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Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

drewdevault.com

181–190 of 499 posts

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For buildbots, it's not that hard. See http://docs.buildbot.net/current/tutorial/index.html Instead of using slack, use IRC Cloud.

Does IRC Cloud allow new employees to get the entire history of the channel? I can't see how it would from looking at its page.

Why do you want that? At my company I don't think anybody has IRC logs enabled, and it is highly suggested that you don't do so - chat, much like real life conversations, is inherently ephemeral.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#182

This is the perfect counter example to "Open source is better". IRC has been around for 20+ years. But a company that is just a few years old blows it away feature-wise. Sure, you can do all the same stuff in IRC, but look right at the article for why you wouldn't. The answer to every "missing feature" in IRC is to install some extra software and then maintain it. I'm don't want to waste time doing that, I've got pro…

> This is the perfect counter example to "Open source is better"

Agreed. I think one of the main reasons for this is that cohesive design comes from dictatorships, not from distributed decision-making, i.e. design by committee.

The strength of open source is that it is usually "good enough", rather than "great" or "the best it can be".

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#183

Slack is the wrong choice for large community projects for one pragmatic reason: the 10,000 message limit for free teams. I participate in a large developer community that lives on Slack. Conversations are deleted quickly on less active channels like #lisp or #volleyball, sometimes within a day. This is frustrating when trying to connect to like minded people and also maintain a record and resource for community memb…

Yes, the 10k limit kills it. After that you can still search old messages and find them but you lose the context because you see only a few lines around them. Either your FOSS project has a budget to pay Slack or you're bound to lose any valuable knowledge and decision buried in the archive.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IRC is just a well-established and battle-tested server/client protocol. I'm eager for the day when a competing open source server/client protocol emerges and takes over. I imagine all it would take is a really good reference implementation server and client that everyone can just start using, right?

IRC is just a well-established and battle-tested server/client protocol. Every time it loses another user to a proprietary platform, it loses another battle. Is that what "battle-tested" means?

IRC lacks a viable attached business model. In fact the act of writing robust services that empower users with data portability and privacy does not appear to have a sustainable model at all currently. I don't know if the current situation is a transitory phase or if this is how large systems will be built in perpetuity.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#185
I will add one silver lining to all of this (since I agree with everyone talking here that IRC is "hard"), Slack is also hard. That is to say, we're still in low hanging fruit phase. I don't know if I was just doing it wrong, but when I had to join the Slack channel for a FOSS project, I found it very confusing:

1. I had to be invited or something? (Still don't know if this is the case always)

2. It still remains a mystery to me exactly how Slack treats different accounts (or are they all the same account?) for different projects. It makes me like sign in to them differently but then they all show up together?

3. The Slack app is great or whatever, but its cool when a project can just embed an IRC channel, and even just make you an automatic account, right inline on their site and not have to deal with signup for anything.

If someone wanted to enter this space, they still could. Just make something that allows you to have one "Account" that would work across the board, had an embeddable widget so there's no "going" to the chat, its just there on the project page, has bots and emoji or what have-you. Maybe Gitter is working on this (already has all these abilities?). But suffice to say, I find it funny (sad?) that the discussion is around how easy Slack is vs IRC when IMHO Slack is still pretty hard and confusing.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#186

Please for the love of god just don't use Slack. We have learned absolutely nothing. Let's all jump on the bandwagon of another closed-source, proprietary, walled-garden service and hand over all of our private intra-company communications to a private third-party in another country. GREAT IDEA.

I agree with this completely. I hate that we now have SO many competing protocols that do basically the same darn thing and NOBODY wants interoperability!

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#187

If IRC were good enough to handle the needs of small software company communication, people would use IRC . Sitting here pretending everyone just doesn't know about a 20+ year old technology is comical. The "IRC Features" section bugs me, too. Unless you run a private IRC server IRC has a long, tortured history of design-based security difficulties. Gone are the days of netsplits permanently owning channels, but the…

>Unless you run a private IRC server IRC has a long, tortured history of design-based security difficulties. So run a private IRC server? This is a weird caveat, like complaining that angelfire is an insufficient web platform and you have to run your own http server to do well. There are a billion IRC clients, libraries, and bots out there. There are IRC servers in most distros. There are JS servers in NPM. Why not u…

My company runs our own private IRC server on an EC2 instance and once it was set up I don't believe we've needed to touch it since.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#188

If IRC were good enough to handle the needs of small software company communication, people would use IRC . Sitting here pretending everyone just doesn't know about a 20+ year old technology is comical. The "IRC Features" section bugs me, too. Unless you run a private IRC server IRC has a long, tortured history of design-based security difficulties. Gone are the days of netsplits permanently owning channels, but the…

> Oh, and did you know that with modest, low volume channels (>200 source? or at least names of networks/IRCds?

freenode at least has 19 channels with more than 1000 users currently, and one with just barely more than 2000.

