Overflow to the above question, another possible a...

# meta

[mbonnin]

Overflow to the above question, another possible action item could be to remove the not kotlin but kotlin colored emoji?
I get that it's useful in case of users that obviously didn't do any research or didn't even bother to read the topic (stuff like "hi GuYz, how do I train a LLM on tensorflow?" in #feed or soblob upside down )
But most of the questions in #gradle are asked in good faith and the reaction might feel a bit rude in response. I just realized this is even called out in the CoC:

Don't use reactions to tell people they're in the wrong place or asking the wrong question. If they're on the wrong channel, point them to the right one. If their question is badly worded, help them correct it. Have empathy.

In the #gradle case, I think a simple "you will find better answer to this general Gradle question in the Gradle slack" response is better than an emoji.

[Javier]

TBH I think it is impossible to fix not kotlin but kotlin colored in #gradle and #android without totally removing those channels.

[mbonnin]

I agree. The line is very thin. The proposal here is to remove not kotlin but kotlin colored and replace it with a human generated message that includes empathy.

[mbonnin]

Embrace that for good faith users

[Chris Fillmore]

I agree with this. Much like reminding users to put large code blocks in the thread, instead of using 🧵 emoji

[Vampire]

I usually add the not kotlin but kotlin colored emoji so that others see it is not Kotlin related and they might not be interested in reading the question and answer and additionally add a message saying it is offtopic and that the topic contains where to turn to.

[mbonnin]

That's a good use case 👍. Maybe we can turn that into a positive emoji then, akin to labels or so? general gradle question

[Sam]

I was thinking, the problem isn't so much the existence of the emoji itself, as the fact that it can come across as kind of shouty (all caps) and unsympathetic, even when not intended that way

[mbonnin]

I'm all for not kotlin but with flowers 🙂 💐

[Sam]

Wonder if there's automation that lets you easily post a stock response. So instead of (or as well as) adding an emoji, people could hit a button to auto-respond with a more personal note that lets them know there might be better places to ask the question.

[Sam]

Without an accompanying message, any emoji reaction could be off-putting to a newcomer 😞

[CLOVIS]

It'd be a nice to have a bot such that you can reply /general_gradle_question in a thread, and the bot removes your message + adds a generic "please ask this question in the Gradle Slack" (with a link)

[mbonnin]

The robot kinda misses the "empathy" part though... Until the singularity that is of course 🙃

[CLOVIS]

That's why it removes the command 😅 I would much prefer seeing a nice pre-written message with a link to the correct place, than a not kotlin but kotlin colored

[CLOVIS]

but maybe that's just me

[eygraber]

I try reading every message in the channels I frequent to see if it's something I'm interested in or that I can help with.

Having a quick visual indicator like not kotlin but kotlin colored is really helpful to quickly skip those that don't belong.

Having to open the thread to find a message explaining that this is off topic (especially when that message isn't in the initial viewport) is much more cumbersome.

[Jeff Lockhart]

...and the bot removes your message...

Probably not great to delete the message, but allow them to copy/paste it to the other Slack first. Maybe the bot could DM them a copy of the message before deleting it. Personally I'd be frustrated losing a message I spent time composing.

[Vampire]

He meant his message as the one writing "/general_gradle_question" as a message on his own

[Vampire]

But a bot could also just post this message when someone reacts with not kotlin but kotlin colored to have the additional information I intend to give and people like eygraber use

[Jeff Lockhart]

He meant his message as the one writing

Ah, yes, that makes sense. I misread that.

[ephemient]

https://kotlinlang.org/community/slackccugl.html contains

Don’t use reactions to tell people they’re in the wrong place or asking the wrong question. If they’re on the wrong channel, point them to the right one. If their question is badly worded, help them correct it. Have empathy.

and so I avoid adding the reaction unless there's an accompanying message as well, but there's too much to keep up with in #android and I see plenty of message-less reactions

[ephemient]

I'm not sure that a bot would really make that better; I see knee-jerk reactions on legitimate Kotlin questions as well. but perhaps it's worth a try