Demystifying Discord Threads

I love the communities I’m part of on Discord. Threads are fairly confusing to the uninitiated, though, even for folks who have used similar chat-based platforms like Slack or IRC.

Hopefully this little guide will be helpful to you, if you’ve found yourself boggled by them, too.

What are Threads?

Threads are nested side conversations inside an existing Channel. Threads allow you to branch off from the main Channel conversation to discuss a sub-topic with other members. 

For example, if the text Channel topic is “Gardening,” members can create a Thread called “Pests” to chat about how to deal with slugs invading their gardens. This keeps the Channel focused and prevents it from being dominated by issue-specific discussions.


Thread Duration

Threads are ephemeral, meaning they’re intended to be temporary. Every Thread is automatically archived after a certain duration of inactivity. (Inactivity is defined as the point at which no text messages have been posted.)

The default duration for Threads is 24 hours after inactivity.

After a Thread is archived, it will no longer be displayed in the Channel Sidebar, but remains discoverable via search and browsing.

Thread duration options vary by Server Level. Click here to learn more about Server Boosting pricing from the official Discord docs.

Thread Duration Options: All Servers

Members of all Servers have the following options when selecting a Thread’s duration:  

  • 1 hour after inactivity

  • 24 hours after inactivity

Thread Duration Options: Level 1 Boosted Servers 

If you’re a member of a Level 1 Boosted Server, you will have the following duration options:  

  • 1 hour after inactivity

  • 24 hours after inactivity

  • 3 days after inactivity

Thread Duration Options: Level 2 Boosted Servers

If you’re a member of a Level 2 Boosted Server, you will have the following duration options: 

  • 1 hour after inactivity

  • 24 hours after inactivity

  • 3 days after inactivity

  • 1 week after inactivity

Level 2 Boosted Servers also have the ability to create Private Threads.

Creating a Thread

You can create a Thread either from a Channel or from a text message.

From a Channel

There are two ways to create a Thread from within a Channel.

From the Chat Bar:

  1. Click the plus sign (+) to the left of the Chat Bar. 

  2. Select the Thread icon (a hashtag with a chat symbol on top of it).

  3. Give your Thread a title and select a duration. 

  4. Click “Create Thread.”

From the Channel Menu:

  1. Select the Thread icon (a hashtag symbol with a chat icon on top of it) to the right of the Channel name in the Channel Menu. 

  2. Click the purple “Create” icon.

  3. Give your Thread a title and select a duration. 

  4. Click “Create Thread.”

From a Message

To create a Thread from a chat message: 

  1. Hover over the message text. 

  2. Select the Thread icon (a hashtag symbol with a chat icon on top of it).

  3. Give your Thread a title and select a duration. 

  4. Click “Create Thread.”

Thread Permissions

A member’s ability to create a new Thread is determined by a) the server level; b) their account permissions for each Channel within the server.

Public Thread Permissions

A member’s Thread permissions in each Channel are determined by the Server Moderator. 

Moderators can control the following member permissions in each Channel: 

  • Send Messages in Threads: Allows members to send messages in Threads.

  • Create Public Threads: Allows members to create Public Threads.

  • Create Private Threads: Allows members to create Private Threads.

  • Manage Threads: Allows members to view Private Threads, as well as rename, delete, archive/unarchive, and turn on Slow Mode for Threads.

Click here to learn more about setting member permissions as a Moderator from the official Discord docs.

Private Thread Permissions

Only Level 2 Boosted Servers and above have access to Private Threads. 

Creating a Private Thread

To create a Private Thread, check the option for "Only people you invite and moderators can see” when creating a new Thread.

Inviting Someone to a Private Thread

To invite someone to a Private Thread, simply @-mention them within the Private Thread.

NOTE: Keep in mind that all Server Moderators can view Private Threads, regardless of whether they have been invited.

Discovering Threads

To discover active and archived Threads, select the Thread icon (a hashtag symbol with a chat icon on top of it) to the right of the Channel name in the Channel Menu.

  • To Search: Click the magnifying glass icon to search for a specific term.

  • To Browse: Select either the Active or Archived tabs to scroll through a list of Threads.

    • NOTE: Depending on your Server Level and permissions, you may also have the ability to select and scroll through lists of Public and Private Threads within the Archived Threads menu.

Joining Threads

To join a Thread: 

  1. After searching or browsing for a Thread, click on the Thread name to open it. 

  2. Click on the three dots (...) to the right of the Thread name in the Channel Menu.

  3. Select “Join Thread.” 

You can also send a text message in the Thread to automatically join it.


Archiving/Unarchiving a Thread

There are two ways that a Thread can be archived. 

Automatic Archiving

Because they’re designed to be temporary, all Threads are automatically archived after a certain period of inactivity. That duration is specified by its creator when creating the Thread. 

Manual Archiving

Threads can also be manually archived. To manually archive a Thread: 

  1. Click on the three dots (...) to the right of the Thread name in the Channel Menu.

  2. Select “Archive Thread.”

NOTE: Members will only be able to manually archive threads if the “Manage Threads” permission setting is turned on in the Channel by the Server Moderator.

Unarchiving

After a thread has been archived, a banner will display at the top of the Thread noting that it is archived. To unarchive a Thread, click on the “Unarchive” button within that banner. 

Alternatively, you can post a text message within the Thread to automatically unarchive it.

