As a Roblox developer, it is currently difficult to use the discussion post category (or any category where this problem is found) when forum users create posts where they ask for clarification on the TOS or a gray area.
The posts I am talking about are the ones that ask questions like “Is X against the TOS?” or “Is X allowed in Roblox?”. These posts are not at all valuable for DevForum discussion, and I would even go as far as to say that they are dangerous to users.
Why These Type of Posts Should Be Against The Rules
These types of posts should be against the rules because clearly, no one can answer them. The average DevForum user is not a part of Roblox’s legal team, so, how would they be able to fill in the gaps of gray areas in the TOS? In an even worse case, if these people are incorrect (which is very likely as they don’t often include sources and spend more time debating the TOS than answering the question), then that information could be dangerous to other readers.
It even seems as if Roblox staff can not often answer these questions, and that is expected. I doubt they would want to speak about it in the case that their response is considered as an official source when it may not be accurate.
In conclusion, many posts like these are made on the DevForum, and seeing as no one can reasonably answer it, I think it would be beneficial to create a rule against these posts.
This (and many other reasons) is why a #general-support categoy need to be added. Obviously with its own restrictions and so, but something like that is really needed
Well but this still isn’t the place. People want to have an official notion of the rules, and we can’t say yes or not to any of those questions - we have no authority nor any more knowledge than they do. We can say “oh yeah, this game was banned for that” or “but all these games do it so it must be okay” but it’s not an official answer and it cause problems. Besides, you’ve seen moderation. It can be pretty spotty. Someone asked about hanging the other day, and I think sometimes these questions can go either way depending on the context of the game. Roblox has human moderators after all, and if enough people report your game they will certainly look a little less favorably towards it. Stabbing is all well and good in Phantom Forces, but a dark game where you are out to stab your family, it’s a lot more likely to get taken down. These are the sort of questions best left to Roblox themselves, and use a little common sense in remembering that your audience is children.
I like your point, but to talk specifically about posts made about TOS, I just don’t think they should be allowed at all because as I said in my OP, very few people even seem capable of answering these sorts of questions. For any gray area’s, I think it would be appropriate to contact Roblox’s legal team. The DevForum just isn’t a place for these topics. Additionally, I don’t think people should really be debating their interpretation of the TOS on the DevForum.
I would think #help-and-feedback:game-design-support would be the fit category for these situations because ultimately these are things they want to design for a game but they are unsure about it. I don’t think there should be a rule against these kinds of topics but a rule of where to put it because it’s better to have reassurance than to be stressed the entire way through.
I would rather recommend a support page on the forum regarding where common issues will go (you can see it when making a topic but a master page is helpful).
No, they shouldn’t be debating what is against or with the TOS since many are just speculating what is true. When one person thinks something is ok, and another does not, it tends because an argument - a back and forth session - of just ‘Is to! Is not!’.
We could suggest another category for these types of threads to be directed to or some sort of support thing like @Bug-Support that people can DM and a real person, who actually knows their stuff legally, will get back to them, instead of just people guessing what is right or wrong. What they reply with can be misleading to others in search of the same question and in return, they don’t get a clear answer, let alone, a right answer.
Would this category only allow for Regular+ to post threads? If members can also post here, should only Roblox staff be able to reply? Or nobody can reply and a Roblox staff will DM the answer and mark the thread as solved?
@VegetationBush This isn’t a question about the game design though, these are very specific questions about what the TOS does or does not allow. I understand that they may want reassurance, but my point is: Very few people can give it to them. The average DevForum user really shouldn’t be commenting on the gray areas of a TOS they didn’t write. My post is very specifically limited to topics about the TOS or gray areas in the rules. If someone gives wrong information, then the reader is the one who could get in trouble for it. Listening to a bunch of people give legal advice for another company’s terms of service just seems like a calling for misinformation and danger.
@CheekyPine I very much agree with your first paragraph, but the reason I would not recommend creating another category for this is that, as I mentioned in my OP, very few people are able to comment on this. Assuming that most forum users are not credible, it seems like most Roblox staff don’t comment on these topics, most likely because they don’t want to or are not allowed to speak directly on behalf of the company. If there isn’t already, I do think it would beneficial to add an official contact method to contact Roblox’s legal department, but I think that it should stay off the DevForum because it has very few reasons to be on a forum.
I do not think these posts should be outlawed however I strongly think (obviously in vain) that people need to stop replying if they have a vague hypothetical answer or apply fallacies for an answer.
There’s been a few occasions where support has directed other developers to the DevForum to get an answer so obviously they trust users well-versed/experienced with the topics or users who’ve done prior research to provide best case answers or staff (DevRelations) to provide authoritative answers. In that manner the DevForum can still be useful for getting an answer.
The problem comes in when users post an answer that isn’t based off of anything except their own thoughts and opinions. There also those who reply with things like “X does Y, so it should be allowed” which taken at face value is dangerous and terrible advice especially if Y isn’t allowed in the first place, thus unintentionally encouraging rule breaking on the basis that Y is “already done”. These kinds of unsubstantiated responses are especially dangerous for critical topics which can result in serious moderation action if mishandled, e.g. paid virtual items (random virtual items and/or gambling).
The other option I guess would be to contact DevRel so they can forward the inquiry for a response but I’m not sure how responsive they are to PMs. Lately I’ve gotten little signal to any PMs I send to DevRel (flagging, non-flag reports or general inquiries). A lot of them are buried in dust.