Mass Direct Messages on Slack
I believe there is a special place in crypto-hell for spammers. It is estimated that 70–80% of all email is spam, and we spend a lot of collective energy (both brain power and electricity) in sending and avoiding spam.
This is why it makes sense when platforms try and make sending spam hard. Gmail doesn’t let you send more than 1,000 emails per day, Mailchimp charges you 3 cents per email you send, and Slack restricts direct message groups to 8 people.
And this is why, I’m feeling very torn about a new Chrome Extension that I just launched. It’s a tool that gives you a way to send bulk direct messages on Slack. It’s based on a script that I wrote several years ago, and have only every used five times. Note, you have to be an Admin of the group to generate a token.
But each of those times, it’s been a life saver. As you know, there is a certain type of message, that you need to send to a lot of people, but that either you don’t want to post in a public channel, or you want to be very sure people received the message. People miss a lot of Slack messages, don’t they? In the email world, it’s akin to sending a BCC email, and if Slack is truly going to replace email, we need an equivalent.
So back to my script. A friend asked me to package it in a way that they could easily use it, and so reluctantly, I packaged it as a extension.
I was reluctant, because if you’re a spammer, or lack self-control / good judgment, you could definitely lose some friends. I’m charging $9.99/month for the extension, so that there is a barrier to use it. You’ll have to swipe a credit card and connect your Google Account, which creates some accountability, right?
Un-creatively, I’m calling it: Slack Mass Direct Messages, or ‘Mass Slacker’ for short. If you’ve got any feedback on the app, please leave a comment! And remember, don’t be a spammer, or you’ll lose all of your friends.
