When a Channel is turned off

A Channel is turned off when it refuses our messages for good, again and again. While it is off, alerts meant for it are not sent, and they are not kept to send later. Your other Channels still get theirs.

What turns a Channel off

Some refusals are for good: a Slack, Discord or Microsoft Teams webhook that was deleted, an email address that does not exist, a phone number that cannot take messages. We count each of these.

We turn a Channel off after 10 such refusals in a row, with no accepted message between them, spread over at least 1 day. A refusal that may pass, such as a provider that does not answer in time or asks us to slow down, is tried again and never counts. So a provider’s bad hour never turns a Channel off.

An email Channel counts each address on its own. One address that keeps refusing is turned off by itself, and the other addresses still get every email. The Channel is turned off only once none of its addresses can receive.

A Webhook is turned off in the same way: see Webhooks.

How you are told

• The owner and the admins of the Organization get an email that names the Channel, when its refusals began, and the last one.
• The Project’s Inbox says so too, whatever your rules send to it.
• In Project settings, the Channels tab says at the top which Channels are turned off. The Channel’s row says Turned off, with its last refusal.

Turning it on again

First fix what the refusal names, such as adding a new webhook URL. Then, on the Channels tab, open the Channel’s menu and choose Turn on.

• A Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams or Telegram Channel is sent a test first. It turns on only when the test is accepted.
• An email Channel is turned on one address at a time. Choose Edit, then press Turn on beside each address that is Turned off.
• Any other Channel turns on at once.

Turning a Channel off yourself

To quiet a Channel for a while, choose Turn off in its menu. We send nothing to it until somebody turns it on again, and its row names who turned it off. Nobody else is told, and its rules stay as they are.

Turn on brings it back at once, with no test, because nothing was wrong with it.

The Inbox can never be turned off.