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My coworker wrote a bot for Slack that spams most of our channels with random gifs throughout the day. Most of my other coworkers find it amusing, but to me, it

My coworker wrote a bot for Slack that spams most of our channels with random gifs throughout the day. Most of my other coworkers find it amusing, but to me, it's quite distracting. I opened an issue with Slack to ask them to add an "ignore" feature, but they responded that ignoring anyone is counterproductive so they won't be adding it. Thanks, Slack.

eloisius 6y ago
Luckily my company does not have this problem but I’ve felt it before. I will leave channels that turn into distractions like that.
taneq 6y ago
Write a bot to raise random requests for an "ignore" feature with them throughout the day until they get the message. ;)
- leesalminen 6y ago
  Support ticket systems (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom...) definitely have an “ignore” feature.
ashtonkem 6y ago
Slack fails to meet the bar of functionality set by Outlook 97. This isn’t a compliment to Outlook.
JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
Just close the app then, right? Does your job obligate you to be on Slack all the time, probably not. You get more time back, and deliver more value to your company's business.
- colinmhayes 6y ago
  Many jobs do require Slack open all the time. At my job that's the entire point, if it can wait send an email, if it needs attention now, slack. People get upset if you don't respond within 5 minutes, even if it's just to say I'll get back to you.
  - u801e 6y ago
    Not in my experience. I never bothered enabling notifications from Slack. I can only tell if I received a message if I actually see the red mark on the pinned tab's favicon. Sometimes I don't get back to people for 10 to 15 minutes and they've never complained about it.
    - c00ls0sa 6y ago
      Okay, back to the people who need Slack open for their jobs. Not being able to mute or suppress doesn't necessarily need HR if everybody thinks it's quirky and harmless fun. You're then the odd man out and ostracized for trying to do your job efficiently - it's pretty bogus, but until some HN user decides to create a new messaging channel. It's gotten to the point where people will avoid seeing you in person but just as quickly ask if you "got that slack" the second they do. It's like e-mail but now you're expected to have it on your phone, home computer, work computer - never a chance to say "no" because you didn't feel like reading it at the time even as it's 9 pm on a Monday night. It's invasive and turns work banter into privatized logs of discussion - from an entry level POV this is terrible.
      - u801e 6y ago
        > Okay, back to the people who need Slack open for their jobs. It's a requirement at my job, but no one is required to respond right away. Just in a reasonable time frame. Sometimes I have to wait 15 to 30 minutes before I get a response to a message and it's similar to how long people may wait for me to respond to them. > It's gotten to the point where people will avoid seeing you in person but just as quickly ask if you "got that slack" Before we had to start working from home, people would typically come to my desk to talk if they wanted me to look at something. If it was someone from another office, the same time frame as I described earlier for replying to a message was perfectly fine and no one complained about it. We've been using Slack for 2 years at my workplace. > It's like e-mail but now you're expected to have it on your phone, home computer, work computer I actually use an older smartphone that won't work with Slack (Nokia N9). It used to work when Slack had an IRC gateway, but not now. I also tell my employer that I refuse to install any work related software on my personal devices and they're fine with that. If it was that important, then they can provide me with company issued devices. So far, they haven't bothered. As for notifications, it's up to you if you want to enable them and it applies to any type of chat client, not just Slack. I prefer just checking it periodically during work hours and any messages that I receive, I'll reply when I check for them. What you describe is a problem at the business level as opposed to a specific chat client. For me, I would rather use a less resource intensive IM framework like IRC over Slack, mainly because it's a resource hog and frequently has significant UI lag when running it in a Firefox tab (to the point where I have to wait 3 to 5 seconds for text I type to show up on the screen).
