Discussions, summarized

Sumcast distills Slack conversations, Whimsical posts, Reddit discussions and more into a concise daily newsletter that only takes a few minutes to read. Or, listen to it in your favorite podcast app.

• Hacker News1Slack has raised our charges by $195k per yearHack Club, a nonprofit providing coding education to teens, used Slack for 11 years and paid $5k annually. Slack suddenly demanded $50k immediately plus $200k yearly or threatened to delete their workspace within a week. The organization is moving to Mattermost and advises others to own their data.Slack's aggressive billing practices:Slack demanded $200K/year from Hack Club nonprofit (40x increase) with only days notice, threatening to delete 11 years of data. Users compared this to ransomware tactics and noted similar aggressive billing changes affecting other nonprofits and organizations recently.Migration to self-hosted alternatives:Community recommended moving to open-source chat platforms like Mattermost, Zulip, or Campfire to avoid vendor lock-in. Discussion emphasized importance of data ownership and using proper tools for documentation vs chat.Slack's public apology and resolution:Slack executives publicly apologized, calling it a "mistake" and restored Hack Club's nonprofit pricing. However, users questioned whether this was genuine or just damage control due to viral attention, expressing ongoing distrust.
• Reddit science1Using scented products indoors changes the chemistry of the air, producing as much air pollution as car exhaust does outside, according to a new study. Researchers say that breathing in these nanosized particles could have serious health implications.Using scented products indoors, such as flame-free candles and wax melts, can create significant indoor air pollution comparable to car exhaust. Research by Purdue University found these products release nanosized particles that can penetrate deep into lungs and potentially enter the bloodstream, posing serious respiratory health risks.Misleading title scope:Discussion about how study only focused on wax melts but title suggests all scented products, with debate about whether findings could logically extend to other scented itemsHealth concerns from chemist:A chemist's perspective against using scented products leads to sharing of personal health impact stories, from COPD to cancer cases, and debate about necessity of artificial scentsAir purification solutions:Discussion of HEPA filters and other air purification methods as solutions, with debate about effectiveness against different types of pollutants like VOCs and nanoparticles
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