Update the new topic template in Development Discussion to redirect off-topic posters

Forum Help Forum Features
#1

I know a new Regulars system is coming (or Regulars could be removed) but no matter what happens to the concept of Regulars, if creating New Topics in #development-discussion is going to stay open to regular Members, there should be more cues to users to help them stay on-topic when they create a New Topic. Right now it’s:

This category should only be used for open discussions on Roblox development!

Please use #help-and-feedback:game-design-support if you need help implementing specific game features.

I think this needs to have links to #bug-reports , #feature-requests , as well as the pinned rules for #development-discussion.

I know that all users are generally supposed to read the forum rules before being granted Membership, but this isn’t enforced for individual categories. And I know that this is just a post template, but at least someone making a post will either have to read it and abide by it, or willingly delete it.

Even if Members get to access #bug-reports and #feature-requests, I’m specifically talking about newer users who have just earned their Membership and get cracking to talk about something that doesn’t invite the kind of discussion the #development-discussion rules outline at all.

I think the New Post template in Forum Features is great, actually:

:warning: Only Developer Forum feature requests should be posted here.
Use #feature-requests for Roblox-related feature requests.

Be as specific as possible, give your post a clear and descriptive title, and focus on problems and use cases, rather than proposed solutions.

I think it works really well for the :warning: to make it stand out, as well as the links to the other topics. The language of active verbs starting each sentence is also a big plus, rather than “This category should only be-” or “Please use”.

I believe nobody has asked to update the New Topic Template before. I think this would be a shorter simpler solution to at least push things in the right direction while we wait for a stronger solution for the Regular role as well as how to handle the off-topic barrages.

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#2

These are specifically written to be as short as possible. The amount of content is inversely exponentially correlated to the amount of people that actually read it.

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#3

I’m pretty sure the problem is that literally almost nobody reads them.

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#4

The piggyback off of what @buildthomas has said this kind of non moderation rule enforcement reminder wouldnt really stop anyone since they usually just select all and delete the filler text to create their topic.

I think stricter moderation and tightened punishment (example : temporary removal of posting privileges) would stop this. Sadly I dont see this happening.

#5

That’s true, I never really read these to be honest.

But, development discussion is the only one which I did, and that’s because it’s all bold and everything. It catched my attention, and since DD is horrible at the moment, and since it’s such a small description, I feel like adding stuff about #feature-requests, and others would be great to help on that.

I also think DD is a bit too high up in the DevForum categories. Help and Feedback posts are usually what’s in DD but shoudn’t be there. I think lowering DD on the list a bit can also help.

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