7 ms·

Not even close. Slack regularly screws up text, harfs on things, and does generally not-IRC things. Overall Slack's interface is terrible and does not seem to

by Washuu 10y ago

Not even close. Slack regularly screws up text, harfs on things, and does generally not-IRC things. Overall Slack's interface is terrible and does not seem to have been tested by anyone who has regularly used chat interfaces in the past.

_joel 10y ago
And it's a close-walled garden, not anything like what the internet elders envisaged. IRC is a protocol. Slack is a product. AFAIK, you can't spin up your own slack service and run your own private slack (happy to be corrected)
- coldpie 10y ago
  You're right. We were looking for an internal chat solution for our company. Currently we use IRC, but it would be nice to have an offline mechanism so we don't need to run IRC bouncers or CLI clients on our servers to receive messages when we're not in the office. We considered Slack, but decided it was too risky to host our internal communications on someone else's service. I'm waiting for the day Slack has a huge data breach. We're currently considering adding some sort of backscroll support to IRC (maybe automatically setting up proxies for users), or installing Rocket Chat or HipChat on a local server.
  - pedoh 10y ago
    Mattermost might fit the bill. I haven't used it, personally. https://www.mattermost.org/features/ https://www.mattermost.org/features/
    - bonzini 10y ago
      One issue we had with Mattermost is that some authentication modules (e.g. OAuth) are not part of the free core. Rocket Chat does not have this issue, though the mobile app is a bit less polished.
      - engelgabriel 10y ago
        Hi, we agree, and that's why we are about to launch brand new native apps for iOS and Android. Let me know if you'd like to join the beta testers.
        bonzini 10y ago
        Yes, with pleasure!
    - it33 10y ago
      For those who haven't tried it, here's a video of how Eclipse Foundation uses Mattermost as an open source, self-hosted Slack-alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeNFJnCfcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeNFJnCfcg While there's not yet C64 support, Mattermost connects to IRC, Slack, Gitter, Discord, Telegram and HipChat using Matterbridge (https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge). In terms of features, the Mattermost community has added quite a few that aren't available in Slack--markdown support, multi-team accounts, threaded messaging, etc.: https://www.mattermost.org/what-slack-might-learn-from-its-open-source-alternative/ https://www.mattermost.org/what-slack-might-learn-from-its-o... Mattermost deploys as a single Linux binary with MySQL or Postgres and you control everything.
  - aeroevan 10y ago
    I haven't setup a matrix.org server (yet), but it's looking like a good next gen IRC with good bridges into IRC and other chat services.
PhasmaFelis 10y ago
Slack is a program created 13 years into the 21st century that does not understand either hyperlinks or WYSIWYG. It's boggling.
- flukus 10y ago
  The web doesn't handle WYSIWYG formatting.
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    Of course it does, if a programmer bothers to take the time to add it. Slack is a glorified instant message service, and instant message clients have been handling WYSIWYG for a couple of decades now.
    - flukus 10y ago
      So you think it's fine for me to type out a nicely formatted wall of text on a desktop that mobile users have to scroll to read?
      - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
        I'm thinking of the handful of formatting that Slack already supports, but only via weird markup. Text entry apps have been using Ctrl-I for italics for at least 25 years. I shouldn't have to remember whether this retrograde webapp expects me to wrap italicized text in underscores, asterisks, or slashes. This kind of thing can also be annoying in sites like Hacker News--e.g. when I try to use an actual asterisk a couple of times and the damn thing italicizes a big random chunk of my post instead--but HN at least has the excuse of a consciously minimal interface. Slack coats itself in slick, modern UI but makes you type emphasis like it was Usenet. It shoves giant obtrusive thumbnails into the chat every time someone posts a URL, but doesn't let you make an actual hyperlink. It's minimal where it should be complex, and complex where it should be minimal.

by Washuu 10y ago

_joel 10y ago

And it's a close-walled garden, not anything like what the internet elders envisaged. IRC is a protocol. Slack is a product. AFAIK, you can't spin up your own slack service and run your own private slack (happy to be corrected)

coldpie 10y ago
You're right. We were looking for an internal chat solution for our company. Currently we use IRC, but it would be nice to have an offline mechanism so we don't need to run IRC bouncers or CLI clients on our servers to receive messages when we're not in the office. We considered Slack, but decided it was too risky to host our internal communications on someone else's service. I'm waiting for the day Slack has a huge data breach. We're currently considering adding some sort of backscroll support to IRC (maybe automatically setting up proxies for users), or installing Rocket Chat or HipChat on a local server.
- pedoh 10y ago
  Mattermost might fit the bill. I haven't used it, personally. https://www.mattermost.org/features/ https://www.mattermost.org/features/
  - bonzini 10y ago
    One issue we had with Mattermost is that some authentication modules (e.g. OAuth) are not part of the free core. Rocket Chat does not have this issue, though the mobile app is a bit less polished.
    - engelgabriel 10y ago
      Hi, we agree, and that's why we are about to launch brand new native apps for iOS and Android. Let me know if you'd like to join the beta testers.
      - bonzini 10y ago
        Yes, with pleasure!
  - it33 10y ago
    For those who haven't tried it, here's a video of how Eclipse Foundation uses Mattermost as an open source, self-hosted Slack-alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeNFJnCfcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeNFJnCfcg While there's not yet C64 support, Mattermost connects to IRC, Slack, Gitter, Discord, Telegram and HipChat using Matterbridge (https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge). In terms of features, the Mattermost community has added quite a few that aren't available in Slack--markdown support, multi-team accounts, threaded messaging, etc.: https://www.mattermost.org/what-slack-might-learn-from-its-open-source-alternative/ https://www.mattermost.org/what-slack-might-learn-from-its-o... Mattermost deploys as a single Linux binary with MySQL or Postgres and you control everything.
- aeroevan 10y ago
  I haven't setup a matrix.org server (yet), but it's looking like a good next gen IRC with good bridges into IRC and other chat services.

PhasmaFelis 10y ago

Slack is a program created 13 years into the 21st century that does not understand either hyperlinks or WYSIWYG. It's boggling.

flukus 10y ago
The web doesn't handle WYSIWYG formatting.
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  Of course it does, if a programmer bothers to take the time to add it. Slack is a glorified instant message service, and instant message clients have been handling WYSIWYG for a couple of decades now.
  - flukus 10y ago
    So you think it's fine for me to type out a nicely formatted wall of text on a desktop that mobile users have to scroll to read?
    - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
      I'm thinking of the handful of formatting that Slack already supports, but only via weird markup. Text entry apps have been using Ctrl-I for italics for at least 25 years. I shouldn't have to remember whether this retrograde webapp expects me to wrap italicized text in underscores, asterisks, or slashes. This kind of thing can also be annoying in sites like Hacker News--e.g. when I try to use an actual asterisk a couple of times and the damn thing italicizes a big random chunk of my post instead--but HN at least has the excuse of a consciously minimal interface. Slack coats itself in slick, modern UI but makes you type emphasis like it was Usenet. It shoves giant obtrusive thumbnails into the chat every time someone posts a URL, but doesn't let you make an actual hyperlink. It's minimal where it should be complex, and complex where it should be minimal.