Reminder Regarding Permissible Links

[Roblox]

The information in this post may be outdated. Please reference our Terms of Use and Community Standards for more information about off-site links on the Roblox platform.

Hey Developers,

We’d like to remind you of the current and long-standing policy for off-site links being displayed / posted around the website and the language associated with those sites. Here at Roblox, we’re always working to find the best balance between enabling creative and social experiences, while also ensuring a safe and friendly working environment for everyone. Users age 13 and above are permitted to post links within certain content guidelines noted below and to the following sites:

• Youtube
• Twitter
• Twitch

The above is providing that the content linked is appropriate for Roblox and is in-line with our Terms of Service and Community Rules / Guidelines.

(Please note: As per our rules, using any of the above websites to redirect to another website outside of those listed above, or linking content containing inappropriate material, will result in the link being removed and moderation action being taken against the associated account)

Linking of Discord servers and references to Discord on the Roblox website are not allowed. Since Discord’s Terms of Service only allows people aged 13 or older to use their platform and Roblox is a platform for all ages, we cannot risk unfairly exposing underage users to platforms such as Discord. In light of this, we will continue to ban the advertisement of discord servers, any references to Discord will not be permitted through our chat systems. We understand the argument can be made that YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch all have similar policies regarding users under 13, but these platforms also allow users to browse without logging in, while Discord requires you to have an account so people aged 12 and under cannot see the information you are linking. This is the primary reason we are not able to allow it.

We are in the process of reviewing all game descriptions and old forum posts for Discord links and will be removing these descriptions and posts over the next few weeks. If you think that your post or description has been incorrectly moderated, please email appeals@roblox.com with the information on your game and your concerns.

We’re aware that our current chat / messaging and group systems do not allow developers to do all of the things they want for the player communities they’ve established and we are actively working on creating better features and tools in hopes of resolving this. In the coming year look for announcements from us regarding improvements and changes to game description, chat, and group functionality.

We welcome your engagement on these topics. We know not everyone will be satisfied on every feature or policy decision that we make. Please keep all replies polite, professional, and constructive, so that we can all benefit from helpful feedback from our community. If you have any questions about this, please leave them in this thread and our team will respond to them as best as possible.

Thanks,
The Roblox Team

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Edit: Please read these posts for further clarification:

Reminder Regarding Permissible Links

Hey everyone, I collected a few of the questions folks here asked and went out looking for answers. I’m back with these! - Please remember, I’m just a messenger and I’m definitely taking everyone’s feedback/suggestions into account and sending it to folks internally. FAQ First, I would like to mention once again. This rule has always been listed and this is just a reminder to let our devs know about how we are going to be actively removing these from game descriptions. This a…

Reminder Regarding Permissible Links

Hello Developers, We hear your complaints. We don’t like to impose restrictions to your ability to manage or build communities without offering any alternatives. With that said, I highly encourage you to post feature requests geared towards improving the tools we do offer for this. Improving the platform for developers is an important goal, and the best way to accomplish this is to ensure you have the tools at your disposal to be successful. Your feedback is appreciated, Lilly

Reminder Regarding Permissible Links

Hey again developers, At this time, I’d like to reiterate the policy, as it seems to be quite misunderstood. The moderation team is not going to go searching through your social media looking for Discord links. However, do not use permitted sites like Twitter to get around the rule of not using Discord links on the Roblox platform. For example, do not post something like this on your game’s description, “Hey go here! [Twitter link]” when all that’s in that tweet is a direct link to Discord o…

[Azutreo (Azu)]

Actually, you can view Discord server content without registering.

[TheEldritchDreamer]

Was about to say.

Edit: Does this mean that this also applies on the DevForums now?

[Trustmeimrussian]

I just received a 3 day ban for what I believe was a several year or so old discord or gyazo screenshot link post I made (I contacted @appeals and they refused to tell me what the link was…) So since you’re now going back to track all posts with discord links, can we then assume that a majority users will be receiving a similar punishment for breaking the rule? Because in my opinion it’s a bit severe and unfair to ban for posts made so long ago…

[KnightGaladeld]

This rule is for the Roblox website. We are less strict on the Developer Forum.

[TheEldritchDreamer]

Ok thank you

Edit: Do Discord links include ID’s and such? ID’s are less likely to be used and aren’t clickable.

[KnightGaladeld]

I will message you aside to get the steps on how this is possible. Thanks for letting us know!

[Lightlimn]

I agree that Discord shouldn’t be permitted to under 13s because anything can be posted on there, really - though considering Twitter and Facebook etc. are allowed to over 13s, it should remain open to them. I hope the upcoming group changes will help and I expect that they will, buuut I don’t think I’ll switch too easily. Discord is really good for getting an active community, but if the groups on Roblox were made significantly better to that standard, I’d be much more inclined to use them. I guess we’ll see how it turns out.

