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Bye bye BetterSlack

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331–340 of 392 posts

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#331
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I... just don't do it." You mean you do not ignore cease and desist orders by principal? Why? There should be at least some criteria by which you judge which ones you can ignore and which you can't? What if they told you to cease and desist programming forever on any project because they state in their terms that once you mess with their UI with JavaScript you are not allowed to program anymore? Ridiculous right? So…

Because... I have lots of things to work on, lots of things I want to build, lots of people I want to talk with. None of them involve talking with a lawyer in a different country over something that's really not that important in my life.

> different country

If you are in a different country than US I wouldn't worry at all. I would just avoid using the name "Slack".

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#332
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what tptacek means is that when we sign up for a service, we agree to terms of use. Even if we don't sign it, it might be legally undecided as to whether that counts as a binding contract, nor whether "terminate the user's service" is the only recourse the service provider has.

In most of the world it is decided. The decision is click-wrap 'contracts' are unenforceable. Starting with the fact that they don't meet the definition of a contract.

The Wikipedia article on "clickwrap" have reference to 10 different cases clickwrap license upheld by court.

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#333
When you're spending more time/money sending cease and desist to people trying to make your product better than _actually making your product better_, you need to re-evaluate your priorities as a business.

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try using Slack in a browser on Android. It doesn't work. It does work on Firefox for Android, if you enable Request Desktop Site. It's not optimized for small screens, though.

I tried exactly that a few weeks ago and couldn't get to the messages interface.

Worksforme :)

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to literally sign something to be bound by an agreement.

> You don't have to literally sign something to be bound by an agreement. That's only in the US as far as I know, everywhere else you can't be bound by an agreement without signing anything.

This is absolutely false.

Regardless of where you are, the majority of the agreements you enter into are not only not signed, they are not even explicit (but rather implied).

Case in point: practically everytime you buy something and pay with cash, you have entered into a purchase agreement without having signed anything.

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#337
I would write back to them very politely, something like this:

Hello,

Thank you for your email. I initially reacted by pulling the extension, in fear of possible legal consequences. But on reflection I would like to propose a better solution.

There are hundreds of extensions that customise websites, in many cases to help 'power users', or to assist people with accessibility problems not provided for by the websites themselves. These extensions are often made by the websites' most avid users. A great example is the Refined GitHub extension, which GitHub itself has embraced as a proving ground and source of inspiration for new official features. [1][2]

That said, it is of course vital that people understand that such extensions are unofficial, and that they are unsupported and not endorsed by the website owner.

I would like to notify you of my intent to republish my extension with the changes outlined below, which I hope will satisfy your concerns.

• New extension title: "BetterSlack: Unofficial customizations for Slack"

• Modify store description to include an explicit warning that installation and use of the extension is at your own risk, and is not endorsed in any way by Slack, and that Slack offers no support for it.

In the interests of transparency I will publish all of our correspondence on my blog, as I think this is an important issue of interest to the wider community concerning the rights of individuals to control their own computers and customise their own experiences.

Best regards,

...

[1] https://github.com/sindresorhus/refined-github/issues/1469 [2] https://blog.github.com/2018-08-28-announcing-paper-cuts/

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read that as "Get Even Bot." Which would be a cool slack bot service as well...

That's a great idea! Hmm, I wonder what the Slack equivalent of glitter bombs are... emoji bombs?

A browser plugin that changes all applicable text to their respective emoji.

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#339
post #236
post #44

One of the nicest cease and desist letters I've ever seen. I think what they're asking in the name change is more than fair, and providing guidence on changing the functionality to comply with their api seems like a good approach. Kuddos to Slack legal for keeping the matter human and civil.

Agree. Was about to post the same. The name was always going to be an issue when the extension got traction and publicity (via HN etc). And the issues with script injection will always be an issue. But that is not a Legal department decision. They simply will be told to write the C&D letter. And this letter was the most polite and flexible I have seen. Usually, other companies' C&Ds are totally inflexible, technicall…

> Slack's legal department has done their job

Interestingly Slack's trademark only covers usage of the name for:

'downloadable mobile application'

https://www.trademarkia.com/slack-86639051.html

Which would seem to leave web-based non-mobile scope open.

Re: Bye bye BetterSlack

#340
post #310

At GitHub, we faced the same issue when ZenHub [1] came out with their chrome extension. While, Slack is well within their rights to _ask_ you not to modify their user experience, it's short sighted of them to do so. With ZenHub, we worked with them even closer because we saw that our users were happier using GitHub + ZenHub. We made it super clear that UI changes would likely break their app but that would be a risk…

Worth mentioning that github ended killing ZenHub, by introducing github projects, which is essentially copycat of the only useful feature ZenHub had.

Remind me of f.lux on MacOS and iOS
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