ROBLOX is an interactive platform, no user to user communication just turns it into a marketplace. A lack of or poor moderation should not excuse bad decisions.
No one wants to add other users for an inquiry. Let alone send entire paragraphs using the Chat system.
If user safety is a major concern, precautions need to be added.
Metaphorically, if a bridge is unsafe but necessary for people to cross, it shouldn’t be taken down without providing an alternative.
That’s an exaggeration considering you left the idea of the main source as ‘experiences’. Nothing here is really black or white, and the decisions look more greyer than you think.
This feature still shouldn’t be removed until a replacement is made. The Announcements feature you mention is tied to Guilded and therefore requires users to be 13+ to (publicly) reply to the announcements within Guilded, even if they can see and upvote them on Roblox. The Communities feature does not exist yet, and its implementation is still unclear. Fix the spam problems, not remove the feature or make it exclusively for you. You are removing the only way to contact a Creator directly on-platform.
Everybody I know either didn’t use the messaging system or didn’t read their messages. I guess in hindsight I should have seen this coming even if I used my inbox every day.
Looking forward to what groups turn into. I think they could be more powerful than our inboxes ever were.
Re-posting from this thread
I use the messages for contacting many UGC creators to retrieve permission to use their accessories in GFX / animations, etc; many of which have not connected any (contactable) social media to their account and are not present on the DevForum. The messaging feature has actually come in handy multiple times with a significant number of creators responding and granting me permission through the Roblox message.
The removal of this feature leaves me with no reasonable way to get that permission. This doesn’t just affect UGC permission cases, but it also impacts genuine cases where a player may reach out to a developer to ask questions or report a problem. Despite what many may believe, many creators do reply to messages they receive.
I understand if the feature is old and run-down, but there has to be some way to modernise the feature, right? In fact, just to get the ball rolling, here are a few things that could be changed to update the feature:
If Roblox could simply change the above (and perhaps even add new features like basic markdown and image support?), I believe it could truly revitalise this feature in a modern-day Roblox and more importantly, remove the need to remove a feature that is ever so important for the users who use it. Removing this feature unfortunately hurts developers such as myself who genuinely need to reach out to creators for legitimate means.
I joined Roblox in 2011 and back then, the messages feature was widely used because the message user button was prominently displayed on profiles. When Roblox changed that and put the message feature beneath the little three dots menu where the follow and block buttons are, that is when the messaging feature began to be used less and less. Since it wasn’t easy to find, new users did not get used to using it. It also did not help that Roblox forced many users, I assume due to their ages, to switch their inboxes off in their privacy settings. I recognize that the inbox can be used for scams, etc. but I do not believe removing it is a step in the right direction. The under-use of this feature is a problem created entirely by Roblox itself, not by users not wanting an easy way to communicate with one another. For scams and bot messages, rather than removing this feature with no replacement, Roblox should simply improve its famously terrible moderation system. I report every scam message I receive and I have never seen the sender (always bots) get terminated or in trouble for it.
I use this feature frequently and do not believe its removal is helpful for the player base nor do I believe it is a step in the right direction for the future of the platform.
Its just seeing that big red dot above the message icon and then reacting,
“oh no, what does Roblox want from me now?”
Could we perhaps get a built in method for ingame bug/suggestion reporting, outside of messages, only other options are to get the player to join a Discord server (not ideal 100% of the time, also under 13 users cant see the invite link), or make a webhook to fire to a discord channel with the info, which has rate limits, and is frowned upon by Discord, can cause bans. With the new creator page, a tab showing suggestion, bug reports, etc, would be easier, and allow an option to even message back somehow?
Very low amounts of people actually use the inbox for a helpful purpose so I think that this is a good change. It’ll also bring in some little inconveniences, but over time people can just learn to communicate with someone using the profile links, such as Guilded or whatever people have on their profiles.
Tl;dr: not a widely used feature, especially at the moment I’m pretty sure most of the inbox traffic is just spam, so it’s a better change for everyone even if it brings some inconveniences in short term.
Public Forums → No effort on Roblox’s part to moderate → deleted (2017)
Oof sound → Roblox didn’t want to pay royalties to the original creator → deleted (2022)
Public Audio → No effort on Roblox’s part to moderate → deleted (2022)
Personal Servers → No effort to keep backend coding up to date → deleted (2017)
Roblox organised events → Near zero takeup on community feedback → shit events across the board (current)
User Generated Content → No effort on Roblox’s part to moderate → Catalog flood of low-quality, IP-infringing, sexually suggestive items. (current)
Leaderboard and Clans → No effort to update the feature → Deleted and made groups even more redundant (2019)
Tix → No effort to stop botting attempts or glow up of the currency to a workable state → Deleted (2016)
Party feature within Roblox chat → Ridiculously glitchy and not user friendly, no effort to fix these issues by Roblox → Deleted (2019)
Status updates on user profiles → No effort to popularize the feature so users actually use it → deleted (2021)
My Feed page → No effort to popularize the feature so users actually use it → deleted (2022)
Gears → No effort on Roblox’s part to keep backend code up to date → Gears have been broken ever since (current)
Why keep the feature except for us to use? You are just closing.m a feature for no reason. This is ridiculous.
This is just another step of roblox’s own platform being on it’s way to shutting down.
Roblox keeps deprecating and removing systems that “work”, even if they have their own flaws, instead of fixing the flaws, they remove them, without having ANY alternatives.
@sparkling_cola is spot on when it comes to features removed.
Also, PBS (Personal Build Servers) was a big hit, it was also one of the best ways to have auto moderation configs from the game page directly, auto-banning users from your game.
This was removed, and now people have to use external tools, in order for things to work.
Tix and Robux are about to be fully removed in favor of “local currency”.
Tix was removed many years ago, but it was the most fun way to convert from Tix to Robux and the other way.
Sadly roblox removed it because they thought it was for the best.
Now roblox wants to remove robux, because “direct payment” gives roblox a better income.
It will just move to guilded and forums. Also why throw the baby out with the bath water?
Maybe to fix the bad avatars they should completely scrap the catalog next?
Don’t worry, only a matter of time until Roblox announces the removal of those too and says Guilded is the replacement. Instead of fixing the features, remove them!
Low usage, and also meaningful usage.
It can be used to get ahold of old friends.
And what if I want random people messaging me.
And people who conversate using messages can look back at the conversations they’ve had. I still have important conversations from 2012 in messages.
too early. like many have said, atleast release the features first before trying to sunset messages. also, the chat tab isnt really used either, and it doesnt help that it can only be used with other friends.
The whole point of the inbox feature was for people to message non-friends. What’s the point of making this feature only be for friends now???
Then disable ability to see group wall for under 13.
