I was completely unaware of this…
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I’ll post what I posted on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Kampfkarren/status/1086338300820959232?s=19
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Couldn’t people just find some way to exploit the Activity or amount of posts read?
I can think of some ways this could be botted…
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If botting becomes an issue, I’m sure they will turn off the automated process temporarily.
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To quote the thread where this was announced, botting is not a new problem. Discourse isn’t made by people who are unaware botting exists: there are several checks in place to ensure bots don’t sneak in.
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Now theres too many people. I had to earn my way into this and now anyone can join. Totally unfair.
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I see your point, however the Roblox website isn’t made by people who are unaware botting exists, and yet there are still rampant botting issues.
I guess what I was trying to say is that you will almost never be able to fully make websites secure from exploiters and botting, (as we have seen with Roblox exploiters or the many free Robux scam bots), so will switching this method really make the process any better or more convenient? Won’t the people who are truly qualified and actually want to be on the Devforum show it on their application?
The application that will never be read because there’s several months of backed up applications?
Applications do not scale.
Keep in mind that lead top contributors can only do something about posts that break the rules. Posts in in public updates/etc from the masses that are low quality but not breaking the rules will not be removed, so the OP’s concern that it will become more difficult to get feedback to staff is not affected by lead top contributors. In fact, the post approval process will likely be removed eventually in favor of something automated, so this will extend to features/bugs in the future as well.
If you deconstruct this to something as simple as whether this is a good or bad change, everyone loses. Yes, this was good for users who were gated by the slow application process. On the other hand, a positive feedback loop with staff is a separate issue, and definitely impacted by large amounts of new users.
We should for sure look into making sure developers continue to have a good feedback loop with engineers.
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I think the change is good for the community as a whole since the up and coming developers now have a better platform to share their knowledge on. However, the top few percent will suffer as a result because the skill gap is now much bigger and there is more noise. It is therefore becoming more difficult for top developers to find and engage in high level discussions. Though you could say that at that point it is the responsibility of the top developers to build their own connections and find the right people to discuss development with.
In the (close to) 5 years I have been on the developer forum, I have seen the amount of engagement of Roblox staff/engineers and top developers go down and being replaced with more basic development questions/discussions. For me personally I do not benefit as much from the devforum anymore as I used to, due to the aforementioned situation, but also because I have grown as a developer over those years.
I do not mind the change that much because over the past few years I have learned who to approach when I am stuck on a complex problem. Though the decline in engineer/staff feedback certainly does hurt a little bit and I agree with EchoReaper on that front.
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What if the AI system is used to recognize those actively using the forum, reading posts, engaging, etc, to find users who should be invited to apply. That way, application numbers may reduce, there would be less of a backlog - or if you use the current AI solution as a way to halt applications and , the backlog can be sorted. Once the backlog has been sorted, hire a team to go through the applications, or slightly tune down the criteria so that application review doesn’t have to be so detailed? Either that being paid staff, volunteers or those who are trusted on the DevForums, with each having to justify their decisions on the applications. Yes, OK, it doesn’t scale, but what if you scaled the application review team with the # of applications, or, slow the rate of applications using AI. I feel that AI making judgements on who should and shouldn’t enter the forums is a bad idea, and takes away the quality of the user base. We’ve had real life companies come here to the forums to find developers, we need to keep the DevForum a quality place for professional interaction. From the numerous posts on Twitter, we see how AI can make incorrect judgments on this and how the greater detriment to post quality. AI can be gamed, no matter how good your detection is.
Alternatively, going back to the point of using AI to recognise those worthy of an invite, have a separate discussion area/forum for up and coming developers (or New Members) as SteadyOn said. However, this as well should not be easy to get into, else it will turn into a toxic clone of the Roblox Forums.
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Your post/topic read time is already used to auto-promote you into the devforum as a New Member in the new system
Yes, I know. However, this takes away from the application system, and my point is that AI should be used to see who should qualify for an invite to New Member, not to promote people to it straightaway.
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I believe that you’re correct here, it’s not practical to hire more Developer Relations, but I feel like they set the bar WAY to low on this one. I feel like the bot should take much more into consideration when accepting people, such as ‘hours in studio’ or even ‘place visits’.
I mean it’s cool and all that i’m in the DevForums, but I’d rather have it back to the old ways.
Easily bottable. Look at the Free Robux games, and how they bot their way to the front page. A lot of statistics can be botted hence why AI is a bad solution.
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And the way it is now isnt? I mean yeah you could AFK hours, but Roblox could easily just only count the time when there was input.
Also those free robux games use massive bot nets to front page their games and it costs them hundreds of dollars to just front page a game. They’re not going to bot themselves into the devforum
Making a bot to determine whether or not someone should be accepted into the devforum as a full member by the quality of their posts doesn’t very realistic. How would the bot/AI distinguish between low-quality and high-quality posts and how could the bot distinguish information and misinformation?
I agree with you - the current way is a bad solution. We should use Applications, but allow AI to decide who specifically gets an application. If someone bots this way, at least they are manually vetted by application, instead of instantly allowed access to the Forum.
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Yeah I agree with your point here. Sounds like it would cut down on the backlogging. This sounds like the best solution of all and Developer Relations should look into this suggestion
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(previous post by Kullaske was edited, this reply lacks context)
Yes, due to a backlog. Read my previous posts for a possible solution to this problem.
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