Scratch

demosthenes wrote:

I am actually supportive, I see no need for a misc. forum on the Scratch website.

FYI, almost all forums have some kind of offtopic section.

Last edited by hmnwilson (2010-02-13 19:54:15)

demosthenes wrote:

I am actually supportive, I see no need for a misc. forum on the Scratch website.

Thanks for the supportive-ness 

Jonathanpb wrote:

The Miscellaneous forum is just a chatroom. It's ridiculous. It deserves to die

Purely opinionated
There are plenty of non chatroom topics there, so maybe you should go look instead of saying something ridiculous like that

Ace-of-Spades wrote:

It would be a ghost town here without the Miscellaneous Section.

Only because the majority of the users only go on the forums for the Miscellaneous forum.

Which is why I get frustrated whenever someone brags about their post count - it was done in the Miscellaneous. I never saw them outside.

...which is why I support Ace as top poster, because he does more than Miscellaneous - though I advise slowing down. 
....................................

Jonathanpb wrote:

The Miscellaneous forum is just a chatroom. It's ridiculous. It deserves to die.

I don't know why, but I love that sentence... that's how I feel.

Some threads are nice, like illusionist's Number of Projects thread... and some others. But most of them are just... oh, I'll post a list.

I made these up to avoid being harsh:

• Meh (no, meh does not mean "me") new site!
• I ish got a fevah (fever).
• OMG OMG OMG I FOUND 20 BUCKS
• lol im up at 3
• [removed by myself] has been annoying meh (no, meh does not mean me...)!
• YOU HATE MEH!
• I have 8000 posts!!!

What rubbish! That's chat stuff. Miscellaneous is good for the following threads, which deserve a proper forum:

• Did you see the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
• I'm going to be on vacation... so that's why I won't be able to help.
• Fastest 100,000 projects ever?
• Number of projects
• How to find your user number

Note that the last three can easily go into the All about Scratch forum. The above two don't really belong, but deserve a nice forum for themselves without junk in their way.

I don't really want the forum moved; it's the same problem, except that it's seperate from the Scratch Forums. I'd rather just have the Miscellaneous forum turned into a good zone, filled with the above threads.
....................................
You may be wondering, what's wrong with Miscellaneous? I'm not going to make a long speech, but one thing to point out: look at the number of pages of threads in the forum. Don't compare it with forums such as All About Scratch; they were made earlier, in a time where users actually made useful posts.

Compare it instead with the Collaboration, Requests, and Project Ideas forums. They were made at the same time.

Collaboration: 3 pages.
Requests: 3 pages.
Project Ideas: 3 pages.
Miscellaneous: 18 pages.

Well?

And if you go on the Scratch Forums at a time of day when only a few users are on, have a look...

70% of the time: Only Miscellaneous has been recently posted in.
20% of the time: Three forums (including Miscellaneous, of course) have been recently posted in.
6% of the time: Miscellaneous and only one other forum have been recently posted in.
4% of the time: No forums have been recently posted in.

Another thing... if you go online when many users are on, think about this:

Announcements: 3 active threads
New Scratch Members: 6 active threads
Show and Tell: 12 active threads
FAQ: Unactive, nobody cares
All about Scratch: 6 active threads
Advanced Topics: 3 active threads
Suggestions: 6 active threads
Troubleshooting: 3 active threads
Sensor Boards: Unactive 98% of the time
Educators: Unactive, closed to new posts, moved to another website - why not remove it?
Other languages: Unactive 92% of the time
Collaboration: 6 active threads
Requests: 4 active threads
Project Ideas: 5 active threads
Miscellaneous: 1 page and 3 threads, all active

Evidence staring in my face... how about yours?
....................................
I may be overreacting, but... this is how I've been feeling for a while, and it feels good to get it all out.

Chrischb wrote:

Ace-of-Spades wrote:

It would be a ghost town here without the Miscellaneous Section.

Only because the majority of the users only go on the forums for the Miscellaneous forum.

