In an effort to make it “easier to connect” with other users, Discord is removing the four-digit tag from its usernames. Since Discord will no longer have the four-number tag that differentiates one person with the same username from another, this change will force the majority of users to change their usernames, as noted in a post on its blog of Discord.
Rather than having a four-number discriminator annexed to your username, you will currently have a special alphanumeric username with the “@” symbol before it. You’ll likewise get to pick a non-unique display name that can include special characters, spaces, emoji, and non-Latin characters, making the platform much more like other standard social networks, like Twitter and Instagram. With suffixes that are comparable to those used by services such as Xbox, Battle.net, and Steam, it also makes it less like the gaming platform it started out as.
Unfortunately, as a result of this procedure, every Discord user will need to select a new username.
As per Discord, you can update your username steadily “in the coming weeks,” and the platform will advise you when you’re ready to do as such. According to the company, long-term Discord users will get priority, so the longer you’ve been using the service, the sooner you can choose a new name.
Additionally, despite Discord’s efforts to eliminate the numerical tag, your previous discriminator and username will continue to function as aliases. This means that your old username can still be used by your friends to find you.
While Discord says it at first sent off fully intent on allowing clients to pick any username they wanted, the four-number tags at last “became technical debt” that it didn’t “address adequately,” taking note of that usernames are frequently “too complicated or obscure” to memorize and share with friends.
In the blog post, Discord co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy states, “We recognize that this is a big change. There may be hiccups with this process, and it may be tough to part ways with that ‘#0001’ that’s meant a lot to you over the years. We’ll be doing everything we can to manage things as smoothly as possible.”