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A Discord Starboard is a channel that collects messages the community considers funny, useful, memorable, or important. Members vote by adding a reaction—usually ⭐—and a Starboard bot copies messages that reach a chosen threshold into a dedicated highlights channel. This guide explains how to make a Starboard in Discord with Scrump, how to choose its settings, and how to keep the resulting best-messages channel useful.

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What is a Discord Starboard?

A Starboard turns reactions into a lightweight community-curation system:
  1. Someone posts a message, image, video, or sticker.
  2. Other members react with the Starboard emoji.
  3. The message reaches the server’s threshold.
  4. The bot posts it in a channel such as #starboard or #best-of.
  5. The post links back to the original conversation.
Unlike a quote command, members do not need to run a command for every highlight. Unlike a sticky message, Starboard does not keep one notice at the bottom of a channel. It creates an ongoing archive selected by the community.

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How to create a Starboard channel in Discord

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1. Create the highlights channel

Create a text channel with a clear name:
  • #starboard
  • #best-of
  • #community-highlights
  • #hall-of-fame
Let members view the channel. Limit who can send messages there if you want the channel to contain only bot-created highlights.

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2. Give the bot the right permissions

Scrump needs to view source channels and read their message history. In the destination channel, it needs View Channel and Send Messages. If private staff channels should never appear on Starboard, do not give Scrump access to them for this purpose, or manage channel permissions so the intended audience remains clear.

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3. Configure the Starboard bot

With Scrump, run:
Select the channel and threshold. You can make the same changes from the server dashboard under Engagement → Starboard. Free servers use ⭐ with a threshold of 3, 4, or 5. Plus and Pro servers can use thresholds from 1 to 50, a Unicode or same-server custom emoji, and a custom side colour. See the Scrump Starboard reference for every command and plan option.

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4. Test the setup

Post a test message in a channel Scrump can read. Add the configured reaction from enough accounts to reach the threshold. Confirm that the Starboard entry contains:
  • The reaction count and original author’s username.
  • The message content.
  • The author’s display avatar.
  • Supported message media.
  • A jump button linking to the source.
Remove and add a reaction to verify that the existing entry updates instead of being duplicated.

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What Starboard threshold should you use?

The best threshold depends on active members, not total member count.
  • Start at 3 for a small server or a new Starboard.
  • Try 4 to 6 for a medium, regularly active community.
  • Try 7 to 12 for a busy server.
  • Use 15 or more only when many members regularly see and react to each message.
A threshold of 1 can be useful for a private staff-curated highlights channel, but it is usually too low for community voting. A threshold that is too high makes the Starboard look abandoned. Review the first week of posts and tune it.

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Pick the right reaction emoji

⭐ is familiar and easy to understand, which makes it the safest default. A custom emoji can fit a server’s identity, but members need to recognise that it is a vote for Starboard. Good alternatives include:
  • 🔥 for impressive or funny posts.
  • 💛 for supportive community moments.
  • A server mascot emoji for a branded highlights channel.
Avoid using an emoji already associated with moderation reports, event signups, or another automation. One reaction should communicate one action.

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Ways to use a Discord Starboard

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Community highlights

Save jokes, artwork, screenshots, achievements, and memorable conversations without requiring moderators to curate every post.

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Helpful answers

Use a Starboard as a searchable collection of explanations, guides, and solutions shared by experienced members.

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Event memories

Highlight competition results, live-event reactions, game-night moments, and community milestones.

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Staff recognition

Use a separate emoji or a higher threshold to collect especially helpful moderation, support, or onboarding interactions—while respecting the privacy of staff-only channels.

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Starboard moderation tips

  • State what the Starboard emoji means in your rules or channel topic.
  • Do not encourage reaction brigading or asking for stars.
  • Keep sensitive, support, and private channels out of public highlight workflows.
  • Use a higher threshold if inside jokes or repeated low-context posts overwhelm the channel.
  • Use a lower threshold if strong messages rarely qualify.
  • Delete the original message when a highlight needs to be removed; Scrump removes its Starboard entry too.

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Starboard bot troubleshooting

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The bot does not post a qualifying message

Confirm that the exact configured emoji reached the threshold. Then check View Channel and Read Message History in the source channel and View Channel plus Send Messages in the Starboard channel. Add or remove one matching reaction after fixing permissions.

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The Starboard count is wrong

Scrump updates the copied post when the configured reaction is added or removed. Make sure members are using the exact configured emoji rather than a similar-looking Unicode or custom emoji.

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A custom Discord emoji does not work

The emoji must come from the same server. Scrump supports Unicode emoji on paid server plans too, which is useful when a custom emoji is unavailable.

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A deleted message is still visible

Scrump listens for message deletion and removes the matching Starboard entry. If Discord permissions prevented cleanup, restore the bot’s channel access and remove the remaining post manually.

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Frequently asked questions

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Can you make a Discord Starboard without a bot?

You can copy messages manually, but Discord does not automatically move messages after a reaction threshold. A Starboard bot is needed for automatic counting, posting, updating, media copying, and deletion cleanup.

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What is the best Discord Starboard bot?

Choose a bot that prevents duplicate posts, updates counts when reactions change, preserves message media, links to the original message, validates channel permissions, and offers settings appropriate for your server. Scrump includes these behaviors and can be configured by slash command or dashboard.

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Should a Starboard channel be read-only?

Often, yes. Letting members view and react while limiting normal messages keeps the archive easy to browse. You can still allow discussion if that suits the community.

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Does removing a star delete the Starboard post?

With Scrump, removing a reaction updates the displayed count. Once an entry has qualified, it remains on Starboard even if the count falls below the original threshold. Deleting the source message removes the entry.

Set up Scrump Starboard

Follow the command and dashboard instructions, review plan options, and fix common permission issues.