Scratch

NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT PLACE TO POST SPEECHES. PLEASE GO HERE.

Now, you're probably either wondering "If you apply" or "You've already been curator!", but that's not the case with this post. This post is a guide. A guide about curators. I wrote this so I can just link everybody in the curator thread who has an incomplete speech or something.

History of the Curator.
List of Curators
Page about Curators

Now...
What does the curator do? What is a curator?
In regular museums, a curator is a person who selects artwork or scientific models or stuff to be shown for display. But, Scratch is not a museum, so the definition is different.
A Scratch Curator is one who selects Scratch Projects to be displayed on the front page. To select a project as a curator, all they do is 'favorite' it and the most recent three show on the front page.
When a curator is selected, they'll receive an email asking if they still want to be the curator. If they accept, the time will be given to them.

What are the other details of the curator?
The curator has two weeks to show projects. The curatorship starts on a Monday (at least for now). Curators can choose any type of (appropriate) project to display--games, animations, art, simulations, stories, educational, etc. They can choose to show any number of projects, for any amount of time. They can choose three to show for a week because they are exceptional, and then seven more on the following week. They could choose any number, basically. They control the amount of time a project is curated.

What are the requirements of the curator?
•Must have the "Scratcher" status
•Must post a speech or application or whatever you want to call it in this thread
and last but not least (and actually most)
•Must be chosen by the Scratch Team.

What should I curate? (and not curate) (for those who are curators)
•projects you find unique, that stand out and have something distinct from other projects
•fun games or funny animations, just regular projects that are really good
•any project that is maybe not exceptionally good but deserves a front page and has little views
If you are stuck finding projects, you can always:
-put a message in your signature: "I'm going to be curator, if you want a project curated, comment on one of my projects" or something like that
-make a project with the message similar to above, but "comment on this project"
-make a forum topic with a message similar to the first, but "post on this thread if with a link to the project"
-TIP: you should set requirements for these. Because you obviously don't want to curate projects with a lot of views or love-its, and you can save time by doing this, set requirements like: under 50 views or user cannot have been on the front page in the past 3 months or something like that. This way, you won't have to go through all the projects and check, they'll check themselves.
•NOT anything by your friends just because their your friends (although if it's just a regular project that deserves to be curated, go ahead)
•PREFERABLY NOT anything that is by someone who has been on the front page (recently?)
•NOT anything that has been on the front page already
•PREFERABLY NOT anything by a famous person, even if they haven't been on the front page recently
•NOT anything by someone who's trying to bribe you or something (but I don't know who would do that)

Okay, I fit all the requirements and read what a curator does. I want to be one now. So I know I have to write a speech. What do I write in my speech?
Speeches can be written in any format (some were list, some were stories, etc.) but they should all include these key points:
•why you should be curator
•what makes you good for the position
•what types of projects you might curate
•examples of projects you might curate
•politeness
•NOT a short two sentence post saying "seems interesting. I'll do it."
•NOT a post saying "Fine. I'll do it." Remember, curatorship is a privilege, not a responsibility
•NOT anything saying why OTHERS ARE BAD for the position. don't insult others.

How will I know if I get chosen?
There are several ways the Scratch Team will notify you to be a curator.
First is by admin message. It's sort of like an anonymous comment. It appears as a block of text, instead of a link. It's that important 

This is what an admin message might look like. I know they spelled my username wrong, but I don't care 
The second is a comment directly on your project. I saw a screenshot once, but I don't remember where I found it. I believe it was from Paddle2See. Either way, if anyone has a screenshot of a comment by an admin (maybe I'll just make a fake one as an example  ) can you give it to me?
There might be other ways, but I haven't heard of them.

AND...
I think that wraps up everything about curators!
If I'm missing anything or you have any specific questions, just ask me! I'm a past curator so hopefully I should know a thing or two or more about curators. 

For a short little extra bonus info on the wiki, check this page out!

[Here's a random hint: Posting seventy smilies won't get you the position.    Read the post and find out how to improve your speech if it doesn't include most basic parts.]
[Hint #2 by Lightnin: Try not to post a super long wall of text like this post. Ever heard of quality of quantity?

Storytime! wrote:

Once there was a kid. This stranger said (yes, this kid broke "do not talk to strangers" rule) "If you give me 1 dollar, I'll give you 5!" The man was not lying, not at all. But there was a caveat. The man was talking about 5 broccolis! So, would you rather have 1 dollar, or 5 broccolis?

Same applies here. Would you rather have 2 paragraphs of good text or 10 of bad text you are just trying to make long.]
[Hint #3 by Lighnin: YOU CAN REPOST!!! If it's been several months and you haven't been chosen, perhaps repost your speech? But if it's the same speech, it probably won't be accepted. Try to improve on it to have a better chance. added 9/11/12]

last edited 9/11/12, added hint 3 and made reading easier

Last edited by kayybee (2012-09-11 18:53:49)