What you need to know
- Discord will soon support threads, though there isn't a confirmed release date at this time.
- Threads will work like temporary sub-channels that allow people to discuss a topic or organize a conversation.
- The feature differs from replies, which rolled out in November 2020.
Threads in Discord will work differently than what's seen in other chat applications. The page on the Discord Developer Portal discussing threads explains that they "can be thought of as temporary sub-channels inside an existing channel, to help better organize conversation in a busy channel."
This is in contrast to replies, which are already supported in Discord. Threads also differ from how other apps, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, handle threading conversations.
Discord channels can quickly get flooded with messages, especially during peak hours of activity. Trying to reply to a specific topic can be quite challenging. For example, during the Windows 11 announcement, our Windows Central Discord server boomed with activity. As more announcements came in, it became increasingly difficult to have a conversation. If threads were in place at the time, people could have split specific features into separated threads.
The new feature is in the early stages of testing right now, and it doesn't have a confirmed release date. TechRadar notes that only bot developers with under five users and one bot can use threads at the moment.
