After years of technical debt, Discord has announced a big change is coming to their username system to make it easier to find the people you want to connect with.
Currently, you have your username followed by a bunch of numbers. It's not an ideal system, as they said themselves, "our current usernames can often be too complicated or obscure for people to remember and share easily". So they're changing it to be a bit more like Twitter and other platforms where you have @username instead. You'll still be able to change your display name to whatever you want though.
This is a good time to tell you to join the GamingOnLinux Discord right?
When the change comes in, your username will need to be unique and they said it will roll-out over the coming weeks. You'll get an in-app notification when your time comes to do the change-over. It will take several months for them to get through everyone, so you might be in for a bit of a wait on it.
It will be interesting to see how this system is received. It can easily end up with the same problems other places have, with people impersonating others by nabbing their tag used on another platform. Discord will need to be careful on this, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them eventually roll out their own verification system too due to this.
What are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
I want an option in Discord to always show the username instead of the display name. Even on the GOL discord where people rarely change their name, it's still confusing as hell when they do. An option to turn off those shitty taglines after the username would be welcome too. It's just so cluttered.
Cleaner usernames will be good, however, although there will likely be some people not getting the name they want. This change won't please everyone, for sure.
Cleaner usernames will be good, however, although there will likely be some people not getting the name they want. This change won't please everyone, for sure.
1 Likes, Who?
Long overdue, i hate those #1234 naming conventions.
I just hope 'in app notification' will also work if you only access it via browser?
I just hope 'in app notification' will also work if you only access it via browser?
0 Likes
I don't think they should be doing a conversion. They should support existing names as the legacy format, and only new accounts get the new format.
Display wise, they can do what Battle.net does and only display the first portion of your username until you hover your mouse to reveal the appended numbers. In addition, they can copy what Steam does and allow people to assign nicknames to their friends list.
I don't really use Discord these days (will probably check out the GOL channel soon), but I do deal with large corporate changes. In my experience, people like to have timing of migration in their own control. You need to create a reason for them to want to prioritize it, but avoid hard deadlines if you can.
If Discord cannot support the existing name format and a new format at the time same, then they failed the engineering challenge. Where did all those experts go during Covid? Amazon? The talent pool is turning into a vacuum. I digress.
Display wise, they can do what Battle.net does and only display the first portion of your username until you hover your mouse to reveal the appended numbers. In addition, they can copy what Steam does and allow people to assign nicknames to their friends list.
I don't really use Discord these days (will probably check out the GOL channel soon), but I do deal with large corporate changes. In my experience, people like to have timing of migration in their own control. You need to create a reason for them to want to prioritize it, but avoid hard deadlines if you can.
If Discord cannot support the existing name format and a new format at the time same, then they failed the engineering challenge. Where did all those experts go during Covid? Amazon? The talent pool is turning into a vacuum. I digress.
1 Likes, Who?
This is going to be total chaos...
tags will be taken, all server rooms permissions will need to be (manually) re-applied and you are not going to know who is who for quite some time...
tags will be taken, all server rooms permissions will need to be (manually) re-applied and you are not going to know who is who for quite some time...
3 Likes, Who?
The results of this could be . . . discordant.
4 Likes, Who?
Kimyrielle May 5, 2023
Am I the only one actually liking the #1234 system? It lets us use names we actually like, instead of making us use what's not yet taken. Any platform with a few million users will run out of desirable names within seconds, so there is that. I suppose most of us will just append random numbers to our current username, and the result will look pretty much like it currently does, just without the dot between the name and the numbers. And a lot of chaos during the conversions.
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 5 May 2023 at 4:52 pm UTC
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 5 May 2023 at 4:52 pm UTC
5 Likes, Who?
Am I the only one actually liking the #1234 system?
Nope, I much prefer it, not to mention how this is going to cause a lot of username squatting and selling. There's a big pushback against this change on places like the Fediverse and Tumblr (1) (2).
Plus, they seem to be working on a (rancid) re-design of the mobile app.
