# Why doesn't the Club have the same categories as Slack **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Updates & Feedback\ **Created:** [13 March 2023 03:37 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875 "2023-03-13T03:37:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nilanjanb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/nilanjanb/32/9706_2.png) [@nilanjanb](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/nilanjanb)\ **Post date:** [13 March 2023 03:37 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/1 "2023-03-13T03:37:40Z")
Ministry Slack seemed to have a good set of categories. Why doesn’t the club have the same, for example, exploratory testing or philosophy of testing ---
**Author:** ![flynnbops](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/flynnbops/32/7757_2.png) [@flynnbops](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/flynnbops)\ **Post date:** [13 March 2023 08:56 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/2 "2023-03-13T08:56:51Z")
I don’t work for MoT so “I don’t actually know”, but the club has been recently updated so may be moving away from “too many” categories, and using tags instead. e.g. [Topics tagged exploratory-testing](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/tag/exploratory-testing) Simon sought out feedback on the club categories a while ago too. > [@What do you think of these new discussion categories and chat channels? – Changes to The Club coming soon w/b 30th Jan 2023](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-these-new-discussion-categories-and-chat-channels-changes-to-the-club-coming-soon-w-b-30th-jan-2023/64705): > > Here’s an idea for how we might restructure The Club. It introduces new discussion categories and new chat channels. What do you think? Note “chat channels” is a new piece of functionality that we’ll soon switch on. Existing categories will be marked as archived and folks will no longer be able to create new topics. I’ll likely move over some recent topic conversations into the best-matched new category. ---
**Author:** ![simon\_tomes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/simon_tomes/32/14009_2.png) [@simon\_tomes](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/simon_tomes)\ **Post date:** [13 March 2023 12:31 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/3 "2023-03-13T12:31:51Z")
An excellent question, @nilanjanb. Thanks for asking. And thanks for sharing those topic posts, @flynnbops. I’ll endeavour to record a video reply to this in the coming days as there’s quite a lot to cover around this topic. ---
**Author:** ![simon\_tomes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/simon_tomes/32/14009_2.png) [@simon\_tomes](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/simon_tomes)\ **Post date:** [13 March 2023 16:50 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/4 "2023-03-13T16:50:04Z")
My thoughts on why doesn’t The Club have the same categories as Slack. Thanks again for your question, @nilanjanb. https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/xu828c1n45 ---
**Author:** ![fullsnacktester](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/fullsnacktester/32/13479_2.png) [@fullsnacktester](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/fullsnacktester)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 09:09 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/5 "2023-03-14T09:09:33Z")
Thanks Simon! What a great chat in response. I really like the video in club-post format, feels very personal, even though I didn’t ask the question. Kudos. Here are some thoughts / feedback, from using the chat so far: - I would avoid a direct-mapping to categories, why? as categories evolve, keeping them in sync feels like a burden to avoid. I’d also have some focuses for live chat, that simply wouldn’t work as categories as well. - However clever you try and be, I think it’s very likely people will want an automation chat channel. Chat about using code in testing, just hits different and I think people will want a safe space to chat detail of coding, not debating the philosophy of what you call automation vs checks vs “manual testing” - What I feel the chat is missing round now is a “water cooler” / “meet n greet the community” type channel. I wouldn’t want this as a forum category, but if I just wanna be sociable, and meet people, I want a place for that. - Chat still is pretty quiet, I think a bias towards adding new channels slowly is a good idea. And maybe to keep things tight, consider closing chat channels that are stayed unused for say 100 days. This is where slack over-grew, quiet channels to bring value for live chat, that stuff can live in the forum! ---
**Author:** ![AdyStokes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/adystokes/32/14440_2.png) [@AdyStokes](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/AdyStokes)\ **Post date:** [14 March 2023 13:15 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/6 "2023-03-14T13:15:05Z")
MoT are closing Slack down so there won’t be a category clash problem once that’s done. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/system/32/14378_2.png) [@system](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [12 March 2025 03:37 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/why-doesnt-the-club-have-the-same-categories-as-slack/65875/7 "2025-03-12T03:37:40Z")
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