Slack brings people together to collaborate on their work. Organizations use Slack as a remote collaboration tool where employees can interact when working on different projects.
On Slack, people can chat by sending messages, and the workspace admins and owners regulate how people interact.
Unfortunately, some employees troll each other on Slack in different ways.
Trolling on Slack refers to people who sow discord on the Slack channels, start unnecessary arguments, threaten others, and cause uproars. When someone spreads rumors behind your back or speaks ill of you on Slack channels, they are Slack-trolling you, which is unacceptable. Trolling in the workspace is not new, and organizations must invent ways of dealing with Slack trolling.
Do you suspect someone is Slack trolling you? Today’s write-up discusses what Slack trolling means and offers ways for an organization to deal with Slack trolling to clean up the mess in the Slack channel.
What is Slack Trolling?
Trolling is mainly a social media phrase used to imply someone who can’t mind their business and keeps spreading rumors behind someone’s back. The person who sows discord is called a troll.
It could be someone talking ill about another person on the channel or using abusive words and threats against another person.
Moreover, Slack trolling refers to when someone starts causing uproar on a Slack channel and taking advantage of sitting behind a keyboard to gain confidence to insult others openly.
Slack trolling is similar to how people insult others using hateful comments on Twitter because it’s not a face-to-face conversation.
Slack trolling hinders performance on Slack. The team can’t collaborate as they should, as someone has already spread bitterness and hatred in the channel, affecting how people relate.
If uncontrolled, Slack trolling can negatively affect the employee and traumatize the victim in the worst case.
Words break the heart, and you slowly kill the team and individual members when you allow Slack trolling in your workspace.
Besides, that’s an unhealthy working environment that shouldn’t be tolerated. So, the workspace owner or the admin should respond to counteract Slack trolling.
How To Deal with Slack Trolling
When someone notices they are being trolled, most people respond by trolling back, but is that the right approach to deal with Slack trolling?
The best approach is to reach out to the workspace admin and explain your case. The admin will then investigate the claim and warn the person trolling others in the workspace.
Here are other tips for dealing with Slack trolling as the workspace admin or owner.
- Explain to members why Slack trolling is bad for the team and its impact.
- Mention the legal consequences of Slack trolling each other.
- Regulate communication and ensure members only communicate when necessary and topics relating to the project.
- Issue warnings to members who troll each other.
- Hire a therapist to handle Slack trolling when it goes overboard.
- Remove stubborn members from the channel and report them to the HR department.
If you don’t know how to remove someone from a Slack channel, use the steps below.
For Mobile
- Open the Slack application on your phone.
- Go to the channel containing the target person.
- Type
/remove @target-memberand press the “Send” button.
That target person will get removed from your channel.
For Desktop
- Open Slack on your desktop and access the channel.
- Tap on the cluster for people’s profile pictures at the top.
- Locate the member you want to remove.
- Click the “Remove” button next to their name.
- Lastly, confirm the action by clicking the “Remove” button again.
That’s how to remove a stubborn member from a Slack channel as one way of dealing with Slack trolling.
Conclusion
Slack trolling is when someone causes an uproar or starts spreading rumors and hatred against another person in a Slack channel.
Slack trolling negatively affects productivity and, if not controlled, can kill teamwork.
This guide details what Slack trolling is and how to counteract it on your Slack channel.
