What do you think about adding a casual discussion forum?
One thing I’ve noticed about the slack is that there isn’t really a space to go in for casual/off-topic discussions short of directly messaging someone (even the academy lounge tends to stay relatively on-topic)?
I’m not sure we have the intention of this forum nailed down just yet, but I could get behind a space to talk with people in a more casual setting (as @dceddia said in his intro, it’s hard to find people who think the way 30x500 people do out in the wild)
I’m gonna see if there’s a way to do this and exclude that section from the “mailing list mode” email notifications.
Worst case scenario, let’s put this on the “coming soon” list once we have enough momentum to turn off mailing list mode and make it something people can easily opt in/out of. Sound good?
@carl.anderson okay I think I got this set up correctly, let’s try it out
There’s a new category in the 30x500 Students Only section called “Off Topic, etc” that you should be able to access and post to. Wanna take it for a spin?
If I got the config right, that category is muted by default which means that its topics and replies will not be sent via email (unless you change your own notification settings for the category), and it will not show up in the “latest posts” on the homepage either.
I’m doing it this way so that there is a space for the kinds of side-convos you’re talking about, but they’re less likely to create noise/distraction if you have to go looking for them.
I still would like to set some “house rules” on this channel, not to police what’s talked about but to keep folks from using it as a procrastination tool if that makes sense. Open to ideas for how we might do that, if you have any thoughts!