Leaving a Thread

To leave a Thread: 

  1. Click on the three dots (...) to the right of the Thread name in the Channel Menu.

  2. Select “Leave Thread.”

Deleting a Thread

To delete a Thread: 

  1. Click on the three dots (...) to the right of the Thread name in the Channel Menu.

  2. Select “Delete Thread.”


NOTE: Members will only be able to delete threads if the “Manage Threads” permission setting is turned on in the Channel by the Server Moderator.

Some Weather We're Having, Isn't It?

“Community is … unlearning so much of what many of us have taught ourselves about making every moment of our lives as efficient and optimized as possible.”

- Anne Helen Petersen, “You Do Not Need To Sell This Life Today,” Culture Study newsletter.

A couple of people recently pointed out that I’m in a lot of online communities. It occurred to me that they’re right. Scrolling around, I see at least 10:

This past summer, I joined a couple of paid, women-only online spaces, too: one that I would recommend (OwnTrail’s Trail Guides program, which has since been revamped) and one that I would not.

I like to think I’m a fairly self-aware person. I know that is a lot. I’m trying to be more mindful about it. One personality trait of mine is that if I decide that I like a thing or person I get very excited and will kind of just hang around, forever. I suppose if you like me that’s fine, but it’s probably highly annoying if you don’t. But I digress. That’s another post entirely.

All of these online communities and I’m lonely as hell, every single day.

I’m ostensibly very connected, but I feel unsupported. Similar to how I have a house that we bought last year (for a lot more money than we had planned on spending), but I still feel unmoored.

When my mother was parenting a young me, she and her fellow stay-at-home moms had these forms of community:

  • Church. Not just the worship part, but the fellowship brunches and free childcare on weekends, an endless calendar of benefits.

  • Local service organizations. My mom was in a group called Tri Kappa, a not-actually-a-sorority kind of sorority. From what I gather, with that came philanthropic work, pie baking, and other wholesome Midwestern mom activities. Maybe for your parents it was the Lion’s Club or something like that.

  • Family members who lived within driving distance. When I was a baby, my paternal grandparents practically lived down the street. I’m the most envious of this one.

Beyond all of that, of course, those women had the economics of the 1980s on their side.

My mom once told me that their first house cost less than her car. LESS. THAN. HER. CAR. I’m still not over this. Let’s be clear, she did not have a Rolls Royce. It was a normal, decent car.

There once was a little girl who was born in 1983. She grew up in the Midwest and her parents were conservative and Christian. At age five, her family started moving all around the country and even to other side of the world and back.

When she was 10, some of her best friends were those she met through the Presbyterian church: youth group, church camp, vacation bible study. Always a skeptic by nature, she eventually stopped believing. It happened around the time she was developing her own political beliefs, as well. They turned out to be the polar opposite of her parents’.

Her sophomore year in high school, kids started shooting each other. A few years later, the Twin Towers fell. After that, nothing was ever the same again in this country (a cliche, but true).

She graduated college in time for the Great Recession. Completely on her own, she stumbled around throughout her 20s and early 30s, getting into student loan debt and credit card debt, moving locations constantly in pursuit of stability, safety, and maybe, one day, a family.

She got married and finally had a baby at 35. A year later, they decided to move again. One last move. A couple of months later, a global pandemic began.

If you are a certain type of Elder Millennial, this may have resonated with you.

Where does that leave her (me)? Where does that leave any of us?

How do we get out of this “Bowling Alone” feeling? Does it end?

In her newsletter, Anne Helen Petersen points out that community is basically a series of small acts of service. Her examples mostly take place in the real world: volunteering, asking someone if you can grab anything for them from the store. This is not coincidence. It’s very hard to “show up” for a person in a real way online, as much as all of us in the Community space try to make that not so.

Is it hypocritical to be pointing how important real-world interaction is, as the creator and manager of a mostly-virtual parents group? Hopefully not. I’m trying to be aware of this and add at least semi-IRL offerings, like a holiday card exchange (something you can hold in your hands).

When we first were renting a house in Seattle, a very nice older woman lived next door. She gave us a tiny tabletop Christmas tree, with lights and everything. She gave my daughter a beautiful Easter basket. “My family has had great privilege and happiness over the years,” she said, “I like to pass that on.” She checked in on us when she saw that a rooter service had come in the middle of the night (the basement had flooded and the furnace was out; we were not OK). I brought incorrectly delivered packages over to her house. We texted each other a bit and I learned about her family. I read an article she’d written for the historical society. Then she moved away to the countryside and so did we, but only down the hill. That relationship was so meaningful to me during a very bleak time.

When we moved into this house, I did my best to pay it forward. I gave our new neighbors small gifts and a card with my phone number on it. I know their names and have their numbers now, too. When they walk their dogs past our house, they say hello to my daughter and me if we’re playing in the garden or loading into the car. They are some of the only people I know in Seattle, still. I checked in on them when the power was out. We make passing comments about the weather to each other. If one of them has a problem, I will be here to help them. I hope they feel the same about us.

Sometimes those tiny interactions on our block feel as genuine and meaningful as “community” ever gets.

I do my best to have a neighborly approach with other people I know. My main work in this life is being a mom, but I also value being an attentive friend, daughter, granddaughter, half-sister, etc.. When an email is left unanswered in my inbox, I feel like I’m failing. If I haven’t gotten back to you in a few days, I’m probably feeling very guilty about it at this moment.

I will say: ironically, maybe, none of this comes easily to me. I have social anxiety and a general feeling that I did not receive the “How to Be a Person” handbook upon birth. It often hampers me in my community-building efforts. But I keep checking in, annoying those who aren’t a fan. Because, sorry! Hiii! How are you today? “I’m going to the store, can I pick anything up for you?”