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I wholeheartedly agreed. Ironically, I already feel that Discord is a lot less private than IRC used to be. In a way, history not being accessible to those not

I wholeheartedly agreed. Ironically, I already feel that Discord is a lot less private than IRC used to be. In a way, history not being accessible to those not currently in a channel is also a feature.

kmeisthax 4y ago
Scrollback is actually a permission that you can disable; but it's on by default and I've never seen someone turn it off.
- gwillen 4y ago
  Disabling it doesn't really work right. It doesn't let you still see history from when you joined; it just lets you see whatever bits of history your client has cached, which resets anytime you restart the client (on desktop) or anytime the client loses state due to memory pressure (on Android, no idea about iOS.) It doesn't really make much sense. I guess the desktop behavior kind of matches IRC, but it's not what Discord users expect; the mobile behavior is just random, since you can't control when the client is "connected" or not.
  - SomeBoolshit 4y ago
    So it's really just IRC mode?
    - plorkyeran 4y ago
      No, it's quite a bit less functional than IRC. Even just switching between channels on the same server doesn't reliably retain chat history, so it basically just doesn't work at all for anything but write-only channels.
  - Cu3PO42 4y ago
    Doesn't it? I'd argue that this is a perfectly reasonable outcome. Server-side history is disabled -- for everyone. Sure, you could have saved the conversation when you saw it, but it doesn't do it for you. Ephemerality can be desirable. However, I do agree there should ideally be three options, including the one you're describing.
- Cu3PO42 4y ago
  That's a good point and now that you mention it I remember seeing that option. But as you say, it's almost always on, so it barely matters. To be clear, I'm not saying Discord or any server admin are making a mistake here, scrollback is often very useful. But I've definitely opted not to share some things because I knew they would be searchable ultimately. Having witnessed the transition of some IRC channels to Discord, I dare say others must have felt something similar.
- sitzkrieg 4y ago
  im in a few servers with it off and it works really poorly. even switching between channels in same session, especially on web will instantly clear it, they seem to struggle with session management

kmeisthax 4y ago

Scrollback is actually a permission that you can disable; but it's on by default and I've never seen someone turn it off.

gwillen 4y ago
Disabling it doesn't really work right. It doesn't let you still see history from when you joined; it just lets you see whatever bits of history your client has cached, which resets anytime you restart the client (on desktop) or anytime the client loses state due to memory pressure (on Android, no idea about iOS.) It doesn't really make much sense. I guess the desktop behavior kind of matches IRC, but it's not what Discord users expect; the mobile behavior is just random, since you can't control when the client is "connected" or not.
- SomeBoolshit 4y ago
  So it's really just IRC mode?
  - plorkyeran 4y ago
    No, it's quite a bit less functional than IRC. Even just switching between channels on the same server doesn't reliably retain chat history, so it basically just doesn't work at all for anything but write-only channels.
- Cu3PO42 4y ago
  Doesn't it? I'd argue that this is a perfectly reasonable outcome. Server-side history is disabled -- for everyone. Sure, you could have saved the conversation when you saw it, but it doesn't do it for you. Ephemerality can be desirable. However, I do agree there should ideally be three options, including the one you're describing.
Cu3PO42 4y ago
That's a good point and now that you mention it I remember seeing that option. But as you say, it's almost always on, so it barely matters. To be clear, I'm not saying Discord or any server admin are making a mistake here, scrollback is often very useful. But I've definitely opted not to share some things because I knew they would be searchable ultimately. Having witnessed the transition of some IRC channels to Discord, I dare say others must have felt something similar.
sitzkrieg 4y ago
im in a few servers with it off and it works really poorly. even switching between channels in same session, especially on web will instantly clear it, they seem to struggle with session management