Discord is making its public communities more searchable, and people have concerns

Discord announced on Tuesday it will make some conversations in its public servers searchable and easier to find on the internet. The new update targets conversations in “Discoverable Servers,” public Discord servers that administrators have made eligible to appear in the platform’s Server Discovery feature.

Discord 周二宣布，将使其公共服务器中的部分对话变得可搜索，并更容易在互联网上被找到。此次更新针对的是“可发现服务器”（Discoverable Servers），即管理员已将其设置为符合平台“服务器发现”功能条件的公共 Discord 服务器。

The aim is to help people find useful information that might otherwise remain buried in Discord conversations to a wider audience. According to Discord, more than 63,000 Discoverable Servers host discussions on everything from gaming strategies and fandoms to language learning and niche interests. By making some of these conversations searchable, Discord hopes to extend the reach of its communities beyond the platform itself.

此举旨在帮助人们找到那些原本可能埋没在 Discord 对话中的有用信息，并将其呈现给更广泛的受众。据 Discord 称，超过 63,000 个“可发现服务器”承载着从游戏攻略、粉丝文化到语言学习和各类小众兴趣的讨论。通过让这些对话变得可搜索，Discord 希望将其社区的影响力扩展到平台之外。

The move also taps into the appeal of traditional internet forums, where users can find answers by searching through publicly accessible discussions. Gaming communities could draw attention to walkthroughs, developers could reach more people with technical advice, and content creators could attract new audiences without relying solely on Discord’s internal discovery tools.

此举也借鉴了传统互联网论坛的吸引力，用户可以通过搜索公开讨论来寻找答案。游戏社区可以借此推广游戏攻略，开发者能够通过技术建议触达更多人群，内容创作者则无需仅依赖 Discord 内部的发现工具即可吸引新受众。

Starting November 16, every Discoverable Server will have its own web page, which may feature automated summaries of discussions in active public channels. Beginning in mid-December, selected messages from public channels may also appear in search engine results. Server administrators will be able to choose which channels are included, while individual members can opt out of having their messages made publicly searchable. Published messages will not display usernames or avatars. Private servers, direct messages, and group direct messages are excluded.

从 11 月 16 日开始，每个“可发现服务器”都将拥有自己的网页，其中可能包含活跃公共频道中讨论的自动摘要。从 12 月中旬开始，来自公共频道的精选消息也可能出现在搜索引擎结果中。服务器管理员可以选择包含哪些频道，而个人成员可以选择不让自己的消息被公开搜索。发布的消息不会显示用户名或头像。私人服务器、私信和群组私信不在此列。

The announcement has sparked backlash over privacy. Some users are concerned about exposing conversations to audiences far beyond their original context, arguing that posting in a public Discord server does not necessarily mean users want their messages to be discoverable across the wider internet. Others have raised concerns about whether these conversations could be used to train AI models.

这一公告引发了关于隐私的强烈反对。一些用户担心将对话暴露给超出原始语境的受众，他们认为在公共 Discord 服务器上发帖并不一定意味着用户希望自己的消息能在更广泛的互联网上被搜索到。另一些人则担心这些对话是否会被用于训练人工智能模型。

Similar arguments emerged during controversies surrounding Reddit’s data-sharing practices and AI training, when users questioned whether their posts and comments should be used to train AI without their explicit consent or compensation. Discord says users can manage their preferences in settings, while server administrators retain control over which channels participate.

在围绕 Reddit 数据共享实践和 AI 训练的争议中，也出现了类似的论点，当时用户质疑在未经明确同意或补偿的情况下，他们的帖子和评论是否应该被用于训练 AI。Discord 表示，用户可以在设置中管理自己的偏好，而服务器管理员则保留对哪些频道参与此功能的控制权。

Notably, the option to make messages discoverable is turned off by default in the EU, U.K., Canada, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea because of legal restrictions. Teen users are also excluded from the feature.

值得注意的是，由于法律限制，在欧盟、英国、加拿大、巴西、澳大利亚和韩国，使消息可被搜索的选项默认处于关闭状态。青少年用户也被排除在该功能之外。