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  Keith • 17 hours ago • 5 comments

  The redirection of hackaday.io/messages to the official Hackaday Discord server is an intentional move to deprecate the site's legacy messaging system, confirming this is a server-side change rather than a local browser issue. All user communications and community chat are now handled directly through the Hackaday Discord guild. For more details, visit Hackaday.

  Is discord another website?

  Yes, Discord is a completely separate website and platform from Hackaday.

  What is Discord?

  • Independent Platform: It is a distinct communications app and website owned by Discord Inc.
  • Chat Community: It uses "servers" (like private chat rooms) for text, voice, and video communication.
  • Hosting Choice: Hackaday simply chose to close their own messaging system and move their community conversations over to Discord's platform. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

  How to use it

  • Account Needed: You need to create a free Discord account to view or reply to messages there.
  • Access Options: You can use it in your browser (discord.com) or download their Linux desktop app. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

  Are my old messages there?

  No, your old messages are not on Discord. [1]
  Because Discord is a completely separate company with a distinct database, Hackaday could not migrate your private inbox history or user credentials over to the new platform. [1]
  Here is what you need to know about your old data:

  • The redirection blocks direct access: Because the hackaday.io/messages URL now forces a redirect straight to Discord, you cannot click through the standard interface to read your inbox history.
  • Data is not automatically deleted: Your old messages likely still exist on Hackaday’s underlying backend servers unless they officially announced a complete database purge. [1]
  • Workarounds to view them: You can try bypassing the redirect by disabling JavaScript in Chrome specifically for <span class="yADgie">hackaday.io</span>, using a command-line tool like <span class="yADgie">curl</span> to fetch your profile data, or checking if the Wayback Machine cached your profile structure (though private messages themselves are never publicly crawled). [1, 2]

  When did they do this?

  Because Hackaday didn’t publish a major front-page announcement or official timestamped blog post specifically detailing the hackaday.io/messages deprecation, the precise date of the silent redirect isn't public. Instead, it was deployed as a quiet, backend site update.
  The transition process unfolded in stages:

  • The Foundation: Hackaday began shifting its primary real-time community engagement, event chats, and live Hack Chats over to their official Discord server over the course of recent years. [1]
  • The Final Phase: Once the massive volume of day-to-day conversation completely moved over, maintaining the legacy private messaging codebase on hackaday.io became an unnecessary security risk and server expense. The hard redirect on the messages URL was quietly enabled to finalize the platform's migration. [1]

  If you have important project data locked in those threads, it's best to check if the Hackaday API still permits data calls, or you can open a line with their team to request assistance. [1]
  

  Are users angry?

  
  Yes, a significant portion of the user base is highly annoyed and frustrated by Hackaday's push toward Discord. The anger stems from deep-rooted ideological and practical clashes between Hackaday's traditional open-source community and Discord's corporate structure. [1, 2, 3]
  The primary reasons users are upset include:

  • The Loss of Historical Data: Silently cutting off hackaday.io/messages without giving users a formal grace period to archive their private project collaborations, technical notes, and contact lists felt like a breach of trust.
  • The "Walled Garden" Philosophy: Hackaday readers are heavily biased toward open-source, decentralized standards like IRC, Matrix, and RSS. Forcing users onto a proprietary, closed ecosystem like Discord—where content is completely hidden behind a corporate login—is viewed...

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