Implement a way to directly report DevForum Members/Regulars

Forum Help Forum Features
#1

As a Roblox developer, it is currently too difficult to report Members/Regulars for directly breaking the DevForum Rules in different reasons from replies and posts that break the rules.

Case 1:

Let’s say someone had an inappropriate bio (i.e. inappropriate words in their profile) or a shortened link on their featured website. There would be no way to report the select person without directly PMing DET which is inefficient. While this issue does not occur often, it would be great to have a feature to directly flag the person should we encounter a person who has an inappropriate bio or shortened link. This issue would be solved if we could flag profiles just like flagging topics or some other system similar to this.

Case 2:

Let’s say someone created a #resources:community-resources topic that has stolen assets in it. Normally, this would be solved if we just directly flagged the topic and it would get taken down. The only issue with this is that when DET asks for proof and we provide it, sometimes the person who stole the asset gets away with it. I’ve seen one specific person on the DevForum, that I’m not specifically going to point out, who steals assets and claims them as their own. I reported that person more than once and when DET asked for proof I provided the proof. But for some reason though, the person got away with it.

I emphasize Case 2 more than Case 1 because I hate seeing people who steal assets other people created and claim them as their own. Especially since, according to the rules, should mean that the person who stole other people’s assets and claimed they made gets an immediate permanent suspension.

If Roblox is able to address this issue, it would improve the experience using the DevForum since it would make the DevForum a better place for all Members/Regulars of the DevForum.

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#2

Since this forum runs on Discourse, you should suggest this on their meta forum.

#3

Discourse is open-sourced, so I’m pretty sure they can add it themselves. I’m pretty sure there are also plugins that Discourse Plugin Developers make that Roblox can implement to the DevForum to solve this issue.

#4

The founder of Discourse has very warped/opiniated ideas about what features are worth implementing and which are not: Flag User Profile, Not Just a Single Post - #21 by codinghorror - feature - Discourse Meta

Wouldn’t count on it being implemented any time soon for that reason.

Their suggestion is that bad content can’t be discovered if the user has no posts, so there is no issue, which obviously isn’t right for situations where you need high safety considerations like on a forum for 13+.

4 Likes
#5

Thanks for linking that post. I had no idea that the Founder of Discourse was against it, but have what about Case 2 in my OP?

#6

Also, I just noticed that the thread you linked was mostly focused on new members rather than members who have been around for a while.

I created this post for all users. Not just new ones.

#7

I never specified a certain kind of user. The feature request might be intended for spam accounts but the effect of implementing that feature would solve your problem.

You proof of plagiarism probably was not conclusive.

Just ask the original creator to flag it and/or have them send a DMCA complaint to Roblox about it so that the abusive user is properly copyright-struck (after 3 copyright strike violations, their account will be closed). Only the original copyright holder is allowed to send the DMCA complaint.

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#8

Thanks for clarifying. The staff probably should clarify in the rules what counts as proof and what doesn’t.

#9

Not really. It’s really weird to notify staff about a copyright violation on work that isn’t yours anyway. You don’t know whether the user might have licensed the art/code for example.

Best to just always notify the original copyright holder and they can take it from there if they care enough.

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#10

What about if I’m the original creator? It would be nice to know on what counts as proof that I’m the original creator and which doesn’t right?

Also, yes, I agree that the original creator should be notified if their assets were stolen by someone who claimed it as their work. :slight_smile:

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#11

I really don’t think flagging should be the primary way to get content taken down.

This is what DMCA is for. Refer to DMCA, they tell you what you need to provide in a takedown request. This solves your problem because DMCA is a clearly defined process that is reusable across sites.

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