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Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

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Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#41

Post by exogeny »

breeny592 wrote: post #21
jakebasile wrote: post #19

Reading their non-replies on Twitter feels like I'm reading something specifically designed to piss me off. Smarmy apologies, low empathy, cocksure of how correct their vision of a chat service should be. This one in particular[1]: > The goal is for workflows to evolve, but we realize change can be a bit of a pain. "Stupid peasant, we are only here to help you. Once you see the glorious vision we have you will thank…

Smells of bad UX/design process - some senior "wants" this particular solution, despite their users showing direct feedback that it doesn't work for their needs.

I'd push back on your last point; there's a zero-sum feedback process here that is invisible. You're seeing the negative feedback from a vocal set of minority power users; the positive feedback from people isn't going to be known or seen in anything other than usage metrics.

You say "users": how many, what percentage, what cohort..you get the idea.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#42

Post by p1necone »

jakebasile wrote: post #19

Reading their non-replies on Twitter feels like I'm reading something specifically designed to piss me off. Smarmy apologies, low empathy, cocksure of how correct their vision of a chat service should be. This one in particular[1]: > The goal is for workflows to evolve, but we realize change can be a bit of a pain. "Stupid peasant, we are only here to help you. Once you see the glorious vision we have you will thank…

It reads more to me like whoever they hire to run their twitter doesn't have the authority/knowledge to engage with complaints other than being nice and saying "I'll pass that on". This would be fine normally, but not really when they've shipped a feature that everyone hates.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#43

Post by bovermyer »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #22

lol product managers are such a bane for tech companies. they have to keep shipping features which no ones wants but they have to show they came up with and are shipping something. i think tech companies should try and avoid product managers and designers for as long as possible.

This sounds like you've never had a good one.

A good product manager can make a world of difference.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#44

Post by Aeolun »

exogeny wrote: post #41
breeny592 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smells of bad UX/design process - some senior "wants" this particular solution, despite their users showing direct feedback that it doesn't work for their needs.

I'd push back on your last point; there's a zero-sum feedback process here that is invisible. You're seeing the negative feedback from a vocal set of minority power users; the positive feedback from people isn't going to be known or seen in anything other than usage metrics. You say "users": how many, what percentage, what cohort..you get the idea.

I somehow doubt a lot of people are going to be happy about a rich text editor that doesn’t work.

A bit like the teams editor, which was forced upon me and is absolutely horrendous.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#45

Post by Tade0 »

As someone who used to be part of a team developing one of the most popular in-browser WYSIWYG editors:

1. Browser WYSIWYGs are really hard to make.

2. All browser WYSIWYGs are terrible.

Avoid rolling your own WYSIWYG if you can. Even if you have a team of 1500 people at your disposal.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#46

Post by guessmyname »

This is funny because I work across the street of Slack’s office in Vancouver, Canada and two Slack engineers who I frequently chat with during our daily commute already told me they —and a handful of other employees— hate the WYSIWYG input box too, but were afraid to express their feelings because their role is irrelevant compared to the people who made the decision to ship it.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#47

Post by ajkjk »

The funny thing is that I am sure most of the people who work at slack know it's terrible, but no one asks them. There is a small cohort of product managers who probably have a plausible-sounding reason to do it, and they need to do something to justify their jobs, so they alienate everybody else because no one stops them.

I am, to put it lightly, familiar with this in other companies.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#48

Post by rdhatt »

You can submit feedback to Slack using "/feedback" command. The nice thing it appears they have real people give you real replies. I encourage people to use it.

I asked them for the option to turn it off. An excerpt from their response.

> ... we understand that this has caused a disruption in workflows for some of our more technical users. While we don't have any active plans to make this configurable at the moment, we are in the process of collecting user feedback so that we can find a way to make it work for everyone.

I'll be sending this as my follow-up.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#49

Post by jakebasile »

p1necone wrote: post #42
jakebasile wrote: post #19

Reading their non-replies on Twitter feels like I'm reading something specifically designed to piss me off. Smarmy apologies, low empathy, cocksure of how correct their vision of a chat service should be. This one in particular[1]: > The goal is for workflows to evolve, but we realize change can be a bit of a pain. "Stupid peasant, we are only here to help you. Once you see the glorious vision we have you will thank…

It reads more to me like whoever they hire to run their twitter doesn't have the authority/knowledge to engage with complaints other than being nice and saying "I'll pass that on". This would be fine normally, but not really when they've shipped a feature that everyone hates.

I know. I try to give the social media people leeway since they're almost always just the messengers. This thread in particular just seemed laser targeted to aggravate me.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#50

Post by livueta »

Specific bug gripes aside: I see this editor as emblematic of Slack's broader shift away from what I think it should be (primarily synchronous chat; irc with a friendlier ui and integrated bouncer features) towards what many people seem to want to use it as (async-heavy pseudo-replacement for email where I get to sit and watch the "...is typing" indicator flicker while somebody writes an essay at me).

My rule of thumb generally is: if I need significant rich text formatting in a message I'm writing, it should probably just be an email.

I feel like this increasing hybridization of sync/async comms is largely counterproductive and especially harmful to work-life balance, so it's unfortunate that companies like Slack are apparently unable to focus on core competencies and instead must shoot for disruptive growth via poorly-executed junk like this editor.

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