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I think threading in chat apps is a terrible idea. It’s a way to merge email and chat, but chat apps like Slack aren’t really suited for such replacement imho.
by alanfranz 4y ago
I think threading in chat apps is a terrible idea. It’s a way to merge email and chat, but chat apps like Slack aren’t really suited for such replacement imho.
Why threading if there’s not much noise? And if the noise is too much, maybe a public chat is not the best idea.
on Slack, navigating a channel between “main” messages and thread messages is a nightmare, and since “main” messages are not just a subject, you spend a lot of time just reading the message.
We need something to improve email experience (where you need forwards, setting up mailing lists is slow, can’t delete/edit, etc) without resorting to a chat app for everything. A better forum-like/nntp, not a better irc.
- matklad 4y agoI would say it depends on the implementation. Slack is pretty horrible, but Zulip is the best thing ever.
- feanaro 4y agoThey're not even the same thing. The only real similarity is that they share a name. Slack threads are a tangent to a point, an aside to something said in the main timeline. Zulip threads are like forum threads, a discussion of some particular topic.
- kadoban 4y agoI don't really see the issue with it. In Slack, we have a channel for our team. In that channel we have conversations, often more than one at a time, spread out over minutes to days. Why shouldn't each conversation have its own separate thread? The only real problem(s) I have with threads in Slack are: 1. some people suck at remembering to reply in thread. This isn't too serious though, once there's more than 2 messages in the thread most people catch on 2. Slack kind of sucks at notifying you about threads. You mostly have to know to look in the "Threads" thing on the side and not rely on notifications. Neither of those are that serious or even that intrinsic to threads in chat apps in general.
- m3adow 4y agoI totally agree here. At the beginning I disliked Slack threads. But apart from the notification issue, I think the advantages of having a more focussed discussion where everything can be found in one place outweighs the disadvantages.
- dexterdog 4y agoFinding is the problem. Searching for stuff in slack is maddening.
- mikepurvis 4y agoYup, I'm enough of a fan that I wish there was a UI option to steer people away from making new top level posts, like a kind of “tick this box to confirm your post is a new subject and not a reply to an existing subject.” And maybe better tools for channel moderators to move accidental top level posts into being replies instead.
- blauditore 4y agoAlso, Slack's thread UI is terrible. If you click on a thread inside the main chat, you get this side bar, but only one thread at a time, and no way to get the same from anywhere else (e.g. from the threads notification/overview page).
- alanfranz 4y agoWhy would you use a chat app for conversations spreading over days?
- a1445c8b 4y agoThere are times when a conversation that’s important to some participants spontaneously starts in chat and it’s too disruptive to ask less interested (but important) participants to “move it to email.” Suggesting that might cause the conversation to fizzle out which the more interested parties can’t afford.
- 4y ago
- godelski 4y agoThreading makes channels far less noisy for me. Especially the larger the channel is. When is just a few people I don't need threads. But >3 they are great and help organize. The greatest thing about them is also that you don't have to use them! Slack itself has a large amount of issues beyond this. Notifications (ringing my phone hours after I answered a message or not notifying me at all). Not dropping you into threads for notifications and many other things.
- stavros 4y agoDon't conflate a bad implementation with a bad idea. Slack's threads suck, Zulip's threads are amazing and I wouldn't have it any other way.
- smcleod 4y agoThreads are an absolute must to keep the noise down and conversation relevant - at least in working environments when using apps like Slack. Not everyone has strict communication protocols or enjoys communicating succinctly, it's easier just to have one rule - start your convos as a thread.
- viccuad 4y agoThe underlying issue to me is the different velocity of different conversations between the same people in a room. Conversation 1 can be fast, with short messages and informal, Conversation 2 can be slow, with long technical messages or attached files. And all in between. Sometimes one type of convo transforms into another. And the tool should reframe it so: either by providing a schism for a new thread, changing the topic of the thread, or so. This is something that tools with N-level threads, where each message creates a new thread (technical email discussions with top posting) do very well. I wish that each message would create a new thread. And that the UX allowed to me pivot from short and informal to long and thought out messages easily. From an informal conversation of the daily, to starting a thread from a message, where we discuss a technical implementation in a long comment. And then back to someone opening an informal thread starting from a phrase of that long comment (ala document reviews).
- imtringued 4y agoWow, these chat apps are just badly reinventing ticket queues/forums but with a focus on real time communication.
- alanfranz 4y agoThat’s my point.
- alanfranz 4y agoI find slack terrible for long technical conversations. The ui is too slow, the windows are too small, they’re hard to search.