Framework shutting down Discord server

[Catt0s]

Background

In October, the discord server went on hiatus:

After an incident:

 

 

Today, it was announced that the server's content would be hidden next week:

 

 

Discussion: 

 

It is pretty clear that by hiding all the channels and threads, a lot of information is being lost. The forum is definitely better to use for that, but there is a complete lack of effort to conserve the information in these channels. For over a month, they have been read-only. Is there ANY reason to hide the channels instead of just keeping them like this? 

 

[TudorFinalBosz]

Good decision. They want to reduce any PR liabilities and a Discord server is way too instantly interactive for a company, it doesn't give them the time to slow-walk a response to an awkward situation.

The complaints about any particular decision (or lack of) would pile on fast and they'd end up looking bad if they don't react quickly. Just not worth it for them to keep managing a chat server. Better leave that to a forum, where interactions are slower and they can take their time to formulate any response.

[OddOod]

First off, if you want to export all the knowledge, you can use DCE
https://github.com/Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter

As for hiding them, yeah, I can kind of see why. They are unwilling or incapable of maintaining the server going forward, this likely includes accepting new members. Discord is a terrible way to organize information and they want to guide people to their active communities so dismantling the existing discord server seems like not a terrible idea. 

 

3 minutes ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

Better leave that to a forum, where interactions are slower and they can take their time to formulate any response.

*and* they own the data outright so they have full control over it.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

I was never a fan of companies replacing forums with Discord, so seeing some company going back to forums is a welcome turn of events.

However, to me this appears to be not an elegant solution either, I would like to see more effort to preserve the useful stuff in there. 

[OhioYJ]

I see this as nothing of value being lost. Sorry but trying to search for useful information on Discord or alternatives like Telegram and such is a lost cause.

 

Any more clouds you want me to yell at? 

[Kisai]

28 minutes ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

Good decision. They want to reduce any PR liabilities and a Discord server is way too instantly interactive for a company, it doesn't give them the time to slow-walk a response to an awkward situation.

The complaints about any particular decision (or lack of) would pile on fast and they'd end up looking bad if they don't react quickly. Just not worth it for them to keep managing a chat server. Better leave that to a forum, where interactions are slower and they can take their time to formulate any response.

Discord is not a dark web, but because it's not transparent about moderation activity except to it's moderators, the data is basically lost the minute the decision to remove something is made.

 

If there was a spat of malfeasance going on, I assure you people would screen shot it, like in the OP. General internet drama tends to originate in places that are not visible to google search, but is "well known" otherwise. 

 

Like I personally *hate* discord, it feels like it took the worst parts of IRC and slapped a voice and video mechanic to it. Nothing on discord is kept unless the person who posted it, was logging/recording it in the first place. 

 

[ItTakes2ToMango]

Tired of companies using Discord anyways - it's not an effective means of customer service or keeping users up to date compared to other means available. 

 

Discord is for chatting and games - not business. 

[OhYou_]

And nothing of value was lost.

[starsmine]

9 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Discord is not a dark web, but because it's not transparent about moderation activity except to it's moderators, the data is basically lost the minute the decision to remove something is made.

 

If there was a spat of malfeasance going on, I assure you people would screen shot it, like in the OP. General internet drama tends to originate in places that are not visible to google search, but is "well known" otherwise. 

 

Like I personally *hate* discord, it feels like it took the worst parts of IRC and slapped a voice and video mechanic to it. Nothing on discord is kept unless the person who posted it, was logging/recording it in the first place. 

 

It very much is dark web. it is not searchable information by ANY search engine. 

I love discord and use it for so much, by I have extreme distaste for anything that requires documentation in official capacities being done through discord because it is dark web. 

[Kisai]

12 minutes ago, starsmine said:

It very much is dark web. it is not searchable information by ANY search engine. 

I love discord and use it for so much, by I have extreme distaste for anything that requires documentation in official capacities being done through discord because it is dark web. 

It is searchable to some extent, but that requires joining that discord and jumping through several "Are you a human, are you an adult, do you agree to these 10 ludicrous terms of using our discord" type of song and dance. "dark web" by definition is content that is not reachable without technical means (eg protocols/software) where as discord is just a HTML "website" and all the app does is facilitate access to the microphone/camera without needing to ask permissions constantly. There's also a lot of meta data discord sends without your consent. Do you really think that ability to identify the game you are playing doesn't apply to everything else?

 

Anyway, wasn't really my point. Discord should not be used as a customer service/feedback mechanism. Either you setup a forum with a specific helpdesk mechanism if you want people to self-serve, or you just straight up setup a helpdesk program.

