I am a neurodiverse person with a attention span of a puppy and personally, flairs have been very distracting for me. Colorful circles naturally draw attention to themselves more than dull colors and even when trying to focus on reading, my eyes just instinctively shift to the flair. I know some other people who also have this issue. This in a way stops people from joining actual meaningful conversations as flairs distract from the text.
Another thing that I have encountered since, was people claiming that they’re “prized developers” because they have flairs.
I have been hiring outside of the devforum recently for something very small and some of the applicants were devforum members. Their reasoning for hiring them was “I am the best developer you could find because I have a DevForum builder flair!”. I won’t be showing the messages as I don’t want to accidentally bring those people out of the woodwork, but there are people who see the flair as an affirmation for being “elite” at something they do.
If Roblox either removed or made it possible to hide all flairs from being seen, this would make my experience on the DevForum better. It would make people less incline to try and throw their “weight” around and claim to be amazing developers because of a feature accessible to everyone. It would also make the DevForum more accessible to users who have issues with their focus.
While I agree with the statement that some people may have a tough time reading the main content (I had ADHD growing up but learned to control it), I don’t agree with removing flair completely.
Having a setting to disable flairs for each user would be a great way to solve this problem and make it easier for users to navigate the forum.
As for the people claiming to be the best because they have flair, it’s kind of on each individual trying to hire people to check the qualifications of someone beyond them just having a little icon on a website. Any time someone claims to be any thing to me, I go to their profile and check that they actually are, or trying to find a place where I can see if they are who they say they are.
I definitely don’t support removing them altogether. Despite what some users might be saying (and really you can fact check or ignore those people), they’re useful for showing off two different skills you have, or a language community you belong to.
However, more customization, or more options etc., is always better. I definitely support a way to disable, remove, or hide them.
In the meantime you can add this to a Tampermonkey script (you will have to refresh every time you click a DevForum link but if it affects you this much then you would probably be interested):
Code
// ==UserScript==
// @name Hide DevForum flairs
// @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version 0.1
// @description try to take over the world!
// @author You
// @match https://devforum.roblox.com/*
// @icon data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
// @grant none
// ==/UserScript==
(function() {
'use strict';
var items = document.getElementsByClassName("avatar-flair");
for (let i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
items[i].remove();
};
})();
Completely disagree with this - the flair adds extra customization to a developer’s appearance on the forum. Flairs do not detract from a conversation, much like avatar profile pictures do not detract from a conversation.
And it’s common sense that you should verify credentials before interviewing & hiring someone. You’re using profile flairs as a red herring for issues that have existed since the advent of these forums.
I will say however that the colors could use some adjusting - ideally all the flairs would be the same dull grey background color, kind of like what you see with the staff roblox logo flair. This would make them more consistent with the site’s themes.
In my case I have checked those people out and already declined their services when they told me about it. I gave this as an example as not everyone is as smart as you two and think “if Roblox approved, yes I can hire as well!”. I’m not as dumb as you two seem to think I am lol
No one is calling you dumb, please do not derail the discussion with off-topic opinions.
Someone having a flair or status is not “Roblox approved” - you already have this with title flairs, you can show off the groups you joined. User information is user created. It is not the forum’s job to make sure people hiring understand that people can lie about their skillsets online.
I wasn’t saying you specifically.
Like you were saying there are others who have a problem reading the forum because of something like ADHD or other causes.
I was stating that everyone who’s looking to hire someone on the forum should look into who they’re hiring.
Actually I don’t fully agree on this one because it would definitely be harder to distinguish a normal user between a roblox admin at a first glance, since admin icon is just black background and white roblox logo. This issue was also discussed in this post where InceptionTime made it clear that the flairs are not getting removed for now.
Well, they could maybe use a little darker background color to not make it too distracting for some people as the OP mentioned.
The color would probably be a different subtle color then, I was just using the admin color as an example. Overall they shouldn’t have the vibrant colors they have right now since they clash with the site’s themes, namely dark theme.
I don’t think any sort of grey / black should be used as people may mistake it (at glance) to the Roblox logo. Also, the event organisers flair (an intended flair) is light blue.
Just if you aren’t aware, the flairs seems to be based in the group’s icon, meaning if you make the flair dark you’ll most likely make the group icons dark.
I agree with this. I hadn’t seen the flair post so when I saw the icons I got confused, until I found out what it was. I don’t like it because the extra color makes me strain my eyes to see it, there’s dark mode for a reason.
I agree with the idea of being able to hide flairs as they are quite distracting, but i disagree with the removal of them as they allow a developer to express themselves even more. I’m a light/color sensitive person so seeing these really bright colors with a dark background does give me a really annoying afterimage that remains for a long time, this often impairs my reading.
I agree about being able to hide them or make them less noticeable, but I am personally strongly against removing them outright, if anything, I know it’s been stated but having that extra bit so users can better express themselves is always good to have… Although there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement on this one…
I believe there should be an option inside of preferences to disable flairs. That would be the easiest solution for anyone who doesn’t like them. Besides, it’s only cosmetic.
100% agreed. As someone who has ADHD, it’s a problem for me too. Every time I go to the next line of what I’m reading, my eyes always go back to the flair, where I’ll stare at it for 10 seconds and go back to reading.
That’s like saying blue is the best color or that dark mode is more readable than light mode. It’s based on preference, not facts. You can’t just dismiss that some of us have ADHD or neurodiverse personalities and tell us that we’re wrong.
Personally, I don’t see exactly what the point of it is when there’s already a tag that says your preferred job title next to your name.
However, my own personal issue isn’t so much the attention span. It’s the way people are abusing this feature.
As you’ve already mentioned, people are using it as a fake verification, making themselves look like a more valuable programmer, builder, etc., than others, especially when they blend in with Roblox Staff flairs.
I maybe wouldn’t mind country flairs as those seem to blend in a lot better, but the skill-set ones are just too distracting for some and can be abused.
While the flairs generally don’t distract me while reading, I do think they’re pointless, too flashy, and a bit of an eyesore. The ability to turn them off would be nice.
Don’t understand the point of feature request. Getting distracted while reading? Well I’m afraid that isn’t a valid reason for removing flairs. It’s a YOU problem. It’s like saying, ‘ooh I’m getting distracted so we should remove flairs, because I’m getting distracted.’
Does it matter? After all an employer has to investigate, and pretty sure all employers are mature enough to not consider ‘having a flair’ as a plus point.
It isn’t just a “me” problem. There are other people who do mention that Flairs are also distracting to them in the replies. I have also mentioned it in the post itself. This is a very ableist response to something that people do actually struggle with. If not cus they’re distracting but because of their own conditions that make using bright flairs on a dark themed website harmful as it was also mentioned:
Yes, but as mentioned in the responses, not everyone is smart enough to look. Yes, you may be but not everyone thinks in this way, especially when they are younger and more gullible.