We are using Slack as our community "hub", instead of a more traditional forum. This is primarily because there is a significant barrier to entry when someone has to click "New Topic" and then present a structured, formal topic for discussion. In Slack they just jump in and talk, which is great for engagement.
But there is a real problem with organization. Over time we have grown and the number of channels is getting out of hand. Currently we have 55 channels which should be divided into roughly a half doze top-level groupings/categories. Except Slack only allows for that at the per-user level.
Is there any way for us as administrators, to organize the channels into any sort of hierarchy at all? So far my efforts to find a solution have come up empty but I'm hoping maybe someone here has some ideas.
Best Answer
So the official answer appears to be, no. Slack provides no options for organizing channels into folders or sub groups except at the individual per-user level.
Here is their support page demonstrating that each user can organize their channels themselves any way they want.
A Quora discussion specifically about how you cannot put Slack channels in folders.
Here is a nice thorough article explaining how to keep Slack organized, and that it's entirely about channel naming conventions.
Here is a great article detailing why Slack is not a good tool for building a community.
And another with additional reasons why Slack is a poor choice for a community.
Here is a forum post about how poor Slack is for building a community, with many excellent jumping-off points in the comments.
We will be moving away from Slack in the new year, looks like we'll be using Zulip instead.