Which is why I get frustrated whenever someone brags about their post count - it was done in the Miscellaneous. I never saw them outside.

...which is why I support Ace as top poster, because he does more than Miscellaneous - though I advise slowing down. 
....................................

Jonathanpb wrote:

The Miscellaneous forum is just a chatroom. It's ridiculous. It deserves to die.

I don't know why, but I love that sentence... that's how I feel.

Some threads are nice, like illusionist's Number of Projects thread... and some others. But most of them are just... oh, I'll post a list.

I made these up to avoid being harsh:

• Meh (no, meh does not mean "me") new site!
• I ish got a fevah (fever).
• OMG OMG OMG I FOUND 20 BUCKS
• lol im up at 3
• [removed by myself] has been annoying meh (no, meh does not mean me...)!
• YOU HATE MEH!
• I have 8000 posts!!!

What rubbish! That's chat stuff. Miscellaneous is good for the following threads, which deserve a proper forum:

• Did you see the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
• I'm going to be on vacation... so that's why I won't be able to help.
• Fastest 100,000 projects ever?
• Number of projects
• How to find your user number

Note that the last three can easily go into the All about Scratch forum. The above two don't really belong, but deserve a nice forum for themselves without junk in their way.

I don't really want the forum moved; it's the same problem, except that it's seperate from the Scratch Forums. I'd rather just have the Miscellaneous forum turned into a good zone, filled with the above threads.
....................................
You may be wondering, what's wrong with Miscellaneous? I'm not going to make a long speech, but one thing to point out: look at the number of pages of threads in the forum. Don't compare it with forums such as All About Scratch; they were made earlier, in a time where users actually made useful posts.

Compare it instead with the Collaboration, Requests, and Project Ideas forums. They were made at the same time.

Collaboration: 3 pages.
Requests: 3 pages.
Project Ideas: 3 pages.
Miscellaneous: 18 pages.

Well?

And if you go on the Scratch Forums at a time of day when only a few users are on, have a look...

70% of the time: Only Miscellaneous has been recently posted in.
20% of the time: Three forums (including Miscellaneous, of course) have been recently posted in.
6% of the time: Miscellaneous and only one other forum have been recently posted in.
4% of the time: No forums have been recently posted in.

Another thing... if you go online when many users are on, think about this:

Announcements: 3 active threads
New Scratch Members: 6 active threads
Show and Tell: 12 active threads
FAQ: Unactive, nobody cares
All about Scratch: 6 active threads
Advanced Topics: 3 active threads
Suggestions: 6 active threads
Troubleshooting: 3 active threads
Sensor Boards: Unactive 98% of the time
Educators: Unactive, closed to new posts, moved to another website - why not remove it?
Other languages: Unactive 92% of the time
Collaboration: 6 active threads
Requests: 4 active threads
Project Ideas: 5 active threads
Miscellaneous: 1 page and 3 threads, all active

Evidence staring in my face... how about yours?
....................................
I may be overreacting, but... this is how I've been feeling for a while, and it feels good to get it all out.

I agree.    Except - I don't think things like "Did you see the Olympic opening ceremony?" belong in the Scratch Forums... don't we want to keep topics Scratch-related? 

Why? 

Mr_X wrote:

Jonathanpb wrote:

Mr_X wrote:

Purely opinionated
There are plenty of non chatroom topics there, so maybe you should go look instead of saying something ridiculous like that

You're not getting my point... what I mean: People are just using Miscellaneous as a spot to chat about whatever they want.

Well in that case, find them all and report them

Report them? Yeah, right. Here, I'll show you how ridiculous that is:


Everything circled is what I would have reported.

Those topics are allowed, so they don't need to be closed. 

EDIT: You're wondering why I didn't circle that? It was because it was a sort of annoucement for an upcoming project. I was thinking of circling it, though.

Last edited by Jonathanpb (2010-02-14 03:46:51)

Why do you say that? 

Explanations help...

Jonathanpb wrote:

Oh, why can't we keep the Scratch forums Scratch-related?

Thats what I'm saying  !

