diff --git a/backend/danswer/connectors/slack/utils.py b/backend/danswer/connectors/slack/utils.py
index dbbdac5090b..9a0ebb67a9d 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/connectors/slack/utils.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/connectors/slack/utils.py
@@ -143,7 +143,39 @@ def replace_user_ids_with_names(self, message: str) -> str:
                 message = message.replace(f"<@{user_id}>", f"@{user_name}")
             except Exception:
                 logger.exception(
-                    f"Unable to replace user ID with username for user_id '{user_id}"
+                    f"Unable to replace user ID with username for user_id '{user_id}'"
                 )
 
         return message
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def replace_tags_basic(message: str) -> str:
+        """Simply replaces all tags with `@<USER_ID>` in order to prevent us from
+        tagging users in Slack when we don't want to"""
+        # Find user IDs in the message
+        user_ids = re.findall("<@(.*?)>", message)
+        for user_id in user_ids:
+            message = message.replace(f"<@{user_id}>", f"@{user_id}")
+        return message
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def replace_channels_basic(message: str) -> str:
+        """Simply replaces all channel mentions with `#<CHANNEL_ID>` in order
+        to make a message work as part of a link"""
+        # Find user IDs in the message
+        channel_matches = re.findall("<#(.*?)\|(.*?)>", message)
+        for channel_id, channel_name in channel_matches:
+            message = message.replace(
+                f"<#{channel_id}|{channel_name}>", f"#{channel_name}"
+            )
+        return message
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def replace_special_mentions(message: str) -> str:
+        """Simply replaces @channel, @here, and @everyone so we don't tag
+        a bunch of people in Slack when we don't want to"""
+        # Find user IDs in the message
+        message = message.replace("<!channel>", "@channel")
+        message = message.replace("<!here>", "@here")
+        message = message.replace("<!everyone>", "@everyone")
+        return message
diff --git a/backend/danswer/listeners/slack_listener.py b/backend/danswer/listeners/slack_listener.py
index 1470ca0a60a..e96a6457561 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/listeners/slack_listener.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/listeners/slack_listener.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from danswer.configs.app_configs import QDRANT_DEFAULT_COLLECTION
 from danswer.configs.constants import DocumentSource
 from danswer.connectors.slack.utils import make_slack_api_rate_limited
+from danswer.connectors.slack.utils import UserIdReplacer
 from danswer.direct_qa.answer_question import answer_question
 from danswer.direct_qa.interfaces import DanswerQuote
 from danswer.server.models import QAResponse
@@ -65,6 +66,11 @@ def _build_custom_semantic_identifier(
         truncated_blurb = (
             f"{blurb[:_MAX_BLURB_LEN]}..." if len(blurb) > _MAX_BLURB_LEN else blurb
         )
+        # NOTE: removing tags so that we don't accidentally tag users in Slack +
+        # so that it can be used as part of a <link|text> link
+        truncated_blurb = UserIdReplacer.replace_tags_basic(truncated_blurb)
+        truncated_blurb = UserIdReplacer.replace_channels_basic(truncated_blurb)
+        truncated_blurb = UserIdReplacer.replace_special_mentions(truncated_blurb)
         if truncated_blurb:
             return f"#{semantic_identifier}: {truncated_blurb}"
         else:
@@ -118,6 +124,7 @@ def _process_documents(
             blurb=d.blurb,
             source=d.source_type,
         )
+
         top_document_lines.append(f"- <{d.link}|{custom_semantic_identifier}>")
         if len(top_document_lines) >= num_docs_to_display:
             break
@@ -226,6 +233,7 @@ def _respond_in_thread(
             text: str,
             thread_ts: str,
         ) -> None:
+            logger.info(f"Trying to send message: {text}")
             slack_call = make_slack_api_rate_limited(client.web_client.chat_postMessage)
             response = slack_call(
                 channel=channel,