Scratch

Some people only sign up to view the projects, and be able to use the flash player. This isn't really a good idea.

TRocket wrote:

TorbyFork234 wrote:

Some people only sign up to view the projects, and be able to use the flash player. This isn't really a good idea.

yeah, i know a few people who only have an account so they can download projects

No kidding, my account was originally intended for project downloading only when I first started because my programing professor wanted us to download some project and play around with them. I probably would be annoyed if I couldn't comment on the forums to get help with Scratch if it suddenly crashed in the middle of an assignment.
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But it's not to say that project-less accounts don't have restrictions already. Project creating is a requirement for someone to change from New Scratcher to Scratcher, and New Scratchers have limitations on what they can and cannot do. Grandfathered accounts (that is, project-less accounts that are considered to be Scratchers because they were created before the New Scratcher restrictions were put into place) also have restrictions as well.

It is sad that we have tons of spammers who never even downloaded Scratch; just came to the forums to spam. That's probably a nice percentage.

I don't think anyone needs to take action unless someone is doing something wrong. Having no projects doesn't neccessarily mean you don't use Scratch.

tlangster wrote:

Lucario621 wrote:

I think Cheddar makes a good point. Do you have to make videos in order to make a YouTube account? Do you have to make status updates to post on Facebook? Do you have to tweet to use Twitter? Not really. Making projects is only one of many ways to interact with others on the Scratch Website.

Here's the thing, though. This isn't YouTube. This isn't Facebook. This is Scratch. If a whole bunch of people don't make projects, they aren't contributing to the Scratch community. In a way, all they do is take up server room with their account information and they "leech" off of the Scratch website. You get what I'm saying?

And if you need to know why Scratch is different from other sites, here is the golden fact:

Those sites have different purposes for accounts. Whether it be for advertisements, promoting user-content, or other things, it's not Scratch. Furthermore, Scratch is for people to (as it says right on the top of the page here) imagine, PROGRAM, AND SHARE. And it's a lot easier to imagine when you're programming.

Besides, what's the harm in saying "Make a project - even a very simple project to say 'Hello World' before you go and start downloading and commenting on apps."

Honestly, do you really need to make projects to download or even comment! They can't SHARE their opinion. They can't SHARE their interests! Cheddar brings up a good point that that is why the New Scratcher status was created.

What if their computer isn't compatible and cannot upload projects? And what if a scratcher needs help on their first project? They can't ask for help on the forums?

This isn't a great idea... New scratchers can't do enough already. And I see tons of posts saying they have issues downloading scratch. This would be like SOPA's great-grandson that is not international. Few will get the metaphor... Because its a stupid metaphor...