Slack adjusts new DM feature within hours due to harassment concerns

Slack just rolled out a new direct messaging feature, but a full day didn't even pass before it had to be tweaked due to harassment concerns.

The company on Wednesday began rolling out Slack Connect DMs, allowing users to message with anyone on Slack rather than just those they're in a Slack group with. "Simply send an invite," Slack said, and you can "start messaging in Slack as soon as the other side accepts, speeding up the work that often starts over back-and-forth emails," per CNN. But according to The Verge, the company was already announcing changes within hours.

Originally, Slack was allowing users to send a message alongside those email invites. But the company says its now removing the ability to do so because users raised concerns that the invitations "could potentially be used to send abusive or harassing messages," Jonathan Prince, Slack vice president of communications and policy, told The Verge.

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"We made a mistake in this initial roll-out that is inconsistent with our goals for the product and the typical experience of Slack Connect usage," Prince added. "As always, we are grateful to everyone who spoke up, and we are committed to fixing this issue."

Other than this issue with the invitations, the Slack direct messaging feature didn't generally seem to get the warmest reception on Twitter, with Axios' Sam Baker writing that "Slack is the only communications tool in my life that hasn't been taken over by unsolicited trash," while others wondered how, exactly, the new feature isn't just email. As far as launch days go, it certainly could have gone better.