# Proposal: move NumFOCUS chat communications from Slack to Zulip

## WHEREAS Slack is a for-profit, closed-source platform with questionable respect for users' communication history

Over the past year, Slack has repeatedly breached user trust, particularly with the free plan — first switching from 10,000 free messages to 90 days of free messages, which really hurt low-traffic instances, and more recently switching policy to [permanently erase messages older than 1y](https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/help/articles/29414264463635-Updates-to-message-and-file-history-on-free-workspaces).

NumFOCUS currently benefits from free Slack spaces for non-profits, but it is unclear how long we can rely on the generosity of Slack to provide this. As such, we are allowing a for-profit corporation to hold power over the NumFOCUS communications history.

In the case of conferences, we indeed happily allow Slack to memory-hole entire conferences' worth of communications every year, since we use the free trials for those.

So on values alone (https://numfocus.org/community/mission), I think that continuing to use Slack as a primary communications channel is questionable.

## AND WHEREAS there is an open source alternative

There is an open source alternative platform called Zulip. I first heard about Zulip from @wesm (probably [this tweet](https://twitter.com/wesmckinn/status/867112948845617152) but I'm not sure, he has more praise to offer [here](https://twitter.com/wesmckinn/status/1189610130758877192) too), and have since used it very successfully in various communities, including [scikit-image](https://skimage.zulipchat.com), [napari](https://napari.zulipchat.com), and [image.sc](https://imagesc.zulipchat.com).

## AND WHEREAS this open platform has important usability benefits, especially as regards open, asynchronous communication with parties in different time zones

In addition to being open source and thus better aligned with the NumFOCUS mission, it has threads as a first-class object. This is an absolute game changer for asynchronous communication and catch-up, and once you become used to this it is *so hard* to go back to other platforms' threading models. Imagine your email inbox without Subject lines: that is what chatting in Slack & co is like, and somehow we have all accepted it.

I like this quote ([here](https://zulip.com/case-studies/asciidoctor/)) from Dan Allen of AsciiDoctor:

> Threads buried the replies. You had to either navigate to threads using notifications, or scroll back multiple pages to find the little ‘see replies’ link and rediscover the thread. It was just so tedious

This quote is about Gitter but it applies equally well to Slack.

This is my own take on Zulip's threads:

> the [@zulip](https://fosstodon.org/@zulip) threading model is *fantastic* and *game-changing* and you are doing your community a disservice by choosing Slack or Discord over Zulip.

(full thread [here](https://fosstodon.org/@jni/110922830267504209))

[Sylvain Fankhauser](https://github.com/sephii) has [this to say](https://tooting.ch/@sephi/112590965773549748) (emphasis mine):

> After using Slack, Discord and Element (Matrix), I’m sold on Zulip. People sometimes say it’s "Just Slack with threads" but they miss the point: the whole experience is designed around topics. Instead of an "instant messaging" platform, I’d qualify it as an "instant message board".
>
> This makes it so much easier to find information and to catch up, **which is essential when you’re working it environments where people are not online 24/7 (eg. volunteers)!**

For the devs: Zulip's API docs are excellent ([don't take it from me](https://fosstodon.org/@[e-mail]/111882333470043034): "probably the only API documentation I've ever loved."), it's easy to roll [your own integrations](https://github.com/kephale/napari-zulip) no matter how absurd 😂, and there is even an official [Zulip client that runs inside your terminal](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-terminal).

## AND WHEREAS our entire chat history can be imported to Zulip

As a final point: Zulip has the ability to [import your entire Slack message history](https://zulip.com/help/import-from-slack), so the switching cost is actually quite small right now, and in my opinion is really just a matter of institutional inertia. Let's overcome that inertia!

## I PROPOSE

to move NumFOCUS chat to Zulip as the primary chat platform. Please vote below, and feel free to ask me anything if you have any doubts! And have a browse around the [napari Zulip](https://napari.zulipchat.com) — many channels are browsable without login, which is another advantage in terms of openness and transparency. (This is [configurable per-channel](https://web.zulip.com/help/channel-permissions).)