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#1 2007-07-04 17:52:17

brightonbell
Scratcher
Registered: 2007-06-25
Posts: 4

Website Moderation?

This is more of a question for the Scratch website administrators, but I would welcome others opinions.  How much is the website moderated for abusive/rude language or inappropriate comments and games?  What happens to a project if it is flagged as inappropriate - how long does it take for this to be picked up and dealt with?  Can users be removed if they prove to be persistently abusive? 

I am interested in this, as Scratch is aimed at 8 to 16 year olds, which means the website is (mostly) aimed at them too.  It is comparable to the CBBC site that the BBC runs which has fully moderated message boards and strict rules about usernames etc (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/mb/rules.shtml for their full set of rules).

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#2 2007-07-05 11:11:50

andresmh
Scratch Team at MIT
Registered: 2007-03-05
Posts: 1000+

Re: Website Moderation?

When a project gets flagged as inappropriate an email is sent to a person in the Scratch team. The project is removed if it contains pointless violence, unkind words or very poor taste. Also, the flag is recorded in our database and if a project reaches more than certain number of flags it gets automatically deleted. This decision can be reverted by the administrators if the project is not considered inappropriate.

Unfortunately, more than 50% of the emails we get are false positives so we are going to start asking people to describe why the project is inappropriate otherwise the request will not go through.

Of course, it is very challenging to decide what is OK and what is not OK. Even within our team sometimes we do not agree.

In the future, we are going to implement a karma system that will assign different levels of trust to each user based on their actions. This way high-karma individuals might be able to delete a project while votes from low karma users will have a lot less value. How to gain and loose karma points is to be decided.

Thanks for the link to the BBC rules. Some of them seem very useful other seem overly restrictive.


Andres Monroy-Hernandez | Scratch Team at the MIT Media Lab
on identi.ca and  twitter

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#3 2007-07-05 11:39:50

DrJim
Scratcher
Registered: 2007-05-26
Posts: 100+

Re: Website Moderation?

Scratch Team

Once again, I am impressed by your dedication, the openness with which you discuss your decision making process and the quality of the thought that goes into any final decision - including those on very complex issues such as this one.  This may be as great a contribution to the educational process as Scratch itself.

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#4 2007-07-05 17:45:23

brightonbell
Scratcher
Registered: 2007-06-25
Posts: 4

Re: Website Moderation?

hi Andres, and thanks for your detailed answer!  I too am impressed with the openness of your decision making process.  You guys are doing a great job with the website and Scratch as a whole. 

Just to let you know, we used Scratch for the first time yesterday in school for a whole day one off special activity as part of what we call Enhancement week.  We used it with year 9 (13 to 14 yr olds) who had never used it before, or anything similar.  It was a great success!  The only problem that we have is that for some ill-thought out reason our LEA blocks the Scratch website!  This was a shame, as it meant that the kids couldn't share their ideas during the day, or get inspiration from others. 

thanks again
:-)

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#5 2009-05-23 08:06:52

ilikemangos
Scratcher
Registered: 2009-05-02
Posts: 2

Re: Website Moderation?

the problem is that anything criticizing generally accepted practices, such as animal testing, eating meat, religion, capitalism etc. has a high likelyhood of getting banned by groups of angry conservatives or mpeople with multile accounts

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#6 2009-05-23 08:51:24

fruit
Scratcher
Registered: 2009-04-24
Posts: 1000+

Re: Website Moderation?

ilikemangos wrote:

the problem is that anything criticizing generally accepted practices, such as animal testing, eating meat, religion, capitalism etc. has a high likelyhood of getting banned by groups of angry conservatives or mpeople with multile accounts

please don't bump old threads.


@savi3000 | hcsmp.com

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#7 2009-05-23 10:08:29

Magnie
Scratcher
Registered: 2007-12-12
Posts: 1000+

Re: Website Moderation?

fruit wrote:

ilikemangos wrote:

the problem is that anything criticizing generally accepted practices, such as animal testing, eating meat, religion, capitalism etc. has a high likelyhood of getting banned by groups of angry conservatives or mpeople with multile accounts

please don't bump old threads.

Who said he was bumping it?

Now that I know what happens when a project is flagged I won't be able to do it...  hmm  I don't ever check my E-Mails. I should get sent a message on scratch. Great.. then I'll be flooded with messages... lol But I'm always out to help keep the site clean!  smile  But a thing I'm afraid of is *...  hmm  As long the project isn't that then I will be glad to help.  smile

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#8 2009-05-23 11:53:35

DawnLight
Scratcher
Registered: 2009-04-25
Posts: 500+

Re: Website Moderation?

Magnie wrote:

fruit wrote:

ilikemangos wrote:

the problem is that anything criticizing generally accepted practices, such as animal testing, eating meat, religion, capitalism etc. has a high likelyhood of getting banned by groups of angry conservatives or mpeople with multile accounts

please don't bump old threads.

Who said he was bumping it?

Now that I know what happens when a project is flagged I won't be able to do it...  hmm  I don't ever check my E-Mails. I should get sent a message on scratch. Great.. then I'll be flooded with messages... lol But I'm always out to help keep the site clean!  smile  But a thing I'm afraid of is *...  hmm  As long the project isn't that then I will be glad to help.  smile

Me to because then we have even greater problem. We don't want that! big_smile

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#9 2009-05-23 12:37:13

ScratchX
Scratcher
Registered: 2009-05-05
Posts: 1000+

Re: Website Moderation?

DawnLight wrote:

Magnie wrote:

fruit wrote:


please don't bump old threads.

Who said he was bumping it?

Now that I know what happens when a project is flagged I won't be able to do it...  hmm  I don't ever check my E-Mails. I should get sent a message on scratch. Great.. then I'll be flooded with messages... lol But I'm always out to help keep the site clean!  smile  But a thing I'm afraid of is *...  hmm  As long the project isn't that then I will be glad to help.  smile

Me to because then we have even greater problem. We don't want that! big_smile

i have been seing alot of those projects lately.....very bad...


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#10 2009-07-19 01:14:41

billyedward
Scratcher
Registered: 2008-01-03
Posts: 500+

Re: Website Moderation?

ilikemangos wrote:

the problem is that anything criticizing generally accepted practices, such as animal testing, eating meat, religion, capitalism etc. has a high likelyhood of getting banned by groups of angry conservatives or mpeople with multile accounts

I think that that is a bit of an overstatement.
I myself am very conservative, yet I accept those criticisms to be the opinions of many individuals and groups, and that they have a right to have those opinions.
However, you are right that there will be some unfair flaggings based on opinion clashes. That is why I believe that the system of requiring an explanation of why it is inappropriate is a good one.


"I'd love to change the world, but they haven't released the source code yet."
Check out the latest version of Streak --> http://billy.scienceontheweb.net/Streak

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#11 2009-07-19 01:17:59

billyedward
Scratcher
Registered: 2008-01-03
Posts: 500+

Re: Website Moderation?

Although I am not an administrator, I have been on the scratch site long enough to know this:
1) Yes, users can and do get banned. Sometimes only from the forums, sometimes from the whole site.
2) Projects will be automatically deleted if they get enough flags.
3) If you think a user should be banned, but they aren't, you can still ask your students to place that user in their ignore list.


"I'd love to change the world, but they haven't released the source code yet."
Check out the latest version of Streak --> http://billy.scienceontheweb.net/Streak

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