- Minor49er 6y ago
  I wish it was that simple. Questions and alerts come up frequently, and people expect as close to a real-time response as they can get.
  - unethical_ban 6y ago
    If you are having trouble with distracting conversation or bots, but are expected to work in the channel, I would consider it the same as any in-person distraction. Loud music, nerf guns, shouting or laughing in an open office. You could politely ask them to turn it off. Or you could mute notifications except for @mentions and @all and tell them to use that if they need you.
paxys 6y ago
Frustrating, but I agree with Slack here. It isn't their job to police the behavior of your coworkers. Maybe try talking to the person directly? Or their boss? Or HR?
- kortilla 6y ago
  This is a basic feature of every other communication platform.
  - donatj 6y ago
    Blocking people within your own company is just adding dysfunction to the company. If it gets to that point where someone is justifiably blocked by someone else (harassment, etc) HR should get involved and someone should be fired.
- Falkon1313 6y ago
  They don't need to police anyone. It would be you deciding who/what you choose to mute. They give you the ability to mute channels, but not to mute bots. It should be something they could add. My company's approach is just that bot posts go in their own dedicated channels that anyone can mute or watch as they see fit. That works ok for us. But it doesn't give someone that option in a company that allows bot posts in any channel.
  - paxys 6y ago
    I'm pretty sure you can mute bots, since they are just like any other user (right click on bot DM -> mute conversation). Or you can mute/leave the channel itself. You can also hide images/GIFs posted in channels by default.
    - detaro 6y ago
      Neither of the options you describe mutes the bot when posting in a channel, which was the feature asked about.
- 6y ago
syndacks 6y ago
I also looked into blocking people on Slack but it's 'antithetical' to their whole mission or whatever, so I went this route: https://github.com/ketanbhatt/block-slack-users https://github.com/ketanbhatt/block-slack-users
userbinator 6y ago
wrote a bot for Slack that spams most of our channels with random gifs throughout the day I am surprised that sort of behaviour is even allowed. The places I've worked would've probably given such an employee a very strong reprimand. Then again, they've also had clear policies about not... slacking off with the company's resources. That said, there are a few thirdparty clients; you might like the text-only ones: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20500880 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20500880
AceyMan 6y ago
I've got a good eye for UX and have sent several improvements / feature adds via the /feedback mechanism. (I was one of the earliest complainers about the WYSIWYG fiasco, for ex.) For everything I've suggested they have some inane response tantamount to "that would allow users to do something that we decided no one should need to do." Their Product Engineers are shamefully obtuse is the vibe I get.
ViViDboarder 6y ago
Maybe raise an issue with your companies Slack admins to kick the bot.
- vbsteven 6y ago
  In many smaller companies the person who added this bot is the slack admin.
  - tester34 6y ago
    "Hey, could you get rid of that annoying bot that's distracting people with its spam?"
Akababa 6y ago
Have you talked to the person who made the not? They might not realize how distracting it is. Maybe they'll move it to another channel as a compromise.
tester34 6y ago
"Hey, could you get rid of that annoying bot that's distracting people with its spam?"
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
sdflhasjd 6y ago
Hmm, you may be talking about me. Oops. Really though, having the ability to ignore _bots_ would be quite useful, a lot of noise comes from bots that might be useful to some of my coworkers, but not others, even in the same channel. And also ignoring highlights from particular people too

