SLACK

Slack is a chat/forum platform that allows members to communicate and organize together. It also lets you decide the level of engagement (with your notification settings) and even what topics (channels) you want to subscribe to.

Sensitive or highly confidential topics should never be discussed on Slack.

Suffolk DSA uses the free version of Slack so it has some limitations. Only the most recent messages from the past 90 days can be viewed and searched in the free version. There are pinned messages in the various channels for important info, tho with the 90 day limit some may be inaccessible for full viewing. (if you're not sure what we're talking about when we say "pinned messages" keep reading this guide to find out!)

This is also why most every SCDSA Cm and WG have their own gmails and therefore have an attached Google Drive account for working files and projects.

Use of Suffolk DSA Slack

Before posting in SCDSA Slack please consider if posting your message to the SCDSA Slack workspace, which is a semi-public internet forum specifically for organizing within SCDSA, is the appropriate avenue for your post, and if not, please do not post it in the Suffolk DSA Slack.

SCDSA Slack is not a personal social media page nor should it be used as such.

If your message is sensitive or needs immediate attention, we recommend using the appropriate Signal group (there are SCDSA Signal Groups for active Cm & WG in SCDSA - please check SCDSA Org Chart to see the full list of active Cm and WG and their corresponding SCDSA Signal Group.)

Slack Admins

Slack Admins are the current SCDSA Leadership (you can check the SCDSA Org Chart to see who is in current Leadership positions).

If you need an admin’s attention in a specific thread, you can mention them by starting with @ and typing out their name. Admin(s) will respond as soon as they can. They may take action immediately or investigate further, and they will try to update you with actions taken if appropriate.

We want folks to feel free to speak up so issues can be addressed, but please be mindful that this virtual space is at its core a place for organizing and not an avenue to address very interpersonal conflicts (especially outside of SCDSA purview).

SCDSA leadership will try to do our best to help if we can, but please show us some grace – we are also all individuals trying to survive late stage capitalism.

If you have a concern about an admin, you can try DMing another admin with your concern.

Actions an Admins in Slack may take are the following (in order of severity):

Public warning to group of users via post in discussion thread
Private warning to user via DM
Private warning to user via DM and request the user take a short break from posting in the Slack (after deliberation with other admins)
Private warning to user via DM and removal of post (after deliberation with other admins and screen shots of the post for accountability)
Public warning to users via post, and removal of discussion (after deliberation with SCDSA Leadership for future moderation)
After repeated infractions or an action in clear violation of SCDSA IOC and/or the SCDSA Code of Conduct, removal of the user from Slack altogether and post the reasoning publicly (after deliberation with and notification by SCDSA Leadership for future moderation/accountability)

Offenses and violations of the SCDSA Code of Conduct can result in actions which may include: a mediation; an education and accountability process; a restorative justice process; temporary suspension from the local chapter meetings/events/virtual or physical organizing spaces; expulsion from the local chapter meetings/events/virtual or physical organizing spaces.

Guidelines for Posting

Below we have highlighted some relevant DSA Respectful Discussion Guidelines which should be followed in both our physical and virtual meeting spaces as well as our digital organizing space:

