The popular voice chat and messaging platform known as Discord is getting rid of four-digit tags placed at the end of user handles. In a recent statement by Discord, the change will result in every single user having to pick a new username, with each unique account handle marked with the “@” symbol like on Twitter.
According to Stanislav Vishnevskiy, the company’s co-founder, “The whole point of these changes is that we want to make it a lot easier for you and all the new users coming to Discord to connect and hang out with friends.”
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Obviously, this decision is a major interruption to the user experience, and many have spoken against it. In response to criticism, Vishnevskiy continued to state that “these weren’t easy decisions, and we didn’t come to them lightly.”
Part of the reason for these changes is that from the perspective of the company, many current usernames are too obscure or complicated for people to share and remember.
Going forward, users will now have the option of selecting a non-unique display name on top of their unique username, and the tag is allowed to include various special characters. This rollout is set to happen over the course of several months, and the company is giving extra consideration to longtime users.