PARIS, May 10 — The rules are changing on Discord. The social network has decided to update usernames on the platform by removing the four-digit discriminator.
Discord users will have to choose a new username. The social network said it is changing its policy regarding the creation of usernames on the site.
As on Twitter or Instagram, users will now have a username starting with “@” and followed by an alias in lowercase letters, which can contain numbers between 0 and 9 and two special characters: the period and the underscore.
It is this identifier that will allow them to be added as a friend on the platform, allowing them to be found more easily.
Previously, users could choose an identical username that differed by the font and case used as well as by the four digits following the hashtag, known as the discriminator, which therefore made it possible to have a user called “PhiBi#9863” as well as “PhiBi#8936.”
“You meet someone IRL that you want to talk to on Discord, and they say “I’m Phibi Eight Nine Three Six!”
You go home and add ‘phibi#8936’ only to find out you added the wrong “Phibi” because your new friend’s username is actually ‘PhIBI#8936’,” explains Discord co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy.
More than 40 per cent of users also said they did not remember their discriminator, he added.
“Across Discord, almost half of all friend requests fail to connect the user with the person they wanted to match with, mostly because users enter an incorrect or invalid username due to a combination of missing discriminator and incorrect casing,” explains an official news release.
As such, the system is far too difficult to manage for users.
However, users will be able to keep their old username, but without the four digits, as a name to use on the platform.
As on Twitter or TikTok, users will be able to see this name displayed in conversations. In fact, while someone’s username must be unique, their display name doesn’t have to be, and can include emojis, spaces, non-Latin characters or special characters.
Long-standing users will have priority in choosing their new username. “We want to be particularly considerate of longtime Discord users who have had their usernames for quite a while, so we will be assigning priority to choose your new username based on when you registered for Discord,” the platform explains.
Discord has reassured its users that they will keep their old username until the process is complete, which may take a few months. — ETX Studio
