Update Update: False alarm! Both Emoji Reactions and the Welcome channel are miraculously back, and according to the HM Treasury admin, it's Discord's fault. 'Due to the rapid growth of the channel today with over 7,000 members, Reactions has been paused due to technical issues. We are working with Discord to get reactions back up and running. The channel and emoji returned about 40 minutes later. Fellow Brits, and friends around the world, let's end bullying once again.

Update: Well, it was good while it lasted. I happened to have the Discord server open on another screen and witnessed the emoji reactions disappear with each message. It is now a very boring governing server. I can no longer react to any post on the server and the welcome channel has disappeared. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Original story: everyone needs to listen to my daughter Lauren and stop creating Discord servers (open in new tab) for things that don't need to be Discord servers. This time it's the UK government's turn, especially the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance. Yes, it's working just as well as you think.

It may be a read-only Discord with only three channels, but even so, the burgeoning members of this server have not hesitated to absolutely disrupt this entire server. For starters, the government thought it would be a good idea to leave emoji reactions on all three channels (a welcome channel, a channel explaining how to use it, and a feed for Treasury news). Fortunately, the government at least had the foresight to allow only basic emojis on Discord to the server. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if people had to choose their own emojis for their reactions.

Still, that doesn't stop the rather creative (or childish, depending on your point of view) use of alphabetical emojis to create words like "piss," "doge," and of course "cum." The two posts on Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt also use the classic "c-word," which may not be appropriate for PC Gamer but is popular among us and Australians. One even composed an entire sentence out of emojis and simply stated, "Fuck the royal family."

Due to the lack of text channels, people are using Discord usernames to send out messages. While writing this, I was keeping a close eye on the Welcome channel, during which someone called "Prince Andrew is incompetent" repeatedly left the server and joined, his name flitting back and forth in between other members joining. A number of other usernames parodied current Prime Ministers Rishi Snack and Margaret Thatcher and were scathingly critical of the Tory government. One username calls for King Charles to throw eggs at him.

There could not be a more British way to deal with the government's foolish decisions. It won't be long before the government realizes its mistake and shuts down the servers completely. For now, if you want to witness the absolute dumpster fire, you are more than welcome to join the HM Treasury Discord. (open in new tab) [13].