[Polyhex]

I got a warning yesterday for a link I posted on the forums in 2008 (almost 10 years ago!), which is a bit beans. Are there plans to either make moderation work better regarding super-ancient content, or dump inactive forum threads maybe?

EDIT 11/30/17: It just happened again. This is incredibly frustrating.

[EchoReaper]

@Roblox

We’re aware that our current chat / messaging and group systems do not allow developers to do all of the things they want for the player communities they’ve established and we are actively working on creating better features and tools in hopes of resolving this.

What has the missing functionality been primarily identified as? Formatting such as bolding/italics are definitely missed on Roblox, but the largest incentives of Discord for me are the ability to communicate without filter false positives and being able to share media without a 10+ minute approval process.

Is Roblox looking into finding an image sharing service similar to YouTube that is appropriate for all ages and can be linked on the site? Is the filter going to see a significant improvement in false positives?

[Vritix]

@ShapeDemBricks

Edit: Do Discord links include ID’s and such? ID’s are less likely to be used and aren’t clickable.

I would like to know this as well.

In my case, having a Discord server in order to communicate with fans, or even group members is a must. It allows me to hear any suggestions they have, or for bug reporting they find in games, etc…

[TheEldritchDreamer]

Exactly!
I only recently started a Discord community channel for my devgroup UniDev and it’s literally the base of keeping us running right now. We can hear feedback on our project, but not just that, we’re able to make a great community without having to wait till the groups have been fixed.

Besides, if Twitter links are allowed and someone has put a pinned tweet saying ‘Join our Discord!’ with a link going to the exact same Discord channel, how’s this going to make a difference?

[Azutreo (Azu)]

Valid point lol. And, good discord servers have moderators and such that should be able to keep non-pg info out

[chesse20 (ChesseThe FluffyWasp)]

it says this right in the op that you arent allowed to use twitter to link discords

[TheEldritchDreamer]

Exactly. My channel doesn’t even have non-pg content text-channels. The deepest we go is an #excessive_memes channel, but just as every other text-channel, it’s all being monitored by multiple moderators to keep inappropriate stuff out.

[Vritix]

Yeah, I’m currently in the process of creating a new game for my own game studio and having a discord for the community is very important for the overall game.

They honestly should set up some type of system in which you can link social-media platforms to your group (kind of how you can link your twitter, youtube and twitch on your profile). And be able to have age restrictions on them, for example:

• A user over the age of 13 would be able to see the linked discord server on the group.

[TheEldritchDreamer]

Okay… But that’ll bring more of a conflict here.
My Twitter is linked to my Roblox account, which is allowed. (@ShapeDemBricks)

But, if any of my tweets contain a Discord link, it’s instantly not allowed? How’s that going to work.
Does that mean that now everyone with a Twitter linked to their Roblox account containing a tweet with a Discord link is instantly banned? I’m afraid that’ll get rid of many famous developers here.

[Azutreo (Azu)]

If so, that’s conflicting lol

Edit: I think they were talking about redirects.

[rachjumper (rach)]

so we’re banning for using the best group/chat system available to us BEFORE implementing an alternative?

discord is the best to way get out information about my game to an audience that’s actually interested, keeping them up to date on features, patch notes, etc
all the while being able to talk to and provide feedback straight to the developers

if you’re really going to start banning for this you should have viable alternatives in place
groups need a complete overhaul and I need more features in place so people know what’s going on with my game

being able to @ everyone and say “hey big update/thing happening/stuff, go here” and get 100+ people in a game to help test is invaluable

[IndustryDev]

@Roblox

Linking of Discord servers and references to Discord on the Roblox website are not allowed. Since Discord’s Terms of Service only allows people aged 13 or older to use their platform and Roblox is a platform for all ages, we cannot risk unfairly exposing underage users to platforms such as Discord. In light of this, we will continue to ban the advertisement of discord servers, any references to Discord will not be permitted through our chat systems. We understand the argument can be made that YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch all have similar policies regarding users under 13, but these platforms also allow users to browse without logging in, while Discord requires you to have an account so people aged 12 and under cannot see the information you are linking. This is the primary reason we are not able to allow it.

This honestly frustrates me so much.
Development communities, gaming communities, twitch communities, group communities, war clans, clothing groups…all of them have it.
Some of these ROBLOX discords have TENS OF THOUSANDS of members on them.
Discord has become such a huge staple of the ROBLOX community off the site, dare I say as huge of a part of the ROBLOX Community as Twitter.
The removal of the ability to post links to discords is essentially ROBLOX grabbing a huge part of its community and setting it ablaze, destroying it.
I honestly could not imagine ROBLOX as it is today without discord. And while this wont permanently destroy the community, it will definitely puncture a deep hole in it.
I’m seriously hoping ROBLOX takes this a lot further into consideration.