Assume good faith in your fellow comrades
- Encourage yourself and others to maintain a positive attitude, honor the work of others, avoid defensiveness, be open to legitimate critique and challenge oppressive behaviors in ways that help people grow. We want to “call each other in” rather than calling each other out — in other words, if you are challenging someone’s ideas or behavior, do it respectfully, and if you are being challenged, receive it respectfully. Remember, mistakes will be made, nobody is perfect.
Know whether you need to “step up” or “step back”
- Frequent posting by the same users (even in agreement with each other) – especially when aggressive – can alienate other members from joining the discussion, robbing the organizing space of voices that should be heard. However, as we are a small Slack at this point, we encourage everyone to post to their hearts content unless a discussion is getting contentious. Members should do their best to start discussions off on the “right foot” – including a lead-off article, asking questions in good faith, requesting a discussion that may invite specific examples but does not necessarily attack those specific examples.
Please W.A.I.T.; in other words ask yourself “Why Am I Talking?”
- Does your post add to the discussion by bringing in new opinions or points? Consider using emoji reactions to agree with your comrades instead of repeating another comrade’s post. Does your post escalate an already aggressive discussion? Consider how your post may come off to others in the discussion or viewing the discussion. Is your post dismissive of another poster’s opinion based on their background? Consider explaining your point of view clearly, even if only for the benefit of other members viewing the discussion.
Please recognize and respect others feelings, background, and cultural differences
- While we all don't have to agree on everything, we should respect our diversity of opinions. Recognize that everyone has a piece of the truth, everybody can learn, and everybody has the ability to teach and share something. The work DSA is doing is deeply personal for many of our members and it is important to keep that in mind when discussing our work, but it is also important to keep in mind that those criticizing work are not making personal attacks.

The political differences in DSA are a unique benefit of our organization. We want to encourage political, strategic, and tactical differences to come together to share and discuss ideas.

And we wanted to include these reminders:

We are socialists, meaning we stand up for those most oppressed by capitalism. We are committed to actively dismantling the social structures of domination and oppression. We should not engage in speech---even ironically---that reinforces systems of oppression based on gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, body size and physical appearance, disability, race, ethnicity, caste, color, religion, national origin, class, age, or profession.

We are a socialist organization, so we expect members to be socialists or leftists interested in learning more about socialism. At a minimum, we expect each other to be open-minded about socialism. We want to create a vibrant space of open debate and discussion, but we see little to be gained by engaging with apologists for capitalism, neoliberalism, and imperialism, and we will absolutely not tolerate far right-wing ideologies, such as fascism.

Getting Started

You can use Slack on mobile for iOS, Android, or Desktop in a browser window or in an app.

*Finding what works best for you is imperative to becoming comfortable with Slack*

screen shots below are Slack on a desktop (web or app)

Slack Guide

(credit to Queens DSA for much of the wording and all of the screenshots in the guide below)

Step 1

When you’re invited to join Slack, you’ll be prompted to create a user profile. Filling out this information and uploading a clear photo of yourself will help everyone to know who they’re talking to.

Step 2

Once you’ve completed your profile, you should be taken to the Suffolk DSA Slack. There is a lot of jargon associated with Slack, and we’ll get there in a minute. Before we do, let’s finish your set up in layman’s terms.

Step 3:

Customize your workspace preferences

Now that we know who you are and how you’re helping us, you’re ready to let Slack help you. An inundation of notifications of busy conversations can be overwhelming. Preventing that is easy by customizing your workspace. See more about notifications.

Finding your way arounD: Slack jargon

There are a few main keywords you’ll need to familiarize yourself with to get the most out of Slack. The more you use Slack, the more you’ll understand it.

Channels

Think of “Channels” as synonymous with “conversations,” or big topic-focused group chats. When you join the Suffolk DSA Slack, you’ll be automatically added to a few different channels, these are called default channels. The channels within our Slack workspace will be listed on the left side of the screen. You’re welcome and encouraged to join as many channels as you want. Channels are a great way to communicate on specific topics, coordinate project management, and reach out to large groups of comrades at once.

You can find out about a specific channel or what most channels are about by looking at the channel name. Specific Working Groups (WGs) and Committees (Cms) of SCDSA will have #wg- and #cm- in the first part of their channel names.

You can easily toggle between channels that you’re a part of in your left toolbar panel and “star” a favorite or frequently used channel by right-clicking on the channel you wish to star.

Suffolk DSA SLack Channel List

Bold channel names are the default channels you should automatically be in when joining Suffolk Slack, if you are not in these channels we do highly suggest joining them. Italicized channel names are the Committee/Working Group specific channels in Slack (if a channel is indented in the list below it denotes a sub-channel of a larger Cm/WG main channel).

