some Discord users, but doubled down on the reasons for the change. Vishnevskiy said the shift away from the status quo was because “current usernames can often be too complicated or obscure for people to remember and share easily.”

Vishnevskiy also took to Reddit to defend the planned username update and amid intense criticism he said(Opens in a new window): “This was not a change that we decided to do lightly and have been talking about doing for many years, trying to avoid it if we could.”

Despite the protests, it looks like the username change is going ahead. As The Verge notes(Opens in a new window), the process will take several months, and Discord users will have to wait in turn for an in-app prompt that will ask them to select a new username. According to Discord, priority will be given to people who have had their username “for quite a while.”