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Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

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Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#1

Post by cdnsteve »

We started using Slack a year+ ago when our team was smaller. Since then we've added other departments, groups and lots more users. The amount of noise and interruptions is becoming extremely distracting as a developer. I'm at the point of turning it off for 3/4 of the day. Check-in during the morning and near end of day then turn it off.

Is anyone else feeling like this? How do you keep the noise and distractions down? It seems like Slack is ideal for smaller groups but since we've brought more people in, added more channels, folks started doing group chats you're always "On-Call".

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#4

Post by intermittently »

I'm finding this more and more during my off hours. I wish there was a way to opt out of all @channel announcements on my phone app and still get notifications for when someone tags me directly (when I'm actually needed).

Probably not a helpful answer to your question, but I feel your pain, at any rate.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#5

Post by Banduin »

intermittently wrote: post #4

I'm finding this more and more during my off hours. I wish there was a way to opt out of all @channel announcements on my phone app and still get notifications for when someone tags me directly (when I'm actually needed). Probably not a helpful answer to your question, but I feel your pain, at any rate.

You can ignore @channel and @here on a per channel basic. It's under Notification Preferences in a channel. I think it applies to both desktop and phone though.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#6

Post by user5994461 »

intermittently wrote: post #4

I'm finding this more and more during my off hours. I wish there was a way to opt out of all @channel announcements on my phone app and still get notifications for when someone tags me directly (when I'm actually needed). Probably not a helpful answer to your question, but I feel your pain, at any rate.

Did you install slack on your phone? Never install slack on your phone.

Uninstall slack from your phone. It's a matter of life or death and I am not even kidding.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#7

Post by MikeKusold »

Turn off notifications for channels that aren't relevant to you. I have 3 channels that I get notified on every message, the vast majority only if I get mentioned, and some that have notifications disabled.

Also chastise (professionally) people that abuse @channel for things that don't warrant interrupting everyone.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#8

Post by pesfandiar »

Turn off all notifications, and let everyone else know that Slack is not the way to reach you if there's an urgent need.

Unless, of course, it's your employer's policy to be promptly responsive on Slack, in which case I'd try to change that or consider other jobs if you're required to be constantly "on-call".

Re: Ask HN: What to do when Slack gets too disruptive?

#9

Post by atmosx »

I find strange that they don't support "mute" for custom group of users, notifications or integrations.

For example, I need to receive notifications from channel #servers on my mobile, but I don't want to receive ALL notifications. I'd like to have the ability to include and exclude based on source (username, integration, etc.)

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