As a member who lives outside of the nearest chapter's range, my only realistic option for member participation is through online platforms. The decision to end Slack discussions should be well thought out, and should only be completed when an alternative platform has been established, improved, and implemented. SRA is in large part an educational organization and the most important part of education is discourse. By eliminating the channels for discourse, SRA is undermining its own principles and goals.

We should not drop the most highly used form of communication within our organization without having a suitable replacement. If there are problems with Slack, let them be the force that makes our members change platforms. The CC deleting the most popular channels will only create dislike for the leadership. I for one am finding it hard to respect leadership that makes the decision to destroy the member's form of communication and community without warning and without listening to the objections.

Couldn't we maintain a free Slack setup for unofficial discussions and temporary announcements then push official discourse and documentation to the forum? Just use Slack for the informal communications that the free platform is so good for.

There is no chapter in my area, as such the Slack chat is largely my only connection to the organization as a whole. Offtopic conversations in their designated areas help us as an educational organization by facilitating meaningful discussion between members of varying tendencies, keeping members informed and up to date on current political events, sharing useful/interesting media to expand each other's horizons and just general friendly discussion and conversation to foster a friendly attitude and sense of community between members of this organization across the country. Anything that undermines that sense of community is a danger to this organization's long term health and continued growth.

While a transition from Slack is necessary, there is nothing inherently wrong with general offtopic discussion itself. Wherever the SRA finds itself (and it should very much not be the oft-maligned forums) there should still be a place for general chatting among members. The SRA is a safe space for discussion between likeminded individuals and that should not change.

The forum site is extremely clunky, difficult to use, and will discourage conversations and new members who don't feel that they have a place to plug in to the community

There are plenty of alternatives available. We need modes of communication that cater to everyone's needs.

I support taking time to figure this out instead of knee-jerking our way into catastrophy