On Wednesday morning, the Slack messaging tool used by many work teams was down for three hours, throwing many far-flung employees into disarray.
All workspaces are currently experiencing difficulty connecting to Slack. We appreciate your patience while we look into this. https://t.co/jdzxIeLoWA
— Slack Status (@SlackStatus) June 27, 2018
Thankfully, another quick-messaging service, Twitter, was still up, and users could turn to it to complain, commiserate and joke about the Slack communication apocalypse, which lasted from 9:30 to 12:30 ET, prime work hours.
Use the phone? Email? Walk over and speak to a co-worker? What is this fresh hell?
When Slack is down and you have to actually talk to your co-workers in person pic.twitter.com/QGbFcVaOOX
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) June 27, 2018
if you send me an email while slack is down i will call the police
— Adam Moussa (@adamjmoussa) June 27, 2018
When #Slack isn't working and you actually have to walk over to your coworker's desk to talk to them. pic.twitter.com/iUQTgf7tIi
— Riley Winn (@allRidoisWinn) June 27, 2018
Slack is down at work and my coworker just slid this to me. pic.twitter.com/ChcrXJMeDf
— Sadie Boyd (@Wonder_Phoenix) June 27, 2018
Ok but seriously, is Slack ever going to come back or should I just start writing my coworkers handwritten letters?
— Lauren Alexis Fisher (@LaurenAlexis) June 27, 2018
Some pointed out that there are more than a few other ways to get work done. "With Slack down, I can only communicate by phone, text, email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, GroupMe, Instagram and Snapchat," David French wrote. "Now I know how my grandparents did business."
With @SlackHQ still down, I can only communicate by phone, text, email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, GroupMe, Instagram, and Snapchat.
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 27, 2018
Now I know how my grandparents did business.
Users compared the world without Slack with everything from the apocalyptic environment of the 2007 Will Smith film I Am Legend to Milhouse of The Simpsons sadly throwing a Frisbee to himself.
Working remotely when Slack is down. pic.twitter.com/sotI3ljH1G
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) June 27, 2018
"Slack is down"
— Vicki Boykis (@vboykis) June 27, 2018
Marc Chagall, 1931 #devart pic.twitter.com/kip67mi204
When Slack is out and you're working from home. pic.twitter.com/ZEcg9uasPZ
— Caitlin PenzeyMoog (@PenzeyMoog) June 27, 2018
Some wondered what was going on at Slack headquarters. Wrote one user, "#Slack's been down for a while and it occurred to me. It's probably taking a long time for a whole bunch of people to work together on a fix, because Slack is down."
#Slack's been down for a while and it occurred to me. It's probably taking a long time for a whole bunch of people to work together on a fix, because Slack is down. 🤔
— Aarøπ Dayalaπ (@DarthGooN) June 27, 2018
Slack maintained a page about the outage on its website while the service was down, posting a message every half-hour until the service returned.
In an email to CNET after the service returned, the company wasn't specific as to what brought it down.
"As you know, we were experiencing connectivity issues, but are happy to report that workspaces should be able to connect again, as we've isolated the problem," a Slack said. "We are so sorry for any inconvenience."
Slack was back up at about 12:35 p.m. ET. And just as there were jokes about the outage, there were jokes about its return.
EVERYONE SLACK IS BACK PUT AWAY THE OREOS (Slack was down so I ate a bunch of Oreos, don't worry about it)
— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) June 27, 2018
That feeling when Slack is back up and running. pic.twitter.com/yYigdcctGe
— WeWork (@WeWork) June 27, 2018
ME: I guess since Slack is down, time to be produ...
— Donna Dickens (@MildlyAmused) June 27, 2018
SLACK: We're back.
ME: ...CAT GIFS!
First published, June 27, 9:47 a.m. PT.
Update, June 27 at 10:25 a.m. PT: Adds comment from Slack.