(You can search and join any public channel by clicking on the + button -- on phone app it will be right next to the Channel header; on desktop app or in web browser it is also next to the Channel header but you will have to hover your mouse over it to see and click it)

Our public Slack channels are as follows:

#announcements
#bylaws
#canvassing-in-suburbia
#children-parents
#cm-communications
- #cm-communications-graphics
#cm-community-and-culture
#cm-membership-and-outreach
#gardening
#general-discussion
#harassment-grievance
#healthcare
#housing-justice
#labor-discussion
#mutual-aid
#non-dsa-events
#offtopic
#police-talk
#politicaleducation
#read-and-discuss
#slack-help
#socialism-and-religion
#spanish-learning
#upcoming-events
#website
#wg-electoral
- #wg-electoral-dsa4theisland

Private channels include:

Steering Committee - old steering will add new steering in transition month (between Sep-Oct chapter meetings)
Chapter Leadership - when you are voted in as chair/co-chair of a Cm/WG an admin will add you to this channel.
Finance Committee - (contact the Treasurer to join)
Membership And Outreach Intake (private channel) - the private MAO channel receives the IOC responses and is used for coordination of internal MAO activities
LI-RR - this private Slack channel is for publicly available information related to protest safety, street medic trainings/info, de-escalation trainings/info, and non-specific discussions of digital security and best practices. (once you have been vetted by the coordinators of LI-RR you will be invited to this channel.) Discussions of a more sensitive nature about protest marshaling specifics and safety plans are never had in the LI-RR Slack channel for any reason ever.

If you would like to add a private channel for a caucus or high-sensitivity team, contact a Slack admin or post in #slack-help

Threads

The Reply in thread button keeps discussions in Slack organized. Threads let you ask questions, add context, or give feedback on a specific message, all without disrupting a conversation's flow. A thread will remain connected to its original message, and only those that have contributed to it or who are following it will be notified of new replies.

Mentions

If you need to get one person’s attention, you can “mention” them in a message by prefacing their name with the @ symbol.

If you need everybody’s eyes on what you have to say, you can use “@channel” which will notify everybody who has their mention notifications turned on. If you just want to get anyone who is on Slack and currently in that channel you can also use the more gentle “@here” to try and bring attention to your post.

We recommend you use the "@channel" sparingly.

Pinned messages

Important messages can be pinned to any channel for easy reference. Pinned messages are stored in the Details section and are accessible to all members of a channel or direct message.

Pinned messages are important and should be checked when you join a new channel.

Because SCDSA uses the free version of Slack, message availability might be limited, though on desktop app or website you can see a lot of the body of a pinned post (and click on any pertinent links therein).

Direct Messages

Although most discussions in Slack happen in channels, direct messages work well for one-off conversations that don't require an entire channel to weigh in. Direct messages (DMs) are smaller conversations outside of a channel, they can be 1-on-1 conversations or a conversation between you and up to eight other people. You can find them in the left-side navigation panel, all the way to the bottom.

Learn More

This is meant as a starter guide, but there is a wealth of information about Slack just waiting to be absorbed.

Slack themselves have tons of helpful articles with visual aids to walk you through common issues and questions: https://slack.com/help/categories/360000049043

You can also find a myriad of video tutorials on Youtube, a few of which have been listed here:

Slack Overview

Channels Deepdive

Slack for Mobile

Sharing Files in Slack

Searching in Slack

Managing Notifications

TL;DR

Quick Start Guide to Slack:

On the left is the channel list
If you click the word “Channels” you can see all publicly joinable channels.
There are channels for our Committees and Working Groups and channels for most other relevant topics.
Always thread your responses to someone's post to keep our channels clean and organized (hover over the typed text and click ‘reply in thread’ button). If someone posts a picture, please create a response and thread below it.
Notifications: Click the small down-arrow next to the Slack Team name and click Preferences (desktop app and web) or click the additional options vertical ellipsis at the top right (on mobile) to adjust notification settings. You can also adjust channel-specific settings by clicking the gear icon next to the search bar in a channel (desktop and web) or the small down arrow underneath the channel title (on mobile)
Slack’s own 101 training is here

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