How come people are complaining about this all of the sudden? And I might quit the Scratch forums if miscellaneous is removed.

BWOG wrote:

How come people are complaining about this all of the sudden? And I might quit the Scratch forums if miscellaneous is removed.

Well the Scratch Forums is for people talking about Scratch, not for people who just want to talk to their friends. It sounds like your the second choice, so maybe that's a good thing if you leave, because then the forum will become a cleaner place 

BWOG wrote:

Lucario621 wrote:

Chrischb wrote:

Ace-of-Spades wrote:

It would be a ghost town here without the Miscellaneous Section.

Only because the majority of the users only go on the forums for the Miscellaneous forum.

Which is why I get frustrated whenever someone brags about their post count - it was done in the Miscellaneous. I never saw them outside.

...which is why I support Ace as top poster, because he does more than Miscellaneous - though I advise slowing down. 
....................................

I don't know why, but I love that sentence... that's how I feel.

Some threads are nice, like illusionist's Number of Projects thread... and some others. But most of them are just... oh, I'll post a list.

I made these up to avoid being harsh:

• Meh (no, meh does not mean "me") new site!
• I ish got a fevah (fever).
• OMG OMG OMG I FOUND 20 BUCKS
• lol im up at 3
• [removed by myself] has been annoying meh (no, meh does not mean me...)!
• YOU HATE MEH!
• I have 8000 posts!!!

What rubbish! That's chat stuff. Miscellaneous is good for the following threads, which deserve a proper forum:

• Did you see the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
• I'm going to be on vacation... so that's why I won't be able to help.
• Fastest 100,000 projects ever?
• Number of projects
• How to find your user number

Note that the last three can easily go into the All about Scratch forum. The above two don't really belong, but deserve a nice forum for themselves without junk in their way.

I don't really want the forum moved; it's the same problem, except that it's seperate from the Scratch Forums. I'd rather just have the Miscellaneous forum turned into a good zone, filled with the above threads.
....................................
You may be wondering, what's wrong with Miscellaneous? I'm not going to make a long speech, but one thing to point out: look at the number of pages of threads in the forum. Don't compare it with forums such as All About Scratch; they were made earlier, in a time where users actually made useful posts.

Compare it instead with the Collaboration, Requests, and Project Ideas forums. They were made at the same time.

Collaboration: 3 pages.
Requests: 3 pages.
Project Ideas: 3 pages.
Miscellaneous: 18 pages.

Well?

And if you go on the Scratch Forums at a time of day when only a few users are on, have a look...

70% of the time: Only Miscellaneous has been recently posted in.
20% of the time: Three forums (including Miscellaneous, of course) have been recently posted in.
6% of the time: Miscellaneous and only one other forum have been recently posted in.
4% of the time: No forums have been recently posted in.

Another thing... if you go online when many users are on, think about this:

Announcements: 3 active threads
New Scratch Members: 6 active threads
Show and Tell: 12 active threads
FAQ: Unactive, nobody cares
All about Scratch: 6 active threads
Advanced Topics: 3 active threads
Suggestions: 6 active threads
Troubleshooting: 3 active threads
Sensor Boards: Unactive 98% of the time
Educators: Unactive, closed to new posts, moved to another website - why not remove it?
Other languages: Unactive 92% of the time
Collaboration: 6 active threads
Requests: 4 active threads
Project Ideas: 5 active threads
Miscellaneous: 1 page and 3 threads, all active

Evidence staring in my face... how about yours?
....................................
I may be overreacting, but... this is how I've been feeling for a while, and it feels good to get it all out.

You do make a good point. But again, if you want to talk about the Olympics and other appropriate off-topic subjects, you can do it on twitter or facebook or google wave or whatever - but not on scratch - because the Scratch Forums is a place to talk about Scratch. Explain the title.

So that means that any forum that's for something paticuler can't have discussions about something else?

Generally. Why were the individual forums made? To organize all of the topics - so we want to keep it organized. If people just posted anything anywhere, then there would be no point to having the individual forums.