threads are the worst thing to happen to slack. th...

# multiplatform

[jw]

threads are the worst thing to happen to slack. the entirety of useful conversation abstracted behind information silos requiring that i click into each one. they needn't be used in such small channels.

[louiscad]

@jw Wouldn't an option to flatten threads on a global or channel basis (effectively showing threads behind their parent message) alleviate your concern?

[jw]

No. The behavior on this entire Slack needs to change from forcing people to use threads for topical conversation. That is terrible behavior to perpetuate.

[louiscad]

But not using threads would make having multiple conversations in the same channel harder, especially given how crowded is this Slack IMHO. Do you think changing people way to use Slack would be enough, or do you think another chat UX that doesn't exist yet would be better suited to make things clearer for everyone, avoiding the frustrations you and others (including me) currently encounter here?

[jw]

This channel is not large enough that concurrent conversations occur. Also this hasn't been a problem in any meaningful fashion in other chat apps for the last 30 years. Either it's a chat or it's a forum. Slack threads are the worst of both worlds.

[louiscad]

Before Slack, chats were only popular in 2 person fashion, where concurrent conversations are much more unlikely/rare. A lot of people are discovering the pros and cons of massive chats like we have here with Kotlin Slack. Also, Forums often feel cumbersome for not so deep conversations. At least, this is the feeling I have compared to Slack and its threads.

[jw]

What? Group chat has been popular for 30 years

[louiscad]

Not popular among the same people and the same audience IMHO. I mean, I was born only 22 years ago, and got my first computer 6 years ago. Many folks started using group chats not so long ago, and many folks joined computer science recently too.

[jw]

No. Programming chat is wildly popular on IRC and this Kotlin chat actually started on IRC and grew to a few hundred people.

[jw]

The idea that Slack somehow invented group chat or popularized it is ridiculous

[jw]

Anyway. It's against my religion to keep talking in this thread