Discord starts rolling out new Forum Channels to help organize conversations

Discord is launching its new Forum Channels feature today in a bid to help server owners organize conversations. Forum Channels act like threaded topics of conversation that direct Discord users to talk about a particular subject. They’ll be useful for busy servers where it’s easy to interrupt ongoing conversations.

Forum Channels appear like sub-channels and can be used by server owners to branch off conversations about particular topics or to avoid having to create yet another channel for focused conversations.

“Like Threads and Text in Voice before, Forum Channels let focused conversations thrive without hogging a channel,” explains Discord in a blog post. “No more watching an interesting discussion get drowned out, hijacked, or abandoned because it went stale for a few hours. More than ever, every conversation has a place on Discord now.”

Just like text and voice channels, Discord community server owners can create an unlimited amount of Forum Channels. It should help steer conversations in #general sections of servers and provide a more structured and lasting alternative to the temporary threading system that Discord has right now.

Forum Channels also have their own set of permissions, and server owners can create separate guidelines for each forum to help Discord members understand what the channel will be used for. Discord’s AutoMod is compatible with Forum Channels, and most bots or apps that help moderate threads should also work.

Discord is starting to roll out its Forum Channels feature today after months of testing with its communities. It follows a day after Discord launched voice calls for Xbox consoles. Xbox players can now join Discord voice calls from their consoles and chat to friends on PC in a move that will help improve cross-play games.