Download the free app for your phone or computer by going to slack.com. Or access camp from your browser at thekingsdaugh-bzi4625.slack.com.
Bulletin-Board
This is for notices that you want to share with everyone. It can be invitations for blog tours, information about a helpful site for authors, a special post you did that you think others might enjoy, or other things. But please don’t comment here so the posts disappear. You are welcome to add reactions, just no comments. And if your post becomes obsolete, please remove it.
Campers-Cache
Every camp needs a hidden cache where information may be found by others in need of it. Our Cache is no different–except that it’s not hidden. In here you’ll find links to anything you might need to help you during your camp experience. Only likes and reactions, please.
Chapel
This is where we will share daily scripture verses and encouragement. Feel free to respond with your own thoughts and share what the Lord is teaching you, but please don’t use this as a debate stage. Our focus here is to uplift and encourage, not to hash out theological differences.
Clubhouse and Hearthside
Since it is colder outside, we’ve opened a new part of our camp. Here you can visit with friends, chat, play games, get to know each other, roast s’mores (virtually, that is) and just hang out.
Mechanic-Shed
Have questions about grammar? Punctuation? Story structure? Post them here, and let your fellow campers help you get things running smoothly again.
Motivational Meadow
This is a place to find inspiration for your writing. There might be some challenges, picture prompts, word of the day, and more. You are welcome to comment in threads under prompts or challenges.
Prayer-Circle
This is for sharing prayer requests. Please remember not to share these with others outside of our group without permission. And remember to be considerate of the privacy of others not in this writing camp.
Story-Hollow
This is a place to share snippets of your stories for everyone to read. They can be long or short. Feedback is welcome.
The-Register
Please introduce yourself here and what you are writing. Likes and reactions are welcome, but please, no comments.
The Summit
This is only to be posted on when you have reached your writing goal for camp. Reactions are welcomed and encouraged, but do NOT use the red push-pin reaction, and please, no comments.
Writing-Path, Writing-Trails
If you are ready to write, these are good places to head. (We created two so there are plenty of places to go if one is busy and you don’t want to join in.) There are trails perfect for sprinting, and some for those who need to just push on through the difficulties of their stories. Here you are welcome to do word sprints, to discuss stories you need help with, to ask for name suggestions, or really anything that has to do with making progress on your story. Note that if the discussion veers too far from writing, you may be asked to have a seat in the Clubhouse or by the Hearthside to make room for others on the trails.
You are free to direct message any of your campmates or to keep your talk to the public channels–whichever you prefer. However, we’ve found out by experience that the DM clutter builds up fast. (Which becomes an issue when we’re working with the free plan and limited message space!) We’ve also discovered that it can be a real pain to delete DM conversations one message at a time. So when you get ready to start a conversation outside of the regular threads, keep these options in mind:
Regular DMs
No one can see these but you and the person you’re messaging; however, you will have to clean them up one by one. Feel free to use these if you don’t mind the constant deleting, or if you’re starting a short conversation for a specific purpose. Just please remember to keep on top of the cleanup!
Add Mary Poppins
If you can’t stand the constant cleanup or tend to have long conversations, consider adding Mary Poppins to your chat! Our intrepid cleaning service will then be able to clean up all the messages in your chat for you. Note that Mary Poppins will not monitor any of the chats; she is here for ease of cleanup and nothing more. Also note that you will need to add Mary Poppins right away if you want to use her; you can’t start a DM conversation and then add her at a later point.
To add Mary Poppins, go to your DMs and click the option to start a new conversation. Type the name of the person you want to chat with, then type Mary Poppins in the same box. Chat away, and Mary Poppins will take care of the cleaning a couple times a week. (See the section on cleaning for more details.)
~ Desktop – click the plus sign next to “Direct messages” in the channel list, then add both your chatting partner and Mary Poppins in the box
~ App – select the pencil icon on the “DMs” tab, then add both your chatting partner and Mary Poppins in the box
Cleaning Schedule
DMs – Tuesdays and Saturdays
Tents – Weekly
Clubhouse, Hearthside, Mechanic Shed, Story Hollow, Writing Path, Writing Trails – Every evening if needed
Bulletin Board, Chapel, Motivational Meadow, Prayer Circle – Weekly, on a rolling basis
Images – Please clean up once a week
Cleaning Details
Since we use the free version of Slack, we’re limited to only being able to see a certain number of messages (this is why you may notice older posts disappearing at times). Our intrepid Mary Poppins cleaning service will do her best to keep us under our limit, but we want to be sure you’re not caught off guard when it happens.
