[nvarsj]

Do you have a phone number? Do you find that confusing? Imagine if you had to claim a globally unique username to use a phone. Is that better?

Discriminators are, in my mind, are a clever hybrid. You have a unique name plus a short randomized "telephone number". This is easier to remember than a 10 digit phone number, or a username with lots of random junk (xxxxMyNameIsBlahx1203923) added it to it to make it unique.

[andromeda-brain]

Yeah it’s a clever hybrid but that doesn’t mean that it’s without its drawbacks. I’m not really trying to argue one way or the other, but I do think that there are tradeoffs between using a universally understood system for something this core to the product vs. a custom, albeit clever, solution.

[eropple]

> a custom, albeit clever, solution.

It was "custom" in 2010. When StarCraft 2 did it. Discord launched in 2015.

"I cannot parse the idea of a username without an @ in front of it" does not suggest that such a person will be more receptive to Discord when @'s are added. On the other hand, I've already canceled my Nitro subscription because I had it for the novelty name and a 200-server limit that I'm no longer using.