    ##linux        2072 :It's official! We're now Linux.Chat! | Channel website: http://linux.chat | Pastebin: http://paste.linux.chat | Spammers or trolls? use !ops  ". | For op assistance, join ##linux-ops | Feel at home and enjoy your stay
    #ubuntu        1798 :Official Ubuntu Support Channel | IRC Guidelines: http://ubottu.com/y/gl | IRC info: http://ubottu.com/y/irc | Pastes to http://paste.ubuntu.com/ | Download: http://ubottu.com/y/dl | Currently supported: 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 15.04, 15.10
    #python        1763 :Don't paste, use https://bpaste.net/+python | http://bit.ly/psf-coc | NO LOL | Tutorial: http://bit.ly/MCAhYx | New programmer? http://goo.gl/c170V | Specify 2.x or 3.x in your question | Find your local User Group: http://goo.gl/S1Zsq | #python-fr #python.de #python-es #python.tw #python.pl #python-br #python-nl #python-ir #python.it #python-ro #python-india #python-hu #python-dev
    #debian        1707 :Debian 8 Jessie released! /msg dpkg jessie ; /msg dpkg wheezy->jessie ; /msg dpkg install jessie | current point releases: /msg dpkg 8.2; /msg dpkg 7.9 | NO FLOOD: /msg dpkg paste | /msg bots NOT people | offtopic: #debian-offtopic | testing/unstable: #debian-next (irc.oftc.net) | chanlogs: /msg dpkg irclog
    #archlinux     1655 :Welcome to Arch Linux World Domination, Inc.  Be kind to the people who are helping you. Be kind to the people you are trying to help.  FOSDEM 2016 participation! https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-events/2015-October/000544.html  Yes we know about Twitch
    #freenode      1566 :Welcome to #freenode | tor-sasl is offline until further notice | Staff are voiced; some may also be on /stats p -- you can /msg us at any time | FAQ: https://freenode.net/faq.shtml | Channel guidelines: https://freenode.net/poundfreenode.shtml | Blog: https://blog.freenode.net | Be nice!
    #haskell       1505 :http://www.haskell.org/ | https://wiki.haskell.org/IRC_channel | Paste code/errors: http://lpaste.net/new/haskell | Logs: http://tunes.org/~nef/logs/haskell/?C=M;O=D http://ircbrowse.net/day/haskell/today?mode=recent | http://reddit.com/r/haskell | Administrative issues: #haskell-ops | Hackage status? http://status.haskell.org | http://downloads.haskell.org
    #Node.js       1252 :Can't talk? Get registered on freenode (http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nicksetup ) | Current Stable v5.0.0 (LTS: Argon v4.2.1) | Mission Statement: http://bit.ly/node-irc-mission-statement | Info: http://nodeirc.info | Logs: http://logs.nodejs.org/node.js/index | On codes of conduct: http://j.mp/1RFlyvr http://blog.izs.me/post/30036893703/policy-on-trolling
    #go-nuts       1242 :isgo1point5.outyet.org | golang.org | known issues: golang.org/issue | channel log: botbot.me/5/log | don't ask to ask; just ask | ʕ◔ϖ◔ʔ | gophercon2015 videos: https://goo.gl/vKWB3Q
    ##javascript   1207 :Can't talk? Get registered on freenode (HOWTO: http://freenode.net/faq.shtml#nicksetup ). | ECMAScript, JavaScript. JS *not* Java. | Say "!help" (or ask and wait). | Say "!mdn abc" for docs on "abc". | Don't paste code in the channel.
    #git           1169 :We use git, but don't be a git. Help given and wanted, or just gorge on candy | Current stable version: 2.6.2 | Start here: http://jk.gs/git | Getting "cannot send to channel"? /msg gitinfo .voice | Beware the git-reaper this Hallow's Eve: he comes for your rebases
    ##security     1152 :Computer & Physical Security http://fnsecurity.org/ http://ow.ly/gsVTo | Type !op to summon staff - Be nice or GTFO. -- Toothe is seeking his stalker from a security presentation on Oct 27!
    #bitcoin       1126 :Current v0.11.1 | DO NOT POST ADDRESSES | uPnP vuln: https://bitcoin.org/upnp-vulnerability | https://bitcoin.org/ | bitcoin.com is SCAMMY | https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Faq | No pricetalk (#bitcoin-pricetalk), ads, trading (#bitcoin-otc), begging, altcoins | Web wallets will probably steal your money | URLs are often MALWARE