In general, we will try to clean the public areas as often as once a day (usually in the evening, Eastern/Central Time). All cleaning times are flexible depending on Mary Poppins’s schedule and the amount of chatter going on, so if there’s something important that you want to save, please remember to copy it down somewhere else (for example, pasting to Google docs or a Word document) as soon as possible. Mary Poppins will attempt to post courtesy notices before she begins cleaning, but she won’t always be able to wait on responses, so please save anything important early and often!
For the bulletin board, chapel, motivational meadow, and prayer circle, we will try to avoid wiping all messages, but we will periodically clean up older messages and responses. Usually, we will try to retain about a week’s work of messages in these areas, but you are welcome to post a message again after it is removed (for example, a continuing request in the prayer circle).
DMs do count toward our message total, so please help us keep the camp clean by adding Mary Poppins to your chat (instructions are in the Direct Messages section). If you choose not to add Mary Poppins, you will be responsible for cleaning up your own DM spaces, which can get rather messy. Mary Poppins will clean DMs on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so if you have important messages that have not been read yet, please either copy them to repost after cleaning or tag MP in the DM that evening and ask her not to clean yet. (Please use this option carefully, since the messages do start to pile up when cleaning is skipped.)
Images that are shared also count toward our total, and they can hang around even after a chat or a DM has been deleted. Mary Poppins can’t access these images, so please help us by cleaning up your own images once a week using the instructions below:
~ Desktop – from the top left menu (above the channel list), select “File Browser” (look under “More” if this is not visible; select the three-dot menu on the top right of each image and choose “Delete file”
~ App – go to the “Search” tab and search from:me, then select “Files”; open each image and select the three-dot menu on the bottom right, then choose “Delete file”
Thanks for helping us keep our camp neat and functional!
Go to this link and find the tab with your tent name (if you don’t see it, look along the bottom of the screen).
Once you’re in your tent’s tab, find your name with your initial goal next to it. If you need to change your goal, you can update the number in the cell next to your name. (This cell needs to be a number, but you can use words, hours, pages, or any other number you can think of. So, if your goal is to edit 20 pages, enter “20”, or if your goal is to write 1,000 words, enter “1,000”.) If your goal is hybrid, you can either find a way to combine it into a single number or just choose a certain part of it to use as your official challenge goal.
Starting on November 1, enter your progress toward your goal in the Progress column (again, this will be a number, so “5” for five pages edited or “50” for fifty words written). The Results column will automatically calculate your percentage. (Note that there are some columns on the spreadsheet that can’t be edited; this is so we don’t accidentally delete all the lovely little formulas that are doing most of the heavy lifting for us.)
Visit the progress page on the website here to see everyone’s progress toward their goals! (Note that your name will not appear here until you have made some progress, so don’t worry if you don’t see yourself yet.) You’re welcome to test this and see how it works, but please reset your progress to 0 by November 1, so we’re all working from a clean slate. (Remember that our official challenge runs November 1 to November 30.)
If you need help tracking your daily progress, check out our personal tracking spreadsheet (linked in the cache), but don’t forget to update in the camp spreadsheet as well!
If camp works like we hope, there will be a LOT of talking going on! Here are some ways to keep from getting drowned in notifications:
Set Your Notification Preferences
You have three choices–All new messages, Direct messages/mentions/keywords, and Nothing. Note that you can choose to set these separately for your computer and mobile devices.
~ Desktop – click on the camp name at the top of the channel list, then choose “Preferences”
~ App – go to the “You” tab and choose “Notifications”
- All–Use this if you want to be notified any time anyone posts a message to any channel. (You will probably get blasted.) But if you find notifications relaxing or you’re bored and want to know the minute someone else is ready to chat, feel free to use this option.
- Direct messages, mentions & keywords–Use this option if you want to receive notifications any time someone specifically mentions or messages you. This will alert you any time you receive a direct message, any time someone mentions you with the @ function, and any time someone uses one of the keywords you’ve set. (More on keywords below.) If you want to keep an ear out for relevant chatter but not be flooded with messages from every channel, use this option. You will still be able to see all the threads with unread messages when you open Slack.
