Slack notifications for WordCamp and Meetup application updates


In the WordPress project, multiple teams (#meta, #core, #polyglots, etc.) make use of SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. notifications to surface new, interesting changes in their team’s respective channel. This includes notifications on new commits, tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. issue updates, new translation strings availability, etc.

(Screenshot of a commit notification)
(Screenshot of a commit notification)


These notifications serve at least two purposes:

1. People interested in following these teams have a very convenient way to look at recent and ongoing activities.

2. It provides a way to acknowledge contributors.

In the WordPress community channels, we don’t currently use this tool, but there may be some cases where having these notifications would add lot of value for us.

These include:

  1. Someone sends a new application for a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more.
  2. Someone sends a new application for a WordPress chapter meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook.
  3. A new WordCamp is set to Scheduled status
  4. A new WordPress meetup group is now active in the chapter
  5. A WordCamp application is declined
  6. A Meetup application is declined

For reference, you can see status of some active WordCamp applications here.

These notifications could include whether the event is a WordPress or a Meetup, city and country of the event, description of the update, and WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ usernames of people who were involved in vetting the event application.

I have written some initial code for this, and it could look like:

(screenshot for when a new WordCamp application is submitted)
(screenshot for when a new WordCamp application is submitted)


(screenshot for when WordCamp is scheduled)
(screenshot when a WordCamp application is scheduled)


(screenshot for when a WordCamp application is declined)
(screenshot when a WordCamp application is declined)


A few more things to note and discuss here:

  1. We can perhaps send these notifications to #community-events,  #community-team, or both of these channels.
  2. The props section will include usernames of everyone who added notes to the application listing and/or changed the listing’s status.
  3. We would also want to send notifications when an application is declined, and not just when it is received or scheduled, in order to credit the deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. who nevertheless did the  work to vet and respond to it. It could normalize the process of declining the application, because it is not uncommon for subsequent applications to be approved.

What do you think? Should we have these notifications? If we have them, then should they be more granular, or less granular? What changes in language or overall appearance would you suggest? Leave your thoughts in a comment on this post!

#community, #slack