Update to Developer Forum Entry Process

Updates Announcements
#41

First of all, thank you to the DevRelations team for answering my questions publicly, though I am sure many other people asked them as well.

I know most Members aren’t happy with the new system, and there are three main reasons for that:

a) because we applied, and we applied with some damn cool creations, we spent a lot of time making them, and now people are getting in the Forum “just because they read some threads or whatever”;

b) because in the past we had situations regarding New Members and even Members with unreasonably low quality posts, and thus we assimilated the image of a New Member with these “bad apples”;

c) because we are an elitist community. Yes, I will talk about this because it’s needed ever since the New Members program was implemented, maybe even since the application process was facilitated.

All these reasons are in the past, and it’s time we forget them. Roblox is moving forward, with or without you. In the past RbxDev or DevForum was considered a place for the best, the most experienced developers, the top. And blinded by this elitist view we forgot that the main reason for the existence of the Forum was to improve the relation between Roblox and Developers, to improve Roblox.

Being a member of the discord server for New Members, I can tell you that they are not immature or unable to properly use the Forums. It’s exactly the opposite: they are frequently contributing, seeking to improve and asking if their posts are suitable.

As Lilly mentioned when talking about the application process,

And she’s right. How many friends do you have that should certainly be in the Forums, but their applications were never read, or they never bothered to apply because it took too long?

This isn’t just a remake of the old forums, this is still the Developer’s Forum, and it has always been like that. There was no such change in the intent of the Forum, but rather a clarification.

Regarding the “bad apples”, we are constantly monitoring them. I’m not talking about Top Contributors scanning posts, but about the community as a whole. Whenever we see a bad post we flag it and share with our colleagues so they can flag it as well.

Generally speaking I am happy with the new criteria, but it can always be improved.

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#42

Yep, so that’s how I got here. Hey, at least I did get in. Hopefully with this, we can have more developers join in, thanks!

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#43

I agree, well-written post! :+1:

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#44

Awesome! :smiley:

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#45

Hey, thanks for asking, I will try to answer you as efficiently as possible, though I’m not a Top Contributor or staff and might get something wrong. If I do so, I apologize.

The criteria to be made a Member is quite simple actually, these are four things essential for the promotion:

  • contribute to discussions;
  • fill bug reports and suggestions;
  • avoid unproductive replies/discussions and
  • always keep in mind that we demand top quality posts.

Whenever you follow these four steps, you’re a step closer to becoming a Member. Currently the ones in charge of your promotion are Top Contributors, since they are the ones who sort post scanning.

It’s worth keeping in mind that this will eventually change, in favor of a more effective criteria, just like Lilly mentioned.

If you have any other questions regarding the New Member program, you can always ask a Top Contributor. I recommend you read the FAQ again, because it was recently updated.

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#46

I believe this is the right direction to go. There are downsides for sure but I think the positives outweigh the negative. I was surprised to see I was a “New Member” because all I did everyday was go on the Forums and read about the new updates, scripting support to see what issues people were having to formulate my own ideas for my game. Before becoming a new member, I learned a lot just by going through this forum and now I’m glad that this auto system made me into a New Member so I can now ask questions that others haven’t asked.

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#47

Definitely the right move for our community.
A manual admission process for entry-level developers isn’t sustainable when the community is growing more than ever before.
Thank you for this!

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#48

It’s great to finally be here, I got in by this process, but I don’t really feel like it’s earned. Though I understand why you chose to go this way, specifically for that it makes it easier for other developers to get access to the devforum and share their thoughts + meet new people.

I said I don’t feel like I earned it, but now I have the chance to earn my way into a full member rank within the forums. And that’s very motivating.

I’m pretty sure other people feel the same too and that this helps them see the big picture. It doesn’t stop at “new member”!

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#49

I think this is a great update. I understand complaints about the quality of the forum lowering, but the only way to improve as a developer is through experience, and interacting on the forum is one of the best ways to get new ideas and improve your skills.

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#50

Just to be clear, I am not a developer. I am just a guy that likes reading about new roblox updates and all that jazz. I feel this is important because if someone like me could get into the devforum, this update doesn’t just strengthen the bonds between Roblox and the developer community, it strengthens the bonds between Roblox and the community as a whole. And to that I say thank you.