eloisius 6y ago

Luckily my company does not have this problem but I’ve felt it before. I will leave channels that turn into distractions like that.

taneq 6y ago

Write a bot to raise random requests for an "ignore" feature with them throughout the day until they get the message. ;)

leesalminen 6y ago
Support ticket systems (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom...) definitely have an “ignore” feature.

ashtonkem 6y ago

Slack fails to meet the bar of functionality set by Outlook 97. This isn’t a compliment to Outlook.

JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago

Just close the app then, right? Does your job obligate you to be on Slack all the time, probably not. You get more time back, and deliver more value to your company's business.

colinmhayes 6y ago
Many jobs do require Slack open all the time. At my job that's the entire point, if it can wait send an email, if it needs attention now, slack. People get upset if you don't respond within 5 minutes, even if it's just to say I'll get back to you.
- u801e 6y ago
  Not in my experience. I never bothered enabling notifications from Slack. I can only tell if I received a message if I actually see the red mark on the pinned tab's favicon. Sometimes I don't get back to people for 10 to 15 minutes and they've never complained about it.
  - c00ls0sa 6y ago
    Okay, back to the people who need Slack open for their jobs. Not being able to mute or suppress doesn't necessarily need HR if everybody thinks it's quirky and harmless fun. You're then the odd man out and ostracized for trying to do your job efficiently - it's pretty bogus, but until some HN user decides to create a new messaging channel. It's gotten to the point where people will avoid seeing you in person but just as quickly ask if you "got that slack" the second they do. It's like e-mail but now you're expected to have it on your phone, home computer, work computer - never a chance to say "no" because you didn't feel like reading it at the time even as it's 9 pm on a Monday night. It's invasive and turns work banter into privatized logs of discussion - from an entry level POV this is terrible.
    - u801e 6y ago
      > Okay, back to the people who need Slack open for their jobs. It's a requirement at my job, but no one is required to respond right away. Just in a reasonable time frame. Sometimes I have to wait 15 to 30 minutes before I get a response to a message and it's similar to how long people may wait for me to respond to them. > It's gotten to the point where people will avoid seeing you in person but just as quickly ask if you "got that slack" Before we had to start working from home, people would typically come to my desk to talk if they wanted me to look at something. If it was someone from another office, the same time frame as I described earlier for replying to a message was perfectly fine and no one complained about it. We've been using Slack for 2 years at my workplace. > It's like e-mail but now you're expected to have it on your phone, home computer, work computer I actually use an older smartphone that won't work with Slack (Nokia N9). It used to work when Slack had an IRC gateway, but not now. I also tell my employer that I refuse to install any work related software on my personal devices and they're fine with that. If it was that important, then they can provide me with company issued devices. So far, they haven't bothered. As for notifications, it's up to you if you want to enable them and it applies to any type of chat client, not just Slack. I prefer just checking it periodically during work hours and any messages that I receive, I'll reply when I check for them. What you describe is a problem at the business level as opposed to a specific chat client. For me, I would rather use a less resource intensive IM framework like IRC over Slack, mainly because it's a resource hog and frequently has significant UI lag when running it in a Firefox tab (to the point where I have to wait 3 to 5 seconds for text I type to show up on the screen).
Minor49er 6y ago
I wish it was that simple. Questions and alerts come up frequently, and people expect as close to a real-time response as they can get.
- unethical_ban 6y ago
  If you are having trouble with distracting conversation or bots, but are expected to work in the channel, I would consider it the same as any in-person distraction. Loud music, nerf guns, shouting or laughing in an open office. You could politely ask them to turn it off. Or you could mute notifications except for @mentions and @all and tell them to use that if they need you.

paxys 6y ago

Frustrating, but I agree with Slack here. It isn't their job to police the behavior of your coworkers. Maybe try talking to the person directly? Or their boss? Or HR?

kortilla 6y ago
This is a basic feature of every other communication platform.
- donatj 6y ago
  Blocking people within your own company is just adding dysfunction to the company. If it gets to that point where someone is justifiably blocked by someone else (harassment, etc) HR should get involved and someone should be fired.
Falkon1313 6y ago
They don't need to police anyone. It would be you deciding who/what you choose to mute. They give you the ability to mute channels, but not to mute bots. It should be something they could add. My company's approach is just that bot posts go in their own dedicated channels that anyone can mute or watch as they see fit. That works ok for us. But it doesn't give someone that option in a company that allows bot posts in any channel.
- paxys 6y ago
  I'm pretty sure you can mute bots, since they are just like any other user (right click on bot DM -> mute conversation). Or you can mute/leave the channel itself. You can also hide images/GIFs posted in channels by default.
  - detaro 6y ago
    Neither of the options you describe mutes the bot when posting in a channel, which was the feature asked about.
6y ago

syndacks 6y ago

I also looked into blocking people on Slack but it's 'antithetical' to their whole mission or whatever, so I went this route: https://github.com/ketanbhatt/block-slack-users https://github.com/ketanbhatt/block-slack-users

userbinator 6y ago

wrote a bot for Slack that spams most of our channels with random gifs throughout the day I am surprised that sort of behaviour is even allowed. The places I've worked would've probably given such an employee a very strong reprimand. Then again, they've also had clear policies about not... slacking off with the company's resources. That said, there are a few thirdparty clients; you might like the text-only ones: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20500880 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20500880

AceyMan 6y ago

I've got a good eye for UX and have sent several improvements / feature adds via the /feedback mechanism. (I was one of the earliest complainers about the WYSIWYG fiasco, for ex.) For everything I've suggested they have some inane response tantamount to "that would allow users to do something that we decided no one should need to do." Their Product Engineers are shamefully obtuse is the vibe I get.

ViViDboarder 6y ago

Maybe raise an issue with your companies Slack admins to kick the bot.

vbsteven 6y ago
In many smaller companies the person who added this bot is the slack admin.
- tester34 6y ago
  "Hey, could you get rid of that annoying bot that's distracting people with its spam?"

Akababa 6y ago

Have you talked to the person who made the not? They might not realize how distracting it is. Maybe they'll move it to another channel as a compromise.

tester34 6y ago

"Hey, could you get rid of that annoying bot that's distracting people with its spam?"

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

sdflhasjd 6y ago

Hmm, you may be talking about me. Oops. Really though, having the ability to ignore _bots_ would be quite useful, a lot of noise comes from bots that might be useful to some of my coworkers, but not others, even in the same channel. And also ignoring highlights from particular people too