- Nothing–Use this if you don’t want to be alerted for any messages. You will still see all your unread messages when you open Slack, but you will receive no notifications at all. If you need complete quiet for a project or just need to take a break for a while, you can use this option.
Set Preferences by Channel
After you set your general notification settings, you can tailor settings for individual channels. So, for example, if you want to know every time someone comments in your tent but not on every channel, set your tent’s notifications to “All” and your general notifications to a lower setting.
~ Desktop and App – go to the channel, click the circle-i icon at the top right, and choose “Notifications”
Mute Channels
This is similar to the “Nothing” setting for individual channels, but rather than just turning off notifications, this option moves a channel to the bottom of your channel list so that it won’t show you new messages even when they exist. You can still go to the channel and see any messages there, but you won’t be reminded of them when you visit camp. If, for example, you’re wholly uninterested in the work going on in the Mechanic Shed, you can mute the channel so you’re not even reminded of it.
~ Desktop – right click on the channel name and select “Mute channel”
~ App – go to the channel, click the circle-i icon at the top right, and toggle the “Mute channel” option
*Note that if you set your notifications by channel, these will be reset when Mary Poppins cleans up at night, so you may have to reset them.*
Turn off Notifications for a Thread
Go to the first message in the thread that you want to end notifications for, and select the three dot menu on the top right. Choose “Turn off notifications for replies.”
Note that turning off notifications for a thread will also remove it from your list of threads will also make it disappear from your list of threads, so if you want to see it again, you’ll have to go back and find it in the channel. Also note that if you comment in the thread again, notifications will be turned back on until you turn them off again. Also note that notifications are turned on for any thread you’re tagged in, so please be careful with tagging friends in a thread if you’re not sure they want to be part of the conversation!
Pause Notifications/Do Not Disturb
Under your name on the top bar, you will also find options to pause your notifications for a specific period. This option is useful if you need to work without distractions for a while or want to take a family day without having to remember to change your settings back when it’s over. Also under “Preferences” is the option to customize your “Do not disturb” settings to reflect the regular hours that you want your notifications to turn off and on.
~ Desktop – click your profile picture on the top bar, then select “Pause notifications” to pause temporarily or choose “Preferences” and scroll down to “Notification schedule” to adjust your regular hours
~ App – go to the “You” tab, then select “Do not disturb” to pause temporarily or choose “Notifications,” “Notification schedule” to adjust your regular hours
@here vs @channel
Using “@channel” in your message will notify all camp members, whether they are currently active on Slack or not. This is useful for important announcements that everyone really needs to see. Using “@here” will notify everyone who is currently active, so it’s a great choice if you’re looking for immediate brainstorming help or sprinting partners.
Keywords
You can set keywords to be notified any time someone uses your name, even if they forget the @, or any time someone comments on your favorite book, or any time someone mentions pistachios. You’ll be notified for words in this list just as you will mentions or direct messages (provided you haven’t muted the channel).
~ Desktop – click on the camp name or your profile pic in the top bar, select “Preferences”, then add your terms in the “My keywords” box
~ App – go to the “You” tab, select “Notifications”, then add your terms under “My keywords”
Mentions & Reactions
You can quickly view all your mentions/keywords and any reactions to your comments by clicking “Mentions & reactions” at the top of the channel list on desktop or the “Mentions” tab on mobile.
If you would prefer not to see gifs and/or images in the threads, you can use the options below to either turn gifs into still images or hide images unless you specifically open them.
To turn gifs into still images:
~ Desktop – click on the camp name or your profile pic in the top bar, select “Preferences”, then “Accessibility”, then uncheck the box for “Allow animated images and emoji”
~ App – go to the “You” tab, select “Preferences”, then “Advanced”, then turn off the slider next to “Allow animated images and emoji”
To hide all images unless you click them:
~ Desktop – click on the camp name or your profile pic in the top bar, select “Preferences”, then “Messages and media”, then uncheck the box for “Show images and files uploaded to Slack”
~ App – go to the “You” tab, select “Preferences”, then “Advanced”, then turn off the slider next to “Show image previews”