from Hacker News

Tell HN: Slack Becomes Noisier

by pesfandiar on 10/12/23, 11:28 PM with 2 comments

Just got the new UI design for Slack. They seem to have combined "activity" and "notification" indicators on the desktop app icon and the browser tab.

My app's notification count went from 0 to 84 suddenly. Now a missed direct message and every little activity (the 100th reply on a long thread) look the same.

This new design seems intentional, perhaps for some PM to increase "engagement" numbers. In my opinion, it seriously dilutes the meaning of the notification indicators and is yet another user-hostile dark pattern on the path to enshitification.

by blueridge on 10/12/23, 11:43 PM
In general, I am not a fan of the updated design, but I'm not seeing the same behavior. I have everything muted (no notifications, badges, or sounds) except for key channels and direct mentions. In the desktop app I stay focused on the Home tab so that my channels and DMs are right where I want. I ignore the new "Activity" modal and just glance at the sidebar to see what's lit up.