3 ms·

We want modern and good features. That's why we use slack. We say this every time one of these IRC threads shows up.

by WilliamEdward 7y ago

ryeguy_24 7y ago
What modern/good features do you like the most? (i.e. what are the things that draw you to Slack)
- afarrell 7y ago
  The biggest feature for me of Slack is newlines. The ability to break up a piece of text visually so that I can structure a complex question or explanation for more readability is incredibly valuable.
- WilliamEdward 7y ago
  Going through the list of nuances would take a while, but i think it's fairly easy to see just how different IRC is to Slack from the get go. For one, setup is stupid easy compared to IRC. Making a server? Click of a button. It comes with a bot. I can add people directly. I get the feeling you or someone is going to use this to argue how all of this can be achieved on IRC in some way, but it's just too much work. If you're someone who is trying to make open source chatting cool again, please respect opinions like mine regardless of how stupid you think they are. If IRC isnt at least as easy to use as Slack, i'm not using it for the same things.
  - astazangasta 7y ago
    Yeah, we get it, you're lazy, can't be arsed, you want someone else to do the work. We like configurability, decentralization, freedom of choice. We are different people. We will never agree. I suspect your kind outnumbers my kind by about 99 to 1.
    - afarrell 7y ago
      > we get it, you’re lazy If another user asks a question, and you are apathetic or bored of the answers to that question, thats fine. You’re allowed to have different preferences and not obligated to care about others’ preferences. But I implore you not to respond with an insult to an answerer as if they’d barged in with an unsolicited opinion.
    - WilliamEdward 7y ago
      Yup. This was the exact reaction I expected to see on HN. Somehow, you're never welcome if you ever take an easy approach. I'm sorry i don't force feed myself nails for breakfast to get an extra dose of iron like you do, but forgive me for thinking there must be some sort of way where you can have both open source AND modern features! Wow, what a new concept for you hackers who just can't help but do everything the hard way even if it's totally unnecessary. For what it's worth, I do some things the hard way. I like digging into the nitty gritty. I'm not a different species. The fact that you think I am is the reason you'd never get any middle ground accomplished. Being "outnumbered 99 to 1" not only reveals how you think of yourself as some kind of victim, but also implies that you exist in some strange reality where being in the minority is the 'right' side to be on. Funny, usually it's the opposite. I just don't get it. Why, why can't we have both? Why is decentralised, open source, configurable, modern and easy impossible to achieve all at once?
      - afarrell 7y ago
        https://zulipchat.com/ https://zulipchat.com/ Is open source and has lots of modern features like support for threading.
      - astazangasta 7y ago
        It isn't impossible. It just isn't Slack. Slack is a service offered by a private company. You want to have it easy by consuming a service; I want to slog through the mess of setting up things. One of these things is on the path to "decentralised, open source, configurable, modern and easy". The other is not. I leave it to you to ponder which is which.
      - 7y ago
  - anilakar 7y ago
    You're not "making a server" when you set up a Slack or Discord workspace, no matter what they want you to believe.
- skocznymroczny 7y ago
  Chat history, ability to message people who are offline at the moment, sharing images/videos, no NickServ weird identification, no weird permission systems, no splits
  - bpye 7y ago
    A bouncer resolves many of these issues or you could use Matrix. It feels like dropping IRC entirely is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
    - lmm 7y ago
      > A bouncer resolves many of these issues Then you have to pay for a server and you have to admin that. > or you could use Matrix Sure. I wish Matrix well, and I hope they one day reach the point where they can beat Slack or Discord on the polish front. > It feels like dropping IRC entirely is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater. What baby are you throwing out? I appreciate that these services are proprietary but there's so little lockin in practice that I struggle to care. My gang already switched from Axon to Skype to Mumble to Discord, if and when Discord becomes onerous then we'll move again. Perhaps even to IRC. But for the time being, UX matters and IRC's remains extremely poor.
  - znpy 7y ago
    For chat history you might want to look at services like irccloud or host something like “thelounge” (which is awesome).
29athrowaway 7y ago
Slack = Electron = over 1 GB of RAM.

