Channel Hygiene Skill

Chat workspaces sprawl by entropy: a channel per whim, three channels where one topic lives, dead projects' channels haunting the sidebar, and every question answered with "wasn't that discussed somewhere?" Hygiene is structural: one purpose per channel (stated in the topic line), a naming scheme that sorts and signals (#proj-, #team-, #help-), an archive pass for the dead (archiving is free and reversible — the fear is misplaced), and posting norms that keep conversations findable — threads for discussions, @-mentions priced honestly, urgency signaled by convention instead of ALL CAPS hope.

What This Skill Produces

• The channel audit — every channel: purpose (stated or guessed), last-activity, overlap verdicts
• The map and naming scheme — the prefix taxonomy, the one-purpose rule, topic lines written
• The norms card — threads, @-discipline, urgency signals, and where-to-post routing — one screen, pinned
• The archive pass — the dead and duplicated archived, with the it's-reversible announcement

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The channel census — the list with member counts and last-activity (export or eyeball); the audit works on inventory, not impressions
• The recurring confusions — where do announcements go? Why are there three design channels? The map answers the actual questions
• The platform's mechanics — archiving behavior, thread culture, the tools available (channel descriptions, pinned posts) — norms use what exists
• The team's @-pain — is @-channel abused? Are DMs swallowing team knowledge? The norms card weights by symptom