Slack: Difference between revisions

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On September 18, 2025, the UK-based web developer Mahad Kalam, who serves as the Infra Lead of Hack Club's Newspaper group, made a post<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://skyfall.dev/posts/slack |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260102215028/https://skyfall.dev/posts/slack |archive-date=18 Sept 2025 |access-date=13 Jan 2026 |website=Skyfall.dev}}</ref> on his personal website Skyfall.dev stating that Slack had contacted Hack Club and increased the fee for the organization's Slack workspace from $5,000 per year to $200,000 per year. According to Kalam, Slack threatened to delete Hack Club's message history and deactivate their workspace if Hack Club didn't pay $50,000 within a week and agree to pay $200,000 a year for Slack services moving forward, as well as other fees. Kalam said that Hack Club had been given no prior notice of this fee increase and that the minimal notice had been "catastrophic" for the organization's ongoing projects.

Kalam shared<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283887 |access-date=13 Jan 2026}}</ref> his post to the forum Hacker News, where the information was confirmed by Hack Club co-founder and COO Christina Asquith. Asquith stated that a few months before this incident, Slack had changed the terms of each user's agreement with no notice or updated contract, and that Hack Club had experienced difficulty in reaching Slack support to clarify or fix the resulting billing discrepancy. She confirmed that the $195,000 fee increase came with no more than a week's notice. The Hacker News post gained more than 3,000 points from forum users.

Kalam shared<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283887 |access-date=13 Jan 2026}}</ref> his post to the forum Hacker News, where the information was confirmed by Hack Club co-founder and COO Christina Asquith. Asquith stated that a few months before this incident, Slack had changed the terms of each user's agreement with no notice or updated contract, and that Hack Club had experienced difficulty in reaching Slack support to clarify or fix the resulting billing discrepancy. She confirmed that the $195,000 fee increase came with no more than a week's notice. The Hacker News post gained more than 3,000 points from forum users.

==== Resolution of Hack Club's fee increase ====

====Resolution of Hack Club's fee increase====

CEO Denise Dresser replied to the Hacker News forum post with an apology, stating the increase was a billing error. Kalam later updated his personal blog post to state that the issue had been resolved and Hack Club had accepted a more favorable deal offered by Slack as a remedy. He stated that Hack Club would also pursue other avenues of owning its own backup data from projects hosted on Slack as a safeguard.

CEO Denise Dresser replied<ref name=":0" /> to the Hacker News forum post with an apology, stating the increase was a billing error. Kalam later updated his personal blog post to state that the issue had been resolved and Hack Club had accepted a more favorable deal offered by Slack as a remedy. He stated that Hack Club would also pursue other avenues of owning its own backup data from projects hosted on Slack as a safeguard.

==References==

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 On September 18, 2025, the UK-based web developer Mahad Kalam, who serves as the Infra Lead of Hack Club's Newspaper group, made a post<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://skyfall.dev/posts/slack |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260102215028/https://skyfall.dev/posts/slack |archive-date=18 Sept 2025 |access-date=13 Jan 2026 |website=Skyfall.dev}}</ref> on his personal website Skyfall.dev stating that Slack had contacted Hack Club and increased the fee for the organization's Slack workspace from $5,000 per year to $200,000 per year. According to Kalam, Slack threatened to delete Hack Club's message history and deactivate their workspace if Hack Club didn't pay $50,000 within a week and agree to pay $200,000 a year for Slack services moving forward, as well as other fees. Kalam said that Hack Club had been given no prior notice of this fee increase and that the minimal notice had been "catastrophic" for the organization's ongoing projects.
-Kalam shared<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283887 |access-date=13 Jan 2026}}</ref> his post to the forum Hacker News, where the information was confirmed by Hack Club co-founder and COO Christina Asquith. Asquith stated that a few months before this incident, Slack had changed the terms of each user's agreement with no notice or updated contract, and that Hack Club had experienced difficulty in reaching Slack support to clarify or fix the resulting billing discrepancy. She confirmed that the $195,000 fee increase came with no more than a week's notice. The Hacker News post gained more than 3,000 points from forum users.
+Kalam shared<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kalam |first=Mahad |date=18 Sept 2025 |title=Slack is extorting us with a $195k/yr bill increase |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283887 |access-date=13 Jan 2026}}</ref> his post to the forum Hacker News, where the information was confirmed by Hack Club co-founder and COO Christina Asquith. Asquith stated that a few months before this incident, Slack had changed the terms of each user's agreement with no notice or updated contract, and that Hack Club had experienced difficulty in reaching Slack support to clarify or fix the resulting billing discrepancy. She confirmed that the $195,000 fee increase came with no more than a week's notice. The Hacker News post gained more than 3,000 points from forum users.
-==== Resolution of Hack Club's fee increase ====
+====Resolution of Hack Club's fee increase====
-CEO Denise Dresser replied to the Hacker News forum post with an apology, stating the increase was a billing error. Kalam later updated his personal blog post to state that the issue had been resolved and Hack Club had accepted a more favorable deal offered by Slack as a remedy. He stated that Hack Club would also pursue other avenues of owning its own backup data from projects hosted on Slack as a safeguard.
+CEO Denise Dresser replied<ref name=":0" /> to the Hacker News forum post with an apology, stating the increase was a billing error. Kalam later updated his personal blog post to state that the issue had been resolved and Hack Club had accepted a more favorable deal offered by Slack as a remedy. He stated that Hack Club would also pursue other avenues of owning its own backup data from projects hosted on Slack as a safeguard.
 ==References==
 <references />