EDIT: To those who read this post in its earlier days, I gave a really strong vibe that like-farming was a reliable measure of reputation and significance, thus gaining likes meant a quicker promotion to regular. With some more experience and maturity, I realize the error in a lot of my wording and have re-formatted this post to be more realistic and mature. It should be more relevant, and I apologize if my unprofessional wordage previously influenced how you think of me overall.
Purpose
Since the outstanding tutorial from @LuckyTux is now outdated, I decided to provide a more relevant how-to regarding the now automatic promotion to regular. For those who don’t know, ROBLOX announced yesterday the automation of promotions to regular.
Since becoming a regular is something that just about every member (and visitor) strives for, it is my opinion that providing them with some helpful tips will give incentive and clarity when navigating and using this site. My goal is to highlight ways to benefit this community with your contributions.
In case you were wondering, this isn’t me re-branding Lucky’s original post. I have gathered statistics, viewed contributions, and put serious thought into this post. While certain aspects of Lucky’s post are still relevant, I am trying to compile all relevant information into one simple thread.
How-to?
Maybe it’s a given, but be active and be helpful. As you may have assumed, you can’t gain likes, solutions, and (most importantly) respect, if your posts are off-topic, rude, or spam. If you want to ensure that your posting is spot on, read the rules!
Reading the rules is very important! If moderation acts have been taken against your account, it is possible that you will not be promoted. Despite this, don’t worry! If you have had a non-inappropriate post removed or have received a strike over 6 months ago, it shouldn’t matter. Moderation against your account doesn’t mean that you won’t be promoted, it just means that the Lead Top Contributors will review it before you will be promoted.
Your goal should be to provide helpful insight for other members on the forums. If you are helpful with your contributions, you will receive likes and solutions on your posts and threads. Furthermore, you should read! Just like becoming a member (where you had to browse threads), you should be doing the same for this!
My final point here is that you need to be professional. If you want the role of a regular, you need to act like one. Sure, maybe some users have hours of browsing time, but when it comes down to it, their posts make no sense and their topics aren’t topics, they’re off-topics. Grammar check your English, be helpful, don’t post when it isn’t necessary, and be kind!
Please remember that being a regular is not some special club that you can flex on people with. If your aim is to become a regular so that you can feel socially more successful, reconsider your motives. Being a regular is a sign of helpful contributions to the community, thus, that should be the goal you strive for.
Perhaps you’re thinking at this point: my goal is to be helpful, but how can I best do this?? I’m going to give a few ways to do this. Most of these are things that I have noticed, though a few others have been noticed before.
Methods!!
As originally told by LuckyTux, there are many methods for gaining membership. Be unique! Choose the one that best fits you! Heck, choose them all ! These are not the only ways and you don’t necessarily have to follow these. They are simply examples of things a helpful member could do. I suggest doing parts of each one, to the extent you’re able. They are all tried-and-true methods.
Method I:
Utilize #development-support! Perhaps I was wrong in saying that you don’t have to follow these - this is kinda necessary! Not only can you ask other users for help on your game (if you’re stuck or need suggestions), but you can help other users with things you know already. If you see somebody asking for suggestions or feedback on their game, go for it! Don’t spend 30 minutes playing Jailbreak when you could spend thirty minutes helping another user! I assure you, if you put time into your response, include pictures, and suggestions, being promoted will come sooner than you think. Besides, if the LTCs suggest using this in your new member welcoming message, it’s a pretty darn good idea to do it.
Method II:
Learn Programming!
Well, if you venture over to my user page, you’ll find that (right now), I have 224 s received and 6 solutions. Not too impressive, but venture to a user such as @RuizuKun_Dev or @colbert2677 and you’ll find that they have thousands of likes and hundreds of solutions. Wow! Why could this be - why are these users’ contributions more significant and recognized? Well, simply put, they’re programmers.
I think it’s safe to assume that we all understand the basics of what programming is. Unlike building, a problem with a code can easily be fixed with one or two changes to text. Also unlike building, mistakes in programming are super common and often hard to find! Due to this, the vast majority of questions in #development-support regard an error in the poster’s script. If you know lua, you can answer these problems conclusively (remember, there’s often only one fix). In building support, most questions are regarding styling and feedback instead of a technical error or problem.
