Hello Forum users, I have been working on a game and recently I have found myself going to the forum a lot more and getting lost looking through Truck loads of posts that have nothing to do with my problem. I find it easy to get distracted after writing a post also. It’s the way forums try to capture you by giving interesting information for the reward of a like or two.
Questions
My main questions are:
What can I do to stay focused and not wonder off?
When your mind wonders off, it’s really hard to get back on track.
That’s what i don’t like about this forum.
Why is the forum so addicting?
Many people use this forum for the reward of appreciation. At least %5 of people reading will either know someone who doesn’t actually Develop and just uses it to get respect, or has done that before, or still does it.
This isn’t just the DevForum. Most forums (Discourse specifically) hook you into reading random posts and make you want to constantly check for more as you earn reputation by helping.
I honestly probably use the forum more when I am bored for browsing cool creations, instead of an actual resource when I am stuck. However, it does provide a bit of inspiration for future projects.
I mean mostly what everyone uses devforum is to get known, help others, or look for a new job. And I am that person who does all of that. Devforum is like a place for me to interact with people and help others out! It’s a place to look for help on any developing based on ROBLOX and getting to know other community members!
True, but it really isn’t the best resource for serious work on big games. Although many helpful people and posts are here. How do i avoid getting off-topic when searching for a post while working if that factor is also being played?
Only if you let it be one…? A little bit of self control can go a long way, and I don’t think I’d be wrong in saying that people who get distracted by the devforum probably also get distracted easily by other things.
There’s nothing that can or should be done about this. You browse the forum at your own will.
For me, it really isn’t as I use it to post some of my creations, features, and bugs. But most importantly, contributing to the community on what I can do and what I think about others.
This is a head-scratcher, but you could maybe learn something new in #resources and #resources:community-tutorials on the forums, or maybe create new topics on what you made or discussion?
I don’t know why it could be addicting, I have never seen someone so addicted to a forum of development, except if you want to contribute or ask questions on some things.
Forums are meant to capture readers and stick them there. Even i have this problem as i leave the Forum Open All day And because of Covid Spend a lot of time on it. Like an unhealthy 5 hours.
I mean there is no answer to that as that’s what I think of. You’re making yourself distracted in the first-place and searching for new topics. Maybe try to focus on what you are actually looking for and get off as soon as you find the solution! Although I am similar in many ways as how you are when I come into forum, but I take around 2-4 hours off from it and continue with other situations. I get it, it can be tough for anyone who enters forum, but you just have to just have to take some time off and keep your body healthy!
You could try turning on some music as a background noise or maybe put a yt vid in the background while you work. (thats what i do and it helps alot) Or just make a set time where you work for 1 hour, view the dev fourm for 2 and transition between.
I used to really like reading the forum alot, but as I got more skilled as a dev and found my role in the community, I really just started to read less. Now I only use this place as a platform to scroll through jobs opportunities or as a last resort for getting development related questions answered. If your addicted to reading the forum I’d recommend setting an ammount of time you can only read the forum for per day (maybe for example 3 hours of read time per day). I’ve really found a system like this to work for me when I can’t stop doing something. If what I do doesn’t work for you, just do whatever you need to do to get yourself to read in moderation.
Log out, this won’t work for everyone but would work for other regulars, especially since I, like several others mainly only utalize lounge, forum feedback and discussion, all being locked from a guest perspective, adding the log in barrier tends to deviate people from checking.
I would say the forum is addicting because you get to communicate with those like yourself, show off your development work and have fun, in real life except at a few events you will never have a place where 99%+ of the people there are developers, that environment, as a developer is really cool to be in
I used to work it into my work hours, as the devforum can actually be really helpful. Answering other people’s questions and discovering other people’s answers to questions can broaden your knowledge beyond just the stuff specific to your projects.
But nowadays I just don’t really think about it much and tend to just look at a few topics and then hop back off again.
You’ll never completely stop your mind from wandering, mine wanders all the time, but perhaps a structured approach to your projects, using project management tools like Jira, Trello etc and having clear goals each day will keep you focused and stop simple distractions from derailing the entire day.
Also an understanding that a like isn’t that important. It’s not people saying they like you, it’s people saying you provided a valuable contribution to the topic. So it shouldn’t mean so much to you that it’s a big reward that you strive for. I personally browse and post because of the interesting topics and because I’m able to contribute and help other people, not out of a sense of self-achievement or reward.