We want modern and good features. That's why we use slack. We say this every time one of these IRC threads shows up.

ryeguy_24 7y ago

What modern/good features do you like the most? (i.e. what are the things that draw you to Slack)

afarrell 7y ago
The biggest feature for me of Slack is newlines. The ability to break up a piece of text visually so that I can structure a complex question or explanation for more readability is incredibly valuable.
WilliamEdward 7y ago
Going through the list of nuances would take a while, but i think it's fairly easy to see just how different IRC is to Slack from the get go. For one, setup is stupid easy compared to IRC. Making a server? Click of a button. It comes with a bot. I can add people directly. I get the feeling you or someone is going to use this to argue how all of this can be achieved on IRC in some way, but it's just too much work. If you're someone who is trying to make open source chatting cool again, please respect opinions like mine regardless of how stupid you think they are. If IRC isnt at least as easy to use as Slack, i'm not using it for the same things.
- astazangasta 7y ago
  Yeah, we get it, you're lazy, can't be arsed, you want someone else to do the work. We like configurability, decentralization, freedom of choice. We are different people. We will never agree. I suspect your kind outnumbers my kind by about 99 to 1.
  - afarrell 7y ago
    > we get it, you’re lazy If another user asks a question, and you are apathetic or bored of the answers to that question, thats fine. You’re allowed to have different preferences and not obligated to care about others’ preferences. But I implore you not to respond with an insult to an answerer as if they’d barged in with an unsolicited opinion.
  - WilliamEdward 7y ago
    Yup. This was the exact reaction I expected to see on HN. Somehow, you're never welcome if you ever take an easy approach. I'm sorry i don't force feed myself nails for breakfast to get an extra dose of iron like you do, but forgive me for thinking there must be some sort of way where you can have both open source AND modern features! Wow, what a new concept for you hackers who just can't help but do everything the hard way even if it's totally unnecessary. For what it's worth, I do some things the hard way. I like digging into the nitty gritty. I'm not a different species. The fact that you think I am is the reason you'd never get any middle ground accomplished. Being "outnumbered 99 to 1" not only reveals how you think of yourself as some kind of victim, but also implies that you exist in some strange reality where being in the minority is the 'right' side to be on. Funny, usually it's the opposite. I just don't get it. Why, why can't we have both? Why is decentralised, open source, configurable, modern and easy impossible to achieve all at once?
    - afarrell 7y ago
      https://zulipchat.com/ https://zulipchat.com/ Is open source and has lots of modern features like support for threading.
    - astazangasta 7y ago
      It isn't impossible. It just isn't Slack. Slack is a service offered by a private company. You want to have it easy by consuming a service; I want to slog through the mess of setting up things. One of these things is on the path to "decentralised, open source, configurable, modern and easy". The other is not. I leave it to you to ponder which is which.
    - 7y ago
- anilakar 7y ago
  You're not "making a server" when you set up a Slack or Discord workspace, no matter what they want you to believe.
skocznymroczny 7y ago
Chat history, ability to message people who are offline at the moment, sharing images/videos, no NickServ weird identification, no weird permission systems, no splits
- bpye 7y ago
  A bouncer resolves many of these issues or you could use Matrix. It feels like dropping IRC entirely is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
  - lmm 7y ago
    > A bouncer resolves many of these issues Then you have to pay for a server and you have to admin that. > or you could use Matrix Sure. I wish Matrix well, and I hope they one day reach the point where they can beat Slack or Discord on the polish front. > It feels like dropping IRC entirely is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater. What baby are you throwing out? I appreciate that these services are proprietary but there's so little lockin in practice that I struggle to care. My gang already switched from Axon to Skype to Mumble to Discord, if and when Discord becomes onerous then we'll move again. Perhaps even to IRC. But for the time being, UX matters and IRC's remains extremely poor.
- znpy 7y ago
  For chat history you might want to look at services like irccloud or host something like “thelounge” (which is awesome).

29athrowaway 7y ago

Slack = Electron = over 1 GB of RAM.