New on the Mac Admins Slack: Topic Helper

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With so many channels (#too-many-channels) sometimes it’s tough to tell exactly where the right place is to post a question or share some information. To help direct Slack team members to channels that better suit certain posts or topics we’ve added a new Workflow Builder called “Topic Helper.”

So what is the Mac Admins Slack Topic Helper?

We’re big fans of emoji reactions (or reacjis), which are the emojis that can be used in Slack to provide reactions to individual posts.

Example of a post in Slack with emoji reactions (reacjis).

Workflow Builder has automation available to take an action when a specific reacji is used on a post in a specific channel. The Mac Admins Slack has a few channels that have been curated into places for sharing one specific type of information, but sometimes other posts come into the channel that aren’t topical or are better suited for another location. Now when that happens we have a template in place to make a new Workflow Builder to let that person know they should move the post to another channel.

One example of this is our #jobs-board channel. The channel has grown over time to be a place where folks looking for new roles go to see what’s available on the job market. (It’s also helpful for hiring managers and recruiters to specifically find Mac Admins!) Many job-seekers set up alerts for any new post in the #jobs-board channel to help with their job search. Sometimes a general post or question comes into the channel that disrupts the notification scheme set up by folks actively looking for new roles. There is another channel for general job/career conversation called #jobs-chat, and many of the Slack members step in to moderate and suggest the conversation move to that other channel. Now they can simply reacji with 🚚 (:move-it:) and an automated reply will appear, threaded to the original post.

Workflow Builder is currently limited to the admin group in the Mac Admins Slack, but we’re happy to work with you and find a solution for another channel where a Topic Helper would help keep things… on topic. To ask more about this feature or work with the admins on making one for another channel please ask in the #ask-about-this-slack channel.