Messages in certain large public Discord servers will be searchable on the web after December

What once would've been a forum or wiki is often now a Discord server, and that's created a problem: valuable information is hidden away deep in the chat logs of big public Discord channels, rather than in easy-to-search forum pages on the web.

Discord now aims to solve that problem by making discussions in some of its biggest public servers searchable on the web.

The change will only apply to "Discoverable Servers," which refers to certain large public Discord servers with 1,000 or more users. The admins of those specially-designated servers will be able to opt out of search engine discoverability, and individual users can also opt out of allowing their messages in those servers to be searchable on the web. The change does not affect any invite-only servers or DMs.

"Prior to Discord's launch, message boards were common, ranging from community-driven forums to official ones run by game studios," reads a blog post from Discord. "These message boards excelled at hosting long-form, structured conversations about helping people, theory crafting, and more. While they still exist today, many have moved into Discord servers. This has led to valuable information being locked in Discord conversations, inaccessible to the wider internet. We want to fix this."

A few changes are explained in the post, but the big one is that, starting in mid-December, answers to questions posed in designated Discoverable Server channels will appear in web searches. "Usernames and avatars will not be shown alongside these messages," says Discord group product manager Kelsey Duncombe-Smith.

The feature hasn't rolled out yet, but the settings for server admins and users are now available. The admins of Discoverable Servers can opt their server out, or limit web searches to only certain channels. Users can opt out of their messages in Discoverable Servers appearing in searches in User Settings > Data and Privacy.

There's more info about what's changing, and what isn't, in Discord's blog post.