Roblox recently deleted several subforums from the official Roblox forum. The community is currently running protests and typing insults and legitimate questions and criticism directed at the administrators and moderators of the forums. In particular, InceptionTime, one of the staff, has been criticized the most (at least in the forum itself). Before the update was made, users were alerted via direct-messaging in their news tabs. Many posts on the forum were deleted. Though the reason is unknown, the most likely reasons for them being deleted is either because they were using inappropriate language, insulting employees, or just because Roblox staff did not necessarily agree with their point of view (this is speculated very often by the community, particularly those who have been punished or witnessed punishing.)
The official message sent to people via private messages
As seen above, Roblox claims the upgrade was made for the following reasons: It will give a "more streamlined" experience, to make the forums safer, more friendly, and more collaborative. They also seem to expect posters to copy and paste their most prized or wanted posts in now non-existent subforums into one of the still-existent ones. People have criticized and defended the update many times, though the number criticizing appears to be larger than the number of people defending. It is unknown to me why people are aiming insults directly at InceptionTime, but it may be because he is believed to have started the update.
Roblox community member "ZambiPrincessKeeny", presumably defending the update, said this: "In my honest opinion, I think [the new update] could work out if we all just unite as a forum [community], not [criticize it]. Instead of [calling] Roblox News and Discussion...Off Topic, Roblox Talk, or All Things Roblox, we could start new. Use the Forums for talking about Roblox like it's meant for. I understand some people don't like it, but they should just go to a real forum website where they could talk about what they want. Of course this won't happen, but if we use the forum properly, we might have more freedom on the forum. That's just an idea, though...."
Another user, "Nk3214", decided not to attack the update but to ask the staff a question (and go passive-aggressive in the process): "Roblox, can you really handle criticism? That's a big question I have for you guys. Can you handle people criticizing you? Or are you just too scared to admit that there's lots of outcry for certain updates. If you say you can handle criticism, then explain this. Remember that huge petition on the Suggestions and Ideas subforum to stop the forum upgrade as well as another huge petition on Suggestions and Ideas to bring back server lists? Why was that deleted if you say you can handle criticism?Don't give me the 'it was botted' excuse—for one, I can't confirm if the forum upgrade petition really was botted; also, threads being botted isn't an excuse for thread deletion. And don't give me the 'it had inappropriate content/hate speech' excuse. None of the content in the original posts were inappropriate (I read the original posts over and over). Also, criticism isn't hate speech. And I'm not trying to attack you; I'm just trying to [get an] answer [to] a question."
"TheNerdyGaming322" commented in a less aggressive way that seemed more like recalling memories than completely critisizing: "I was in OT in the good ol' days, but they had to do that merge which caused damage."
"FlakyHTFfan1" replied to a post peacefully and wished for things to settle down: "I don't know. I mean, it appears to be okay (now), but, honestly, I kind of miss the old forums. And not to mention how much InceptionTime is being attacked. I feel bad for him, but eventually everyone will (hopefully) settle in and be calm."
"NoodlesTheRules" criticized Roblox and was possibly offering advice: "The forums shouldn't have been merged. It just caused a huge community outcry, causing people to rebel against mods, bot the forums asking for specific subforums back, and harass moderators for doing their job. In my opinion, the administrators in charge of the site and its features should have considered the cons of the merging as well. If you think about it, they might've just not thought about it at all and did this for a bad reason. They just gave us the hilarious and pathetic reason called '[It's] too confusing for newer players.' The newer players don't even look at the forums. They go straight to the games. If they wanted people to stop bullying younger people, they should've made the forums thirteen-plus, just like [before the merge]."
"HonestWholesales" said, "Merging forums that have different 'culture' is a bad idea. Roblox sure loves to 'destroy' us at [a] finest way."
"NESROMMER" seems to have given up, commenting "Yeah, there's no point in complaining anymore."
The following forums were erased from Roblox; however, some consider the update merging and not deleting, meaning the subforums were all merged into one, most suggesting they were mainly merged into what is called "Roblox News and Discussion". Only five subforums are currently present—these were either kept or added. The surviving subforums are "Roblox News and Discussion", "Clans and Guilds", "Let's Make a Deal", "Game Design", and "Scripts". Off Topic was one of the deleted subforums and was often requested to be brought back by the general community.
An example of implied missing of the Off Topic subforum
There were many fairly popular petitions on the forums before the update was released. Users would ask others to "sign" it by replying, often with a certain message. One had got a relatively high number of replies, reaching over one hundred. Additionally, there were some which had also been signed, possibly higher than the one hundred legitimate users who had signed the petition; however, Roblox deleted all of them, resulting in much controversy on the forums which was already present but increased in severity. This caused further rebellion and claims of leaving the platform. Roblox has not been known to respond to any criticism or questions about the subject; their only known actions are to punish and delete such posts and posters. This angered many Robloxians.
A user requests to debate in a civilized manner with one or multiple administrators about the update; he received no staff replies
Many users are claiming to be leaving Roblox due to the update; they likely speculate that Roblox will keep giving out updates that will further upset them. Others are staying but to only protest. Some are fine with the update, and some others even like it. There are many varying opinions on the subject. There are still protests, insults, and rebellions being tossed around the forum. What do you think about the update? Tell me in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