    #ansible       1123 :Ansible - http://docs.ansible.com *** 1.9.4-1 has been released - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ansible-announce/r_uNM1lWlAE *** Ansible 2.0.0 beta 2 is ready for testing - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ansible-project/krpeTwi3mpo
    #gentoo        1103 : Gentoo Linux Support | Can't speak? /j #gentoo-ops | long pastes: dpaste.org | masked by license? http://x.vu/WgxYLs | | Unworking hibernate and suspend? emerge -1 upower-pm-utils | firmware not loading? http://goo.gl/MzVLBN | perl conflicts? http://goo.gl/n1FMk8 | Be nice! http://xrl.us/kftd
    #bash          1082 :FAQ: http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ | Guide: http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide | Ref: http://gnu.org/s/bash/manual | http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/ | http://mywiki.wooledge.org/Quotes | Check your script: http://www.shellcheck.net/ | Mailing list: https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-bash | Devel: http://xrl.us/bmodjy
    ##networking   1074 :Computer Networking | If you have a question, just ask it! | Please don't paste - http://paste.debian.net | M = mega = (10^6). m = milli = (10^-3). Mi = mebi = (2^20). B = bytes. b = bits. | Vendor Help = #$vendor | pastebin iptables-save | Why aren't you using IPv6 yet? | IP address classes died in 1993 | VPNs were not designed for anonymity https://goo.gl/iLyXUP
    #vim           1050 :Can't Talk? Get Registered on freenode (HOWTO: http://ur1.ca/90niw) | Vim 7.4.900 http://www.vim.org | Don't ask to ask! | Use :help and :helpgrep | WIKI: http://vim.wikia.com | PASTE: http://vpaste.net/?ft=vim | DONATE: http://www.vim.org/sponsor
    #puppet        1000 :Puppet Enterprise 2015.2: http://puppetlabs.com/puppet/whats-new | Puppet 4: http://bit.ly/1fCLbPX | Help: http://{ask,docs}.puppetlabs.com | Beaker users read this! http://bit.ly/1zE2DYU | Bugs/Improvements: https://tickets.puppetlabs.com/ | Logged http://bit.ly/11ifvbU | Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/1wTNy65 | PuppetConf Videos http://bit.ly/1NWiHQb
now, the volume of chat may be too much to read for some people, but that's not an issue with the protocol.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#189
Scans as a case of the "I like X better than Y, therefore X is objectively better than Y" rationalization fallacy. Someone else could easily use the same set of facts to argue the opposite case: "irc doesn't support code snippets, so ....". The political argument that you shouldn't use a closed-source product also irritates me. I use a tool because it's the best tool for s job, and FOSS is very often the winner there. But if the FOSS option isn't the best choice, don't tell me I should be using it anyway. I don't attach moral weight to a choice of licensing model.

Re: Please don't use Slack for FOSS projects

#190
post #17

Main problem with IRC is that it's not "always on" and I really need this feature. Sure you can use IRCCloud or SSH/Screen into a server, but they both cost money while Slack is free.

If you don't care losing the chat history after 10,000 messages, then Slack is free. 10k seems a big limit but it's only a few days away if you start integrating bots for GitHub, Bitbucket, Frontify etc.

On a project a customer of mine disabled all those integrations because we couldn't go more than one week back into the past. Thery were not willing to pay Slack and we were losing track of decisions and accountability. When that happened we started writing down more things into Google Docs and the conversation shifted naturally from Slack to the comments of the docs. That had the (IMHO positive) side effect of reducing the time spent chatting about the project and of increasing the time spent to actually build stuff.

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