Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

searchcord.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 91 posts

Re: Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

#71

Post by squigz »

xk_id wrote: post #64
belst wrote: post #47

This clearly breaks discord TOS. I did consent for discord to have my data, I did NOT consent to you having my data. The discord TOS clearly state: > Our services might also provide you with access to other people’s content. You may not use this content without that person’s consent, or as allowed by law. As I was not informed of the usage BEFORE it was taken, I could neither opt in nor opt out. GDPR clearly states,…

Unfortunately TOS consist of words and words cannot constrain technical affordances. There has been a black market of scraped discord data for years (it was even sold on the public web at spy.pet). Stuff like this is probably the only way people will wake up to the realities of digital privacy.

Hopefully this will also wake people up to the issues with putting so much information (announcements, support, documentation, etc) behind a closed platform, thus making efforts like this invaluable for the future.

Re: Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

#72

Post by areyourllySorry »

sReinwald wrote: post #51
searchcord wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sheer audacity here is quite something. You're stating people can't use your scraped data for commercial purposes "without permission," while your entire project is built on vacuuming up content from countless users without their permission, and in direct violation of Discord's ToS. That's not just a double standard; it's bordering on next-level cognitive dissonance. Not really, it is not free to host and serve…

Okay, the "not really" and "I'll solve that problem if and when" responses are... something else. It feels like you're speedrunning how to get into a world of trouble while hand-waving away every legitimate concern. Let's try to unpack this again, because your justifications are frankly baffling. > Again, not really. It's impossible to search for users without already knowing what server they are in. This is function…

did you type this?

Re: Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

#75

Post by QueryThyself »

This project was (I assume) now taken down after widespread backlash from Discord users who never consented to having their messages scraped, indexed, and published. The opt-out system was not "one click"—it required navigating a server where users were mocked and dismissed for objecting to their inclusion.

While the developer claimed to be protecting privacy, the system displayed usernames and full message content from community spaces that were never intended for public indexing. The burden was placed on users to remove themselves from something they never opted into.

Discord’s own Developer Policy explicitly forbids scraping or mass data harvesting. This wasn’t innovation—it was exploitation dressed in pseudo-academic language. If you can still search by channel + user ID, that’s traceable content. That's not “privacy preserving,” that’s thinly veiled exposure.

The developer's status message (extremely concerning and very inappropriate) and behaviour during take-down tickets further emphasized the lack of empathy behind the project. This wasn’t a public service—it was a boundary violation, and the shutdown was well-earned.

I also want to challenge the idea that this tool “solves the problem of not being able to easily search Discord servers.” That’s not a problem—that’s a design choice. Discord isn’t built for global indexing on purpose. Private communities, support groups, fandoms, and sensitive spaces rely on that separation to feel safe. Treating the lack of global search as a bug instead of a boundary shows a complete disregard for how real people use the platform.

Re: Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

#79

Post by heythere112233 »

I for one appreciate your efforts, and hope that you don't cave to the negative feedback you've gotten. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public chatrooms available to anyone, it's odd to hear so many people getting their pants in a bunch over it

Re: Show HN: A free, privacy preserving, archive of public Discord servers

#80

Post by basedffl »

I personally like the idea of this. It affords opportunity like the farms where peoples reprehensible behavior can be documented. I bet the roblox condo bros are really going to be harping on the "I didn't consent to you documenting my public communications!"
Post reply on HN