At last: a better way to shun.
I’m a member of way more Discord servers than I actually engage with, and I can only put so much blame on my pathologically narrow attention span. I’d be frequenting a few more communities were it not for something I’m sure we’ve all experienced: having to share spaces with somebody whose vibes are frequently, y’know, a little grating. Luckily, Discord has finally implemented an Ignore feature, so you can quietly preserve your peace of mind.
“With Ignore, you can take space from specific people without them knowing, so you can stay focused on the fun,” Discord said in a blog describing the feature rollout as part of Safer Internet Day 2025. “Whether you just need some time away or want to take a more discreet route, Ignore lets you personalize your approach.”
The problem with feeling a little icked out by the occasional internet acquaintance is that it’s almost always a me thing. It’s not their fault that they ping everyone in the channel a little too often or that the way they use emojis makes me uncomfortable for reasons that are difficult to articulate. Blocking usually feels a little extreme—plus if they ever try to DM me, they’ll realize I’ve banished them to my own personal phantom zone, and nobody wants that.
Ignore provides a nice middle ground between the nuclear option of blocking and the faint sadness of neglecting a group DM because you’ve seen enough of the bad takes that one guy keeps screenshotting from Twitter. Once you ignore a user, Discord will hide any messages, DMs, and notifications they might produce on servers you’re both in. They’ll still see your messages, and you can unhide their individual messages as necessary if you want to see what they’re contributing to a conversation.
In addition to the Ignore rollout, Discord announced the formation of a non-profit foundation called ROOST, or Robust Open Online Safety Tools, which aims to address “a critical gap in child safety and digital safety by providing free, open-source safety tools to organizations of all sizes.” An admirable goal, but when Discord lists OpenAI, Google, and Roblox as founding partners and describes how ROOST will “leverage large language models to power safety infrastructure,” I’ll admit that my brow furrowed.
You can start ignoring people on Discord today.
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