A consequence of the new automated, activity-based acceptance system is an influx of forum members who are clearly too young or confused to constructively participate in the forum.
Every week or so, a new member appears that posts several low-quality threads, mis-uses categories, and doesn’t seem to understand basic forum principles, despite feedback from other users. Unfortunately, due to DevRel’s hesitancy to remove anyone from the forums (presumably to not appear unfair), the task of cleaning up after the user is left up to the LTC’s for days or even weeks on end.
To rectify this, I’d like to propose that if a newly added member makes multiple bad threads (poor structure, bad/confusing ideas, spam, etc.) and clearly isn’t old enough to use the forums, they get removed to let them age up before returning. There’s a fine line between an adjustment period where a user learns the ins and outs of the forums and someone who downright doesn’t understand what’s gong on, and it keeps being crossed with very little being done about it.
This has been a big problem in particular. A lot of threads have been forwarded to Lead Top Contributors to take down because of being posted in the wrong category. Any discussions about the bug then get unlisted or end up being duplicates of existing threads that post approval would find. Overall, it is a major waste of time for us to keep on dealing with.
You are going to remove someone on the basis of age? That is quite unfair. There is already a well-made moderation system for low-quality posts. We must remember that the dev forum is a place to learn and get better. Simply banning them because we view them as “underqualified children” is silly and does not help anyone, in the long run. If a rule is broken, the moderation system will deal with it via feedback or strikes.
we can’t remove someone simply because we view them as “too confused to use the forum”
It doesn’t say they will remove them because they are too young. Instead it states that they are too young to understand how to properly use the forums. There is a difference - One is being biased and the other is removing someone because they do not understand how things operate.
I really like this idea. I think something they could add on is force the new member to create a fake topic (one that only the new member can view). What will happen is they will create their first topic that they can only see, and there could be instructions on how to make it. They would have to follow the instructions. This way, it could also introduce them on how to use different font sizes, include images, etc. that they might skim over if they do not read how to use the forums.
Nope. That’s the rules of the Forums to you my friend. You need to be over 13 to be here. If you’re not then you’re obviously breaking the rules by default.
Global Rule 14
14. Our community is gauged for Developers aged 13 years and older. Therefore there should not be any references to illicit or extreme content anywhere on the Developer Forum. This includes (but is not limited to) adult content and use of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco.
14.1. You may not post NSFW/adult content on the Developer Forum. Intentionality is a factor - anything that is borderline or questionably NSFW will be considered unintentional, whereas any post that is very clearly NSFW will be considered intentional.
The older you become, the more problem solving you will become (usually). So, someone who is older might think about how to properly create a topic and make it look professional, rather than someone who is younger may rush through it and create a mesh of just random words and not properly knowing how to express their idea(s). It probably wouldn’t restrict someone to a certain age, but mainly until they mature and learn how to properly create a topic. There is not an exact age for this, obviously, but someone who is older, say 17, may create a topic more professionally and express their thoughts than someone who is a few years younger. Not saying this is the case 100% of the time, but this occurs most of the time.
You’re not allowed to be here if you’re under 13, probably for some legal reason, but also because age is a reasonable (not perfect) way to determine maturity.
The developer forum is a place to learn and get better and programming, building, and other aspects of development, not grammar and basic forum usage.
The entire point of the admission process is to filter out underqualified and underage people, and if a mistake is made, it should be fixed.
The problem here is that there aren’t any real consequences for being a general nuisance, because that’s hard to properly outline as a rule, so the user only receives feedback–and the point of the policy would be to remove people who don’t listen to feedback provided because they’re too young to understand it.
The are plenty of low quality threads made by repeat offenders that serve little to no purpose to the forums - threads that certainly aren’t in any way educational, and threads that definitely don’t create constructive discussions - two key pillars to the forums overall purpose. And what happens to users who do this? Not enough, obviously.
Besides, we’re done talking about the age restriction. It’s 13+. Period.
I completely agree with what you said. As someone who uses the forum on a daily basis, I see loads of posts that are either poorly written, in the wrong category or are simply threads from people trying to start a “how was your day?” kind of discussion in the #bulletin-board.
I’ll be completely honest with you, I don’t understand their hesitation. If this is about the number of new members on the forum then I don’t see the point. This is a website open to anyone that’s willing to use the forum (and is 13 and over) and there are -many- people that get promoted on a daily basis. Dropping 1-2 person(s) weekly due to them being underage (or straight up trolling) isn’t going to hurt the forum at all. It’d send a clear message to everyone that staff takes the rules very seriously.
As someone who sorts by latest, it hurts to see the influx of young users who are unable to use the forum properly. Obviously those off-topic and inappropriate posts properly get flagged quickly and removed or closed shortly after, but if no action is taken it will keep happening and that greatly reduces the enjoyment I get out of using the forum. Especially now that almost anyone can join the devforum without any vetting process, there will always be a few bad apples that get in. Hesitation to remove any bad apples will only degrade the experience for those who do use the forum properly.
I have already muted a lot of the sections I am not interested in, but there is only so much we can do as users to find meaningful topics when these users post in wrong sections, bump posts that are years old or derail topics. I am completely honest when I say that my forum activity has gone down quite a bit since the new application process and I do not wish for that to go down even further.
I think it is definitely time for some improvements.
The DevForum is meant to be innovative and constructive; it’s always disappointing to see users unintentionally take advantage of their capable abilities.
I’ve wanted to propose this idea for quite some time, but I’ve found it effective to stay quite about this, thinking that someone would propose this.
These young users do not tend to successfully manage on the DevForum, so they may have mixed feelings from user responses, feedback, and relevant criticism, since <13 are sensitive to these statements.
I definitely hope this gets noticed, and I hope this can improve the overall thread quality seen on the DevForum.
Seen the posts prior to mine—I’m talking about <13 we currently see, and how suspending their accounts on the DevForum would definitely improve post quality, and improve the safety of the DevForum.
I definitely agree with this. The wait to join the forum (for me) was over 3 weeks. If there’s an individual who’s visiting the forum for so long, seeing the kinds of posts being made, reading the rules, and getting the atmosphere around the forum, they really should be able to use the forum maturely. If not, then the actions proposed are very fair.
I read Development Support for fun (don’t judge me) and something like 90% of the posts are obviously by underrage children that have no idea what they’re doing. I love to help people, but it’s hard to actually find threads with real problems when half of the topics are “How 2 Skript AntiH4Xx” or “R8 My Low-P0ly BuilD”. The problem becomes worse when I actually need help with something and have my topic buried by such low-effort questions. When I do get a response, I find it’s often they’re from some kid with poor grammar giving me completely irrelevant answers.
Don’t even get me started on other sections like Public.
