Discord announced that content from Discoverable Servers, public communities with at least 1,000 members that are at least eight weeks old, will become visible on the web. From 16 November each such server gets a public web page, which may include automated channel summaries. From mid-December, messages from public channels will gradually appear on those pages and in search engines, without usernames or avatars. Admins can exclude channels, while in the EU, the UK and some other countries the member setting is off by default.

What it means: The change turns part of Discord from a closed chat space into a public content source, similar to what happened with forums and Reddit. For software firms, game studios or developer communities that use public servers for customer support, this can be an opportunity: answers to common problems will now be found through search engines. There is also risk. Members who wrote thinking they were talking to a closed group may have shared order details, screenshots containing personal data or internal information, and even with names removed, the text itself can identify people. On the positive side, older messages from before mid-December are excluded, and in the EU members are not opted in automatically, which ties in with GDPR requirements. For Greek businesses running such servers, the practical step is to check before 16 November which channels are public, exclude those holding support conversations with customer details and tell members about the change with an announcement.

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