> I never truly understand issues people have with these things. I tune my notifications as to avoid true interruptions and filter most false positives by quick

> I never truly understand issues people have with these things. I tune my notifications as to avoid true interruptions and filter most false positives by quick looking. You've answered your own question. The product is distracting by default. The savvy user can cut down on the distractions by configuring notifications, teaching themselves how to scan messages, etc., but if there's one thing we know from 70 years of writing software it's that most users accept whatever defaults you give them. Sometimes that's because they don't know they can reconfigure the software; sometimes it's because they do know they can reconfigure it, but can't figure out how; sometimes it's because they know how to reconfigure it, but are too busy with other things to do so. But the underlying reason doesn't really matter, what matters is the general effect: the default experience the software provides is the experience that most users are going to have with it. And with Slack, the default experience is distracting. > Even then, come on, I cannot believe experience hasn’t taught most of you how to handle quick interruptions. How many threads have been posted on HN complaining about things that take programmers out of their state of "flow"? How many programmers have you met who are happy to hear their phone ring when they're working? > There are true interruptions like constant notifications, people physically talking to you about other things, and stuff, that while you cannot really tune them all out, you should be able to handle better with 2-3 years of experience. 2-3 years studded with bouts of lost productivity is a lot of lost productivity. A product that tells me my life is "only" going to suck for 2-3 years while I learn how to use it is not a product I am going to be thrilled to use.