A simple Twitter change has already led to confusion and frustration

Twitter's new feature that removes user names from mentions has been eagerly anticipated as a way to get more out of 140 characters.

Those extra characters, however, may not be worth it.

Twitter's initial tests of removing user handles from tweet responses has already kicked up frustration and confusion among users.

The change has been teased for months, with usernames and media like photos and videos not counting against the 140-character limit. The shift is arguably the biggest change to Twitter's core product in the company's history.

Screenshots of people who have had access to the feature show that the handles don't show up at all in conversations.

That change struck some as short-sighted, especially considering the use of username mentions was a widely embraced feature popularized by users.

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Richard Lawler at Engadget was among those who had early access to the feature, and he did not like it.

"This week my account was included in that test, and as a longtime user, I don't think this change is a good one," Lawler wrote in a post.

Lawler's issues mirrored those of many others: The new way does not make it easy to figure out just who you are conversing with.

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Confusion over the change was also met with frustration.

Among the most vocal was sociology professor Tressie McMillan Cottom, who wrote a Medium post entitled, "Twitter’s New @Replies re-design isn’t just stupid; it’s really stupid."

Cottom's problem is not just that the new response style is confusing. She noted that the new feature made it difficult for her to converse selectively, something that has helped her avoid some of the harassment that continues to be a problem on Twitter.

"I manage my visibility as a black woman, an academic, and a public writer by negotiating context collapse. The risk for me is greater than it is for some other users," she wrote. "And, my experience of the platform relies, to a significant degree, on my ability to navigate these fault lines. Without the security of knowing to whom I am replying, I cannot safely tweet."

Other uses noted that the change doesn't seem to address the platform's problem with abuse. Twitter has said it is working on a new tools that will help shield users from trolls.

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