Update Development Discussion Rules/Regulations

Introduction

In the recent days/weeks I’ve been noticing more and more flags on posts. Now, most of these are in fact legitimate flags, but some of them are not. I think that there are many things to blame here, the user flagging, the author of the post, etc. I think the most important thing is the instructions, in this topic I’ll be going over the reasons why the guidelines for a select category should experience an overhaul in order to be more clear and easier to understand.


The Problem

Unclear rules can cause many problems, I’ve listed some below.

  • Unnecessary Topics
  • Accidental Rule Violations
  • Unnecessary Flags/Reports
  • Confused Users
  • Unnecessary Arguments

Development Discussion

We all know that there is an issue with #development-discussion. Now, lots are to blame here, users that don’t know the rules, false flagging, basically this is the worst it gets on the DevForum. There can be the occasional good discussion, but usually, it’s junked up with topics that are more than questionable. I’ll be going through here and marking how vague and inconclusive these rules can be.

1. Topics should contribute something to developers

Your topics should be seen as a contribution to developers, whether to educate or to engage them. Your topic should be from the perspective of a developer, not a player. This is not a category for any miscellaneous topics.

This is one of the broadest rules there are. Contributing could be sharing my opinion, scrips, models, etc.

2. Topics should encourage discussion

Something simple like a quick poll or question won’t do! Thoughtful discussion will improve the experience of everyone involved.

I could just put ‘discussion’ in the title of my topic and it would automatically qualify for this rule.

3. Topics should be specific

Is your topic too broad and leading to multiple off-topic discussions? Your post should be about something specific, rather than turning into a chatroom setting where replies are hard to follow. For more casual discussion, either directly message developers or use #lounge (note you have to be a Regular first.)

I would say this rule is decent, however, you could modify it by editing Discourse’s minimum word count for creating a new topic. At least 50w+

4. Topics should not be for other concerns

Use #resources to share tutorials or assets. Use #platform-feedback for requesting changes to Roblox or reporting bugs. Use #help-and-feedback for issues with your game or development. For other issues, please contact roblox.com/support .

It’s not clear what an ‘other concern’ is. I could make a post called “What do you feel about Rthro”. Even though his post does in fact concern development, as Rthro is used in, there will be a heated discussion over to flag or not to flag.

Development Discussion: Conclusion
When we take a look back, #development-discussion should be having more strict rules/more clear rules. 98% of the issues caused in the category are based on people arguing or posting on the wrong channel. Most of these issues could be solved by updating the rules to make them more understandable, but at the same time still strict and clear.


Conclusion

The real reason #development-discussion is so chaotic is because the rules are unclear and people use it as a “crap-posting” channel. When they can find anywhere else to put their topic they bring it right to #development-discussion thinking that the keyword “discussion” means it’s a sort of community chat. This feature request is asking that you update the rules of #development-discussion to make them more clear and understandable.

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How is this a problem? Most flags are in fact legitimate. The real problem is the fact that #development-discussion is open for members, and that there is no way to rank up.

This has been asked before, and a former sage, (@buildthomas), brought up a point that people don’t even read forum meta that much anymore.

As for updating the rules, the rules are plain and clear-- not sure what needs updating…

No? Not sure where the logic is in that one…

How is this related to development? This does not have anything to do with development. That sort of post is better suited for #lounge.

Good idea! :+1:

The rule clearly states that contributing means;

That is a perfectly fine rule. I don’t see it as broad.

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Thank you for your reply. I do agree that my request may seem, far-fetched I guess. Some rules are fine to most people. The main reason I made this is that often when a user will say that it’s not in the right place people will start a large argument about why it is/it isn’t supposed to be there. I think a good rule to add which wouldn’t really require any of the previous ones I suggested would be to not argue about the topic’s location inside the topic, take it to a DM, or just flag it for Developer Relations.

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You are referring to mini-modding, for which there is already a global rule.

https://devforum.roblox.com/t/official-rules-of-the-roblox-developer-forum/46429/55?u=incapaz

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I just think the guidelines need more specifics, like what type of topics relating to the Roblox platform are considered okay for “development” discussion. I personally refrain from making topics in this category solely because of the vagueness of the category guidelines.

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The guidelines are separate from the rules. The rules are plain and clear. I somewhat agree with the category guidelines, however. They could probably be improved.

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Oops, didn’t catch that. My bad :sweat_smile:

But I do agree, the rules are very clear and straightforward. Just the guidelines that need some improvements, if they’re improved I believe discussion topics would be more high quality

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I’ve seen several off topic posts in that category that are mainly just discussing roblox updates and what-not. We could do with a guideline/rule change to prevent the off topic “pandemic” from becoming something normal there.

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I don’t agree with updating them-the problem is nobody reads them anyways. There have been posts about rumors and people who don’t understand what they’re talking about probably inducing panic. We need a stricter… something?

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I just thought about this. Would it be possible to maybe make it before you post in every category you are required to read through the rules and until you spend a certain amount of time on the rules you could be able to post.

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Yeah, but this user was already a helpful member(if I remember right, which I probably don’t) but honestly it might be worth it to kick everyone who isn’t regular+ and make them rejoin just for the sake of decluttering
prob not though

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