Add more privacy options to DevForum

As a Developer Forum user, I think that there aren’t so many options for privacy in Developer Forum. In some communities I’m in, people search for stuff in my messages (even on Developer Forum) and if they find something “funny” for them, they share it and I get really disturbed when they do that. Because of this, I searched for a feature like privacy mode in Developer Forum but I couldn’t find an option for it.

I have some ideas.
1- Add a feature like, users can opt out from search bar indexing (their messages won’t show up)
2- Add an option for us so we can make our profiles only visible to Developer Forum members.
3- Make discussion category a member-only category.

I think this would be a great improvement.

PS: Sorry for my English.

I support 2 and 3 (unless you mean “Regular” not “member”, in which case please no if you are blocking replies), but… if you’re really that embarrassed about what you’re writing, then maybe you should post less frequently/put more thought into what you are writing. Allowing the blocking of replies in search hinders users, whether TL0 or TL2, from finding a proper solution.

I’m not, they just make fun of it. I think a lot of people use alts because of this same problem.

This will hurt searchability where people are trying to find a helpful reply you posted.

8 Likes

I should of mentioned that it’s highly unlikely for Roblox to be able to add them as I’m guessing Discourse hasn’t got sufficient options for that.

Since the forum is a public resource, disabling searching for specific users defeats the purpose of the forum itself. Don’t post here if you don’t want people to read what you say, or post more carefully.

I don’t really support hiding profile content to logged out or non-Member users either, this wouldn’t accomplish much since it’s trivial for anyone to log in and become Member if they give it a little bit of effort. You’re not succeeding in hiding anything from anyone except for honest 11 year olds.

I don’t see why discussion should be private to members+, you haven’t made an argument for this.

11 Likes

When people become famous in something, it can be a YouTube channel, a game or something else, they probably won’t want their old messages lying around the forum or just any other platform. They can create new accounts in these platforms but Roblox accounts are more valuable than messaging app accounts (like Discord). Their messages are also contributions to topics so I don’t really think that they should be deleted, but instead, username can be hidden so it’ll be anonym. Users will still be able to read the comment or post.

1 Like

You are right but people sometimes do mistakes. Their personality can change over time (imagine someone being here since they were 13 years old and they are now 20) and maybe they have reputation now and they don’t want their old messages in the platform. Deleting or hiding them isn’t the best idea but I think my last comment can work. What if they just become anonym posters?

1 Like

What if only usernames were hidden?

They should be aware of this situation. People’s mindsets can change over time, some people use the forum for years, and they might want to get rid of their past without changing the account.

If you want to submit a general Discourse feature request, do it at meta.discourse.org instead of DevForum. Roblox staff cannot do anything at this moment of time to help you.

1 Like

You can delete your old posts, but at the cost of making old posts lose context.

3 Likes

Done. Thank you. I hope they’ll add this.

Well I didn’t think that these people will make fun of that so I never needed it. It happened suddently and that’s why I’m asking for that feature. If I post as an anonym, I could be able to rank up etc. it just won’t show who I am.

A nickname system would be good too.

I personally don’t agree with any of the points mentioned here. As PeZ said, this is a public forum, and hiding your posts defeats its purpose.

I especially don’t agree with the last point. This is a development forum, and people who visit the site are here for that purpose only. If you want to have an off-topic forum, either go to Twitter or become a Regular when it’s opened for people once more.

3 Likes

I checked your feature request, and I believe it is already possible to post as an anonymous user. I could be recalling incorrectly though, but if I am not this would be terribly abused. Users could violate the rules anonymously and community/staff wouldn’t know who it is.

Discourse also allows for hiding profiles, however that is disabled here too due to the reasons by @PeZsmistic. My profile is hidden on meta too for no apparent reason.

5 Likes

For moderation purposes, moderators can know the poster’s nickname etc. I don’t think that’ll be a problem.

Right, but community won’t. So someone can keep coming back anonymously. Not sure why we need “privacy” to this extent – just don’t use the internet at all if you want to be safe online.

1 Like

You are right but I think a lot of people use alts for forum and public sites. If they add this, it won’t be a need.

I haven’t had any issues with this until now, you can never see it coming…