Everyone Is Bullying the UK Government In Its Own Discord Server

The UK Treasury has opened an account on Discord to a torrent of abuse from users of the gamer-focused chat app -- abuse they managed to send despite the government blocking all comments on the service. The Guardian reports: With its community-focused approach, where servers encourage tight-knit groups to form and discuss issues related to the overall focus of the topic, Discord may seem an odd fit for the strait-laced world of government communications. But the app has a lot of users interested in finance, thanks to solid take-up among day traders and crypto fans, two groups the Treasury is eager to connect with. The result: a read-only Discord server, where the only user who is allowed to post is the snappily named HMTreasurySocialAdmin1, who shares tweet-length news about the Treasury and chancellor.

But trolls will always find a way. Although posting is banned, emoji reactions are enabled, letting any user respond to a post from the Treasury with a single emoji, and new users are cheerily announced in a "welcome" channel. That means the Treasury's server has been eagerly posting automated messages such as, "Welcome, LOCK UP PRINCE ANDREW. We hope you brought pizza," and "Welcome Jeremy Corbyn. Say hi!". The latter does not appear to be the real account of the former leader of the opposition. [...] UPDATE: Emoji reactions and the welcome channel vanished but eventually returned. According to the HM Treasure admin, Discord is the reason to blame for the issues.

"Due to the rapid growth of today's channel which has seen over 7,000 members join, a technical difficulty has led to reactions being paused," a post in the news channel read. "We are working with Discord to get reactions turned back on." The trolling can be continued here.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL. Is that the same US that nearly had a coup last year? The one with a would-be dictator about to announce another run at turning the whole country into a cult where if you don't idolize the President in adulation, you might have to in fear instead?

The UK's democracy is safe. The party with the most seats in the House of Commons gets to choose the PM and decide when to call the next general election, with the caveat that they must do so within 5 years of the previous one. If the PM loses the support

Re:

[Freischutz]

LOL. Is that the same US that nearly had a coup last year? The one with a would-be dictator about to announce another run at turning the whole country into a cult where if you don't idolize the President in adulation, you might have to in fear instead?

The UK's democracy is safe. The party with the most seats in the House of Commons gets to choose the PM and decide when to call the next general election, with the caveat that they must do so within 5 years of the previous one.

Yes, but in the UK the party with the most votes does not always get a majority in parliament. In 2015 for example the Tory party got 330 seats out of 650 in the house of commons on the back of 36.8% of the popular vote. In a true democracy you should need more than 50% of the popular vote to get more than 50% of the seats in the National Assembly for the simple reason that the parliament is supposed to represent the electorate. Despite all of their gerrymandering the US Republicans can only dream of gettin

Re:

[youngone]

According to Wikipedia he got 43.6%, but I disagree with your contention that a party should have to get 50% or more to rule, because in a real democracy no party should get that many votes.
Coalitions are always better.
I would also take the Lords over the 18th century nonsense the US puts up with.

Re: Bullying?

[q_e_t]

David Cameron in 2015.

Re:

[stealth_finger]

You'd take a system where the currently in charge can appoint basically whoever they want to be a lord with very little in the way of scrutiny so they can turn up, get paid a daily fee and be unelected law makers for life? This shit predates the 18th century nonsense by a long way.

You don't want anything even like a house of lords.

Re:

[youngone]

The Lords are not lawmakers. The way they're appointed and what they do is nothing like it was even 50 years ago.
Also, yes, it's still way better than the stupid American system.

People working together is always better

[larryjoe]

Coalitions are always better.

Coalitions are neither necessarily good or bad. For cooperative groups, coalitions can get things done. However, as the Israeli coalitions have shown, they can also allow very small minority groups to wield outsized power. The US has a two-party system that avoids coalitions. The downside is that a non-benevolent majority can do a lot of damage. The upside is that elections are frequent, so change can happen quickly.

Re:

[Malc]

Yes, but in the UK the party with the most votes does not always get a majority in parliament. In 2015 for example the Tory party got 330 seats out of 650

You example fails because the Tories got the most votes in the 2015 election. 2010 is a better example because the Tories got the most votes without getting a majority, although they get the most seats in parliament.

Re:

[Goose In Orbit]

The last time a party got 50% of the vote was the Conservatives in 1935 with 53.3% (and before that, 60.7% in 1931).

Labour have never got 50% - their "best" result was 48.8% in 1951, but they still lost the election on seat count to the Conservatives (who got fewer votes with 48.0%).

Source: https://commonslibrary.parliam... [parliament.uk]

Re:

[youngone]

Hilariously Boris Johnson has been sacked from every job he ever held for lying but enough British people (well, English really) woke up on election day in 2019 and said "Yup, that's the guy we want running the show" and gave him a massive majority.
Even more hilariously, when enough of his corrupt, boozy friends tired of him, they managed to find someone who managed to combine the worst of Johnson's dishonesty with actual stupidity.

For those of us that don't actually have to live under the Tories it has

Re: Bullying?

[q_e_t]

The overall proportion voting Conservative in 2019 wasn't much different to 2017, but in FPTP, distribution is important.