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#51

Does this mean that the member process has changed aswell?

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#52

Not yet but it seems as if it’s on their mind. Here are the quotations about it:

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#53

I am not sure if this is really a viable option. It seems too easy to go from not being a member to being a new member (<1 day). The process will lead to a lot of people that shouldn’t be on the forum that the automated system won’t catch. I don’t have a purposed solution, but I have a feeling the rate of 5-10 new members per hour will become unmanageable.
Also, not 100% sure how effective the alt detection is considering one of my alts is a new member now.

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#54

Way to go! ROBLOX!
I agree that this was a needed change.

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#55

Not yet, but they are already discussing such changes. A week ago I sent Lilly and Carlos a DM, I will post it here together with their response.

Question:

Lilly mentioned yesterday that DevRel team wasn’t satisfied with the current New Member → Member system, are you able to detail your future expectations in relation to that?

I ask this because some people, myself included, consider it ineffective. As a Member from before the “New Members/Basic users update” I never experienced how it felt to be a New Member, and I believe this is equally valid for the Top Contributors, generally in charge of the promotion.

My question is that how could they be able to properly judge people when they have never been in their position. Of course I understand that the DevForum has rules and expectations which should be followed no matter what, and that the New Member was established to avoid low quality content from Members.

However having to submit a post which might be urgent in another category, publicly visible and unrelated to its objective, for then to ask and wait for other people to change the category is in my opinion very ineffective and retarding.

Answer:

We’re working on a potential solutions in the future, we can’t get into too many details without giving away too much. But I can promise this is actively being discussed

The Developer Forum is an elitist community and you can’t disagree.

I am literally the owner of a New Members discord server, because we, and I include myself, from the Member’s server didn’t want them to be with us. We feared the quality would drop, we didn’t want them because we feared they would be “toxic”, but in reality, weren’t we the ones being toxic? Weren’t we the ones segregating a community because of the period the were accepted in the Forum?

In reality the quality in the Forum never dropped. The Forum isn’t full of people asking “can i have robux pls”. Yes, there are ONE or TWO, posts which slipped through moderation. But I can assure you can’t list ten of these “bad apples”. In a Forum with thousands of posts, what does 10 posts represent? And for that I congratulate the Top Contributors and Developer Relations teams.

Once again, the “New Member” role is only here to guarantee the quality of discussions, it wasn’t supposed to create any segregation. But it did. Not all New Members are “bad apples”, in fact, in a server with over 300 New Members, we have only banned three or four of them (whenever it was serious enough, we reached Top Contributors and Roblox Staff).

The idea of having New Members, is absolutely important. But is it important to review every post they do? Thomas mentioned that the average waiting time is about 1 day, and that’s reasonable, but is it really contributing to the development of discussion?

EDIT: No, I do not think the Top Contributors have been doing a bad job, on the contrary: they have been incredibly helpful and effective to the Forum and I thank them for their efforts. But, on my personal view, there are better ways to promote New Members.

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#56

This is so much easier now! I’m so glad Roblox could find a way around this problem! :slight_smile:

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#57

I would very much like to know the requirements for both new members and to become a member. And I think I won the bet with my friend regarding the automation of the applications, after all I was one of those who received the new member without waiting.

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#58

A Change would be really appricaited!! since i’m being an new member for around 2 years now.

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#59

Does this mean thousands of people will get an rdc invite :sunglasses:

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#60

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I asked Carlos about this as well, however he couldn’t give me an answer.

Question:

If possible, I also wish to be informed of the specific criteria to be promoted to New Member with this new system.

Answer:

Can’t sorry :frowning:

It’s clear however that the process requires you to be interested, reading and liking posts. I believe basic steps include your account having joined a few months ago and having a reasonable “read time” to ensure no one skims through threads to become a New Member. (This could explain why @TheNexusAvenger’s alt was accepted: it joined in 2015, has a 3h read time and 1.4k posts read.)

Lilly has also approached this in the FAQ, it’s worth reading since it’s more insightful than my question.

Regarding how to become a Member, as of now, users can’t be made Members straight away, they have to pursue the New Member - Member path.

There isn’t a post regarding the exact criteria for the promotion, but I resumed them in a reply in this same thread, you can read it here.

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