 

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

2 hours ago, Catt0s said:

Is there ANY reason to hide the channels instead of just keeping them like this? 

Yup. Good call from Framework.

 

It's not like it's serachable from outside anyway, unlike the forum.

 

 

[NumLock21]

Forums are way better when it comes to discussion or inquiry from uses about Framework. Discord is just a never ending list of messages all jumble together with absolutely no structure. 

[starsmine]

6 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Forums are way better when it comes to discussion or inquiry from uses about Framework. Discord is just a never ending list of messages all jumble together with absolutely no structure. 

I mean that shows how little you use modern discord, there are tools that make it quite structured now. But its still all dark web and that is the core issue. its not just an HTML website. 

you can make it more organized and searchable(assuming you already know the discord server and are able to even access it) then many forums are. But that requires explicit effort and knowing the tools. 

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

5 minutes ago, starsmine said:

you can make it more organized and searchable(assuming you already know the discord server and are able to even access it) then many forums are. But that requires explicit effort and knowing the tools. 

Indeed. But in my experience they almost never are. I am i a lot of Discords purely for mechanical keyboard shops, maybe two of them use threads or other forms of organization. The rest is just tons of channels with endless conversations. 

 

Even then, nothing compared to a nice forum like geekhack (although their search function has walled up behind captcha and questions to avoid crawlers, I think.

[Needfuldoer]

I look at Discord as a glorified IRC chat and Ventrilo server baked into one platform. It's for ephemeral discussions, not long-term data retrieval. 

 

Infinite-scrolling websites and social "feeds" are almost as bad.

 

If you're building a community reference platform, there's still no beating a good old fashioned forum.

[Lior Solwen]

Considering what all went down, I say good for Framework. Moderators leaving because of petty internet drama and the company not kowtowing to their personal beliefs? How pathetic can you get. 

[TudorFinalBosz]

It's more than IRC: you can upload and download files from a server, do vocal chat, screensharing, post formatted code, play embedded media, uploaded links/files turn into previews, etc. It became the Skype killer years ago.

 

Personally I left Discord, I think back in 2019, because it was making me waste too much time and I wasn't productive.

[Lior Solwen]

59 minutes ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

It's more than IRC: you can upload and download files from a server, do vocal chat, screensharing, post formatted code, play embedded media, uploaded links/files turn into previews, etc. It became the Skype killer years ago.

 

Personally I left Discord, I think back in 2019, because it was making me waste too much time and I wasn't productive.

I use it as an IRC essentially, it has a few communities I enjoy, but I treat it as what it is: ephemeral. It won't be around forever so may as well treat it as disposable chat junk. Using it in lieu of forums was always a confusing choice to me. 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

5 hours ago, starsmine said:

you can make it more organized and searchable(assuming you already know the discord server and are able to even access it) then many forums are. But that requires explicit effort and knowing the tools. 

It sounds like a convoluted way to put a nail in with a screwdriver.

It's a solution to a problem that had been already solved before Discord even existed.

 

3 hours ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

It became the Skype killer years ago.

So why didn't it?

3 hours ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

It's more than IRC: you can upload and download files from a server, do vocal chat, screensharing, post formatted code, play embedded media, uploaded links/files turn into previews, etc.

That's not Skype, though. Skype was videocalling your mom or coworker.¹ That was it. If landline phones had cameras and screens, and the ability to call anywhere in the world for the same flat rate, maybe we even wouldn't have had Skype.

 

[1] Although there was this other MS project from before buying Skype, which then become the separate "Skype for business", and now it doesn't matter because MS overwrote all of it with Teams.

[autisticforacure]

This smells like the work of the weirdos that are trying to make Linux more political in ways it doesn't need to be.

 

#installOmarchy

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/18/2025 at 9:16 PM, Kisai said:

Like I personally *hate* discord, it feels like it took the worst parts of IRC and slapped a voice and video mechanic to it. Nothing on discord is kept unless the person who posted it, was logging/recording it in the first place. 

Idk how but in some servers I am ppl find stuff lighting fast " oh but 5 yrs ago you said this.... *with quotes, timestamps and everything*..."

 

Anyways being basically a modern IRC is why I like it... it's also often easier to get useful information than on forums or reddit (but not always)

[LogicalDrm]

On 11/18/2025 at 9:16 PM, Catt0s said:

a lot of information is being lost.

What kind of budget information, and why isn't there community effort to archive it if it's that important? 

[Lior Solwen]

I don’t get what important information is lost with discord, tbh. If there is important information you wouldn’t use discord to protect it. Just as you wouldn’t use an IRC chat to protect it.