No, I’m not saying to avoid contributing until you learn programming. I’m just saying that a knowledge of scripting is super helpful for making contributions - not just here, but also in categories like #discussion:roblox-surveys and #discussion. With an understanding of rbx lua, your understanding of Roblox as a whole (including building and modelling) grows, thus you can make more useful and meaningful contributions.
Further Note: Please understand that I am NOT condoning “like-farming”. The above paragraphs show one of the most useful ways to help developers.
Method III:
A great method (that few take) would be to put time into some very profound threads. I don’t mean inform the DevForum members on how the tangential component of speed adversely affects your Hybrid Air Vehicle HAV 304/Airlander 10. What I mean is to think long and hard about what some good additions would be to the forums, the development engine, or the Roblox website.
If you can make some really awesome threads about problems and solutions, plugin suggestions, useful suggestions to make the site or engine better, you’ll find a lot of support. Addressing issues such as front-page botting can gain recognition and respect while addressing a serious problem that needs to be dealt with.
This should be done in posts as well. Watch out for #public:public-updates-announcements and ask helpful questions and give helpful answers to those asking! Participate in discussions taking place on threads. If you can give a good and agreeable point, you’re certainly going to get some support.
As mentioned by @LuckyTux in his original post, open-sourcing things you’ve programmed is a great way to gain recognition and respect. If you have a great idea for a plugin, admin console, etc. and you have the ability to make it - consider releasing it for all developers to freely use! This is a great help to the community as a whole and everybody loves free stuff.
Method IV:
Connect! I think @LuckyTux really hit on this one in his post. This community isn’t meant for strict, professional developers to solemnly assist each other! This is a place to build lasting, useful relationships with people like you! Scroll through #public-collaboration:public-recruitment and find jobs to work on! Join a dev team, ask questions!
There are two great ways to do this that I can think of right now. One was first presented by LuckyTux and it’s called the “Birthday Initiative”. Read all about it here! Sending out mass-birthday wishes to random users isn’t the best idea, so I suggest checking for users that have influenced you. Say you notice it’s your favorite developer’s birthday! Well then, send them a message telling them how they’ve influenced you, encouraging them, and wishing them an awesome day! Even if nobody else can see this, it means a lot to developers to see their hard work is seriously changing people’s lives.
Another way, which has been done on-and-off throughout the history of the thread is to welcome users in the introduction thread. I’m sure you can remember when you were new and you were a bit scared that you were going to do things wrong or be looked down on. What better way to spread the love than to warmly greet the new users!! Compliment them, share something with them, offer help, etc. The better they feel, the better you’ve done.
Method V:
Read! While promotion to regular isn’t solely dependant on topics and posts read, whatsoever, it’s incredibly useful. Not only does it give you a lot more information about how forum etiquette works, but you learn more about developing and the developers that you see post regularly. I love going back and looking at old threads from earlier years and seeing the early community, early features, different discussions, etc. You’ll find some rad stuff I assure you!
Little Tips
Along your journey, you’ll find certain posts are more appreciated by your peers than others. Some of these include:
- Voice your opinions as a developer. Maybe you feel intimidated telling a Roblox admin that you disagree with them. Will you get banned? Of course not, silly! How would changes be made if developers cowered in fear when approached. Feel free to type out a well-thought-through argument if you think it’s needed. There have been numerous times when Roblox re-considered and/or changed things based on a vocal majority of developers.
- Showcase your work! If you make something awesome, post it under the current year’s what are you working on [this year’s: w.a.y.w.o.c], under #development-discussion:cool-creations (use Post Approval Process), or ask for suggestions and feedback under #development-support.
Closing Statements
Thanks for bearing with me through this! I apologize in advance for my lack of skill when it comes to graphic design. I couldn’t photoshop my developer friends onto memes (what are friends again?), so I settled with ordinary memes.
Jokes aside, I hope this gives the newer users here some helpful incentive on getting started! Feel free to ask any questions you have (PM me or ask below) and I’ll help to the extent I can!
Keep putting in some hard effort and you’ll be getting that system message in no time! I’ll be updating this from time to time with new methods and observations, so feel free to check back in! Good luck!