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Yell it into the #void

The one channel every Slack needs

by Jillian Meehan
A galaxy in space.

We like to try new things in the Lickability Slack from time to time, like inviting friends of the company to join public channels, or using an app called Hey Taco! to give teammates praise in the form of 🌮 emojis. Now, we’ve added a new channel to our Slack — welcome to #void.

What do you do with that post that doesn’t fit into any other Slack channel? #void. What do you do with that thought that probably shouldn’t be a tweet? #void. What do you do with all of the stuff that doesn’t really require a response or acknowledgement from anyone else, the stuff that you just need to get out of your system? #void.

Sometimes you just want to scream into the void — so we made a Slack channel specifically for that. We were introduced to the idea by a similar channel, #bad-attitude, in the XOXO Slack. So while we definitely aren’t pioneers of the #void channel, we are huge advocates of it.

Why #void?

Slack is for work, but when you’re spending an entire day using it, you need to be able to use it to escape from work, too. That’s why we invite friends to our public Slack channels like #tv and #music and #food. That’s also why it’s helpful to have a space where people can get out their frustration, random thoughts, or memes in a way that isn’t distracting or disruptive to other team members.

Yelling (or, in this case, typing) into the #void is therapeutic, and often funny—and once you get those thoughts out, it’s easier to return to your work with a clear head. Of course, that can come with a downside: a channel meant for purging your thoughts can easily become a very negative or judgmental place, which we want to be mindful of (yes, Code of Conduct rules still very much apply).

Your turn!

At the end of the day, our goal is to have a safe space for our team to get it all out. As it turns out, Slack can be that space. And it can be that space for you, too. Here’s how we suggest getting started:

  1. Make a new Slack channel. You don’t have to give it a name that suggests existential dread, but we recommend it.
  2. Set the channel’s topic to make the purpose super clear to everyone. We went with: “Yell about it into the void. (We recommend you mute this channel)” — which brings us to the next step.
  3. We strongly advise that you mute your #void channel. Since the whole point is to allow people to get out their feelings in the least disruptive way possible, you probably don‘t want to be notified every time a teammate needs to do some frustrated keysmashing.
  4. If you’re the kind of person who likes to star Slack channels to keep them at the top of your sidebar, go ahead and star this one! #void is only helpful if you remember it‘s there.