So, in our lab we do bio-optics (fiber-optics to shine light into a mouse brain and drive it around a cage, that kinda stuff). We tried using Slack in the lab,

So, in our lab we do bio-optics (fiber-optics to shine light into a mouse brain and drive it around a cage, that kinda stuff). We tried using Slack in the lab, a few grad-students were really pushing for it and using it. It failed miserably. Other users echo some of the reasons better but we could not pay for it (not in the budget)so our data got 'locked up' from us after ~6 months when it auto-deleted. That was not a good lab meeting to be in. We 'siloed' ourselves and it became just a crappy online lab-book that your boss could look at. So, then you have people just typing to seem like they were doing stuff and never talking to one-another. That is to say: useless. Again, not a good lab meeting to be in. Still, to the point I am replying to: We are scientists, not 'programmery' people, so that that into account when I ask these questions: What is a config? How do I set up a mailing list and then take people off it too? What is a mail filter and how do I use it? What are IRC and Zephyr? Ok, also, look, I am NOT going to make my PI or other lab mates into programmer people, most of them never took calculus nor know formal If-Then-Or-And logic trees. They do mice and cells and DNA and stuff, not electrons and motherboards and stuff. At last check, my PI has 120,000+ emails in her 'inbox' on Outlook and I don't know for certain if she actually knows what counts as spam or not or how to delete an email. If I can't explain, teach, and implement these tools in less than 45 minutes in a single lab meeting among all the Windows and Mac versions out there simultaneously with the other lab members, then forget it. It will not happen. Is there any hope? Because Slack seems so cool (and was for ~6 months before out data got deleted), and your ideas on how to implement it with email seem like they could really work well, but I mostly understand nada about it.