All while still making it against ToS to fix the issue yourself, by making your own client or modifying the proprietary client.
I hope Revolt gains some traction when it's more developed, open and optional self-hosting, while being more approachable than XMPP and Matrix for the less tech-savvy
3 Likes, Who?
Philadelphus May 6, 2023
The results of this could be . . . discordant.If a certain Cupertino company got involved we could have quite an Apple of Discord on our hands!
3 Likes, Who?
Dana Souly May 6, 2023
Well, i don't use ICQ anymore (I deleted my account years ago) but i still know my number as it would be my telephone... 
I'm only in Discord for some games, which i like.
I'm only in Discord for some games, which i like.
0 Likes
So, instead of DrMcCoy#1234, I'll be @drmccoy1234. Much useful, very easier, wow
I'm sorry, but this is just silly
I'm sorry, but this is just silly
6 Likes, Who?
fenglengshun May 7, 2023
I actually liked the #1234 system. It means that your username could never be fully taken, you don't have to deal with "@name is taken, so is @name213" issue. And everyone could just change their display name in different servers anyways. I agree with Linus and Luke's question of asking what's the point of this change.
I could understand if they expanded the Nitro benefit to being able to have the "@name" handle without needing to use #1234, but still enabling the "@name#1234" system for new users and plebs. It makes economic sense. But changing the whole system? What's the point? The current system works.
I'd rather see a less casual spin of Discord. Make it paid, or whatever, I like Discord's backend, I just want something that is actually more oriented towards work and non-casual interaction, like Skype or whatever.
I could understand if they expanded the Nitro benefit to being able to have the "@name" handle without needing to use #1234, but still enabling the "@name#1234" system for new users and plebs. It makes economic sense. But changing the whole system? What's the point? The current system works.
I'd rather see a less casual spin of Discord. Make it paid, or whatever, I like Discord's backend, I just want something that is actually more oriented towards work and non-casual interaction, like Skype or whatever.
3 Likes, Who?
Turkeysteaks May 7, 2023
I much prefer the current system, having the numeric ID is so much nicer than just sticking numbers into your name. I'm not looking forward to this change at all, and it's not something they're likely to back out of now. Discord had been good for so long... how much longer before it is worth looking for an alternative instead?
1 Likes, Who?
I much prefer the current system, having the numeric ID is so much nicer than just sticking numbers into your name. I'm not looking forward to this change at all, and it's not something they're likely to back out of now. Discord had been good for so long... how much longer before it is worth looking for an alternative instead?Hmmm . . . wonder if they're big enough to reach the stage Cory Doctorow calls "enshittification"?
0 Likes
fnordianslip May 8, 2023
The results of this could be . . . discordant.If a certain Cupertino company got involved we could have quite an Apple of Discord on our hands!
Pure gold. Hail Eris.
1 Likes, Who?
Well, i don't use ICQ anymore (I deleted my account years ago) but i still know my number as it would be my telephone...I haven't heard anyone mention ICQ in ages. I had a few good friends from my UT99 days on there that I lost contact with because I forgot my login details and couldn't retrieve them.
I'm only in Discord for some games, which i like.
4 Likes, Who?
InhaleOblivion May 8, 2023
Tech companies continue to make dubious modifications to their programs overtime. Just for the sake of "new features".
0 Likes
Well, i don't use ICQ anymore (I deleted my account years ago) but i still know my number as it would be my telephone...I haven't heard anyone mention ICQ in ages. I had a few good friends from my UT99 days on there that I lost contact with because I forgot my login details and couldn't retrieve them.
I'm only in Discord for some games, which i like.
Amazingly, it's still going, being bought by mail.ru in 2010 after AOL's buyout a few years prior. Sadly, mail.ru (now known as VK) is Russian owned and made headlines by cooperating with Russian authorities to grant access to conversations - something not possible with end-to-end encrypted services like Signal, or Whatsapp. Even Telegram, which isn't end-to-end encrypted, refuses (mostly) to grant access to authorities. So I wouldn't be chasing those credentials any time soon!
0 Likes
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