Answer Overflow
Data
search engine for discord
SHOW HN2023
How HN took it
8 positive, 11 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 13 critical, out of 35 comments about the project. Thread score -0.13.
Idea: 5 for, 9 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Free and open source software.
From 1 comment
Good on you (and everyone) for releasing it as Free Software. Just the target is unfortunate.
dancemethis on HN
Useful for finding technical knowledge locked in Discord.
From 2 comments
Correct. However, some things should be preserved forever and accessible. It's really nice to be able to put a piece of scientific jargon, or a text of an error message, into a…
TeMPOraL on HNThat depends a lot on the channel. Some channels are exclusively monthly public announcements, of new version of software, or bugs, or announcements of conferences for example.…
jlokier on HN
Objections
Indexing most Discord content is noisy and breaks the cozy private community feel.
From 2 comments
While I see the value here, I don't really think most Discord communities are appropriate to be indexed. It breaks the whole cozy web aspect of it. [1] [1]…
easygenes on HNIt makes no sense to index the vast majority of content. You would need to cherry pick really hard among all the noise to find the stuff worth putting online.
Kiro on HN
Discord context is fragmented, making indexing hard.
From 1 comment
Indexing Discord is going to be tough. The reason is that context is all over the place: Question in one message. Then two unrelated messages. Then a partial answer by somebody.…
leobg on HN
Copyright and consent concerns about indexing user content.
From 1 comment
People who give their consent to Discord to host their writing don't necessarily do so for third parties. Isn't there a copyright issue here?
bitshiftfaced on HN
Relevance is hard without link-graph authority.
From 1 comment
There are several issues with surfacing search results from Discord as mentioned before in the thread, and even if all of them are resolved the biggest one remains relevance.…
freediver on HN
Requests
Bulk enable indexing for multiple channels at once.
From 1 comment
This is awesome and timely! I’ve been wanting to set something like this up for the nullbits server for a while. When I picked discord instead of a forum, I wasn’t counting on…
jaygreco on HN
Clearer indicator when viewing private messages while signed in.
From 1 comment
Glad we got this resolved and it was all working properly, the site does need to do more to make it clearer when viewing a private message while signed in added it to the backlog…
rhyssullivan1 on HN
Questions
How does it compare to Linen?
From 1 comment
Welcome back. How does this compare to Linen (https://github.com/linen-dev/linen.dev#readme), which claims to support Slack and Discord? I do see the license difference, but…
mdaniel on HN
Is the name a trademark risk with Stack Overflow?
From 1 comment
If this takes off you may very well get a letter from Stack Overflow lawyers over the name. It's your choice if you want to take that risk, but just FYI. (And to be honest, I…
arp242 on HN
Alternatives named
Linen
From 1 comment
Welcome back. How does this compare to Linen (https://github.com/linen-dev/linen.dev#readme), which claims to support Slack and Discord? I do see the license difference, but…
mdaniel on HN
Gitter
From 1 comment
Gitter is an ignored solution.
fomine3 on HN