Re:

[Malc]

When did he get sacked from his job as Mayor of London? Incidentally, after he left office, 52% of Londoners believed he did a "good job" as Mayor of London. This is not a minor job either: the Mayor of London has a huge electorate and responsibility for an economy larger than many European countries.

Re: Bullying?

[Malc]

Did I say anything about absolving him? Are you just trying to change the subject after I called the other post out for BS?

Re:

[Malc]

I didn't say that at all. You're still trying to muddy the waters and distract from the fact the OP was full of shit. I only stated fact, which you can read on the BJ Wikipedia page, not my opinion.

The first thing the OP wrote was:

Hilariously Boris Johnson has been sacked from every job he ever held

Please list his jobs and what he was fired for.

Re:

[Malc]

So no, you can't substantiate the claim. It was bullshit. Thank you.

Re:

[youngone]

You are quite correct, my hyperbole was a bit over the top. He was sacked from his first job for lying and all the other times he lied and was caught he was more or less forgiven. Except for the time he lied about one of his many affairs and was sacked.
Here's a highlights reel if you're interested. [liverpoolecho.co.uk]
Despite the fact he has not been sacked as often as I thought, reading a little more actually lowered my opinion of him.

Re:

[youngone]

52% of Londoners believed he did a "good job" as Mayor of London, then they realised he had wasted over £43 million of their money on a vanity bridge that wasn't wanted or needed, then they found out he spent over £100,000 of their money trying to get into the knickers of some American bird he fancied.
I understand this came as something of a shock to his wife.

Re:

[thrasher thetic]

A coup? That word does not mean what you think it means.

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

And what were they expecting when they stood up a Discord server? Peace, love, and mung beans? The label tells you exactly what it is you're getting and they're surprised?

Actually, now that I think of their track record, they probably were surprised.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I remember when HM Liz got on Twitter. One of the first replies was something like "Welcome to Twitter. Abdicate."

The Treasury probably expected this, but apparently didn't understand Discord well enough to deal with it. Their Twitter account certainly gets plenty of angry replies, although most are not trolls but just people upset at the way the country is being run.

Re:

[Opportunist]

Welcome to Twitter. Abdicate.

That was a very British kind of reply. Everyone else on the planet would not have been this courteous.

Re:

[stealth_finger]

Isn't UK supposed to be a "democracy"? How come the PM can change hands so many times without any general election?

There's your first mistake. The UK isn't a a democracy. It's a fucking joke.

Re:

[Opportunist]

No, the currently ruling party is the joke. Then again, Labor isn't really any less of a joke, but at least that joke would be funny instead of just plain insulting.

Re:

[laughing_badger]

You won't force the Tories to change by voting Tory. You might by voting Labour. Always vote out the incumbent for change.

Re:

[Opportunist]

If you know Zak McKracken, elections in the UK (or US) always remind me of the dumbness machine behind the Telco. No matter where you put the lever, it just feels like you didn't change jack shit.

Re:

[stealth_finger]

If you know Zak McKracken...

I know his brother, Phil.

Re:

[Opportunist]

The UK Tories are now a lot like Pop Idol. Every week, someone gets voted off.

I don't see where to call to get my favorite bozo to kick the bucket, though.

They deserve it

[jimbrooking]

If ever a government deserved bullying, it's the spectacularly incompetent crowd running Great Britain now. Since Brexit's suicidal misstep, conditions have only spiraled downward. Hearing of utility bills in the thousands of pounds/month, with middle and lower income shivering in their anoraks because they can't afford heat. I'm surprised there aren't torches and pitchforks in the streets. But they probably can't afford the fuel to burn torches.

Discord?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are people bulling them on their Discord server when we specifically agreed to launch the attack via their Snapchat and OnlyFans accounts?!

Technical difficulty?

[thegarbz]

So the government's Discord server has failed with 7000 users, but Fortnite with 850000 has no issue? Heck there are twitch streamers with 100x the number of users who have no problem with reactions.

I smell a lie.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

So the government's Discord server has failed with 7000 users, but Fortnite with 850000 has no issue? Heck there are twitch streamers with 100x the number of users who have no problem with reactions.

I smell a lie.

Of course it's a lie. The problem is all these platforms allow users to provide responses - something governments (especially right wing, but goes both ways) really hate. Why do you think Trump is running his own social media platform? What do you think is happening on all those "free speech" platf

day traders and crypto fans

[VeryFluffyBunny]

But the app has a lot of users interested in finance, thanks to solid take-up among day traders and crypto fans

Offensive messages? I think we've found the problem right there. When aren't day traders and crypto fans aggressively & loudly offensive?

UK treasury opens discord server

[argStyopa]

Clearly they are unaware of the "how do you do, fellow kids?" meme.

Awww... poor, poor Tories!

[Opportunist]

Are the widdle constituents bullying you? Do the peasants not behave? What cheek! How dare they!

Maybe, just maybe, they're pissed at the piss-poor performance you have shown in the past couple years? From Boris "party through the corona" Johnson to ... whoever the stooge is they put up now, if you can't be bothered to have a Prime Minster for more than a month, don't think I can be bothered to learn their name, let's call him "Curry", anyway, I have not seen a decent one in the whole lineup.