Scratch

Great idea, AddZero! I frequently find myself logging in and hoping someone, anyone, has bothered to check out the latest project I slaved over (PaddleToSee, you probably don't have that problem; every time I log in, I check to see if you have anything new). My idea was a sort of "Underrated Scratchers" page, but I think yours sounds more appealing.

Last edited by fullmoon (2008-03-30 22:11:30)

Good list of other situations.
And I like the thumbs up/down idea.
fullmoon, I'm glad you thought of something similar, so I know I'm not too far off.

About the karma system- I guess part what would become complicated, is that it would have to prevent cheating.  So a user with two accounts can't just give the other account a bunch of thumbs up to promote them.  Votes have to be weighted or limited somehow.  ...or as reputation builds that user has more power to their votes on others.  But I'm not read up/experienced with this type of thing to help much.

Last edited by AddZero (2008-03-29 15:30:22)

I totally agree. I am very happy with the (for me) enormous number of users that watch my user page frequently. But I still know the problem. 1 year ago - and watch out, one year ago a project was much longer on the newest projects section then now - I was a new user trying to get attention    by posting a project (ball travel) . It is really stupid that some projects get way more attention then others.

I do not know anything about "I don't want anyone to see this project" - I only post a project when it is completely ready. If I see any online glitches (like, when I posted the first version of my lego model creator, the colors of the bricks where completely different because I used the color effect) I immediately try to find the reason why it fails online. When I have to restart my computer when trying to view my project, I install an online lock. (like my audiomix project) This online lock can be a possible way to prevent people watching your project (online!) with the current system (my lock script contains a secret action to run it online).

Joren

Let a team of dedicated Scratchers (PaddleToSee, we're looking at you here) sort through the thousands of projects that have been submitted for review (Let users put forward a max of one project per week). But this sounds like featured projects. Here's an idea. Put the spotlight on nine Scratchers a week and let them choose the projects to appear on the homepage.

Some people, like Paddle2See, have created their own galleries with their best picks of interesting projects. I think initiatives like that one are really good to bring attention to projects. We often try to feature galleries like the one Paddle2See created.

It should kinda be like featured projects. 3 at 1 time, but they change every day or so. I dunno what way would be best, but i would appreciate it

P.S. Wouldn't people kind of use it for no purpose though. Maybe a comment limit...

AddZero wrote:

Actualy, this is not like featured projects -that's for good or noteworthy projects.

This is for projects people would like to get attention now, good or bad.   But because people can't post everything there, they will be more likely to post a project they worked hard on.
And instead of spamming everywhere or getting frustrated with no attention, they can hang out with others in the same boat, right now.

Say you just finshed a project, and you still have a "Request Feedback" point, you can use it to put your project on that page.
Then you are taken to that page with others looking for feedback now.  You scratch their back, they scratch yours. (pun intended    )

I mean the format of 3 at a time

P.S. I meant abuse the feedback needed thingy.

Bluestribute wrote:

It should kinda be like featured projects. 3 at 1 time, but they change every day or so. I dunno what way would be best, but i would appreciate it

Bluestribute:  Oh, I see what you meant now.  Sorry, I was in a hurry to respond and trying to type with a Wii.

I think it should show the 3 latest "Seeking feedback" and could replace the top 3 newest projects at the top on the front page... (or placed below the featured projects)  I think it should be the newest ones (not switched everyday) because those people are still online and hoping for attention.

Bluestribute wrote:

P.S. Wouldn't people kind of use it for no purpose though. Maybe a comment limit...

I think there should be a limit to posting projects to this gallery.  Otherwise it would be like any other gallery.  I don't think there should be a comment limit though... this is to encourage interaction between users online right now.

But I think what's more important then it being on the front page, is that users that submit to the "Seeking Feedback" are immediately taken to that gallery showing dozens of others that also submitted within the last 5 to 30 or so minutes.  They know most on this page are online right now, waiting for feedback.  There can be quick back and forth interaction in this group.  Lot's of back scratching.   

I think spamming works so well because many, if not most people online right now, are looking at the front page and popular projects.  They see the top comments and click the links, so spammers are more likely to get views/feedback quickly.

This idea should make it easier (and more polite) than spamming to get views/feedback quickly.  Does this make sense?  What do you think?

Last edited by AddZero (2008-05-20 13:34:11)

I resurrected this thread because of frustrations voiced on my "NOT DRY" project that was promoted to the front page.
I agree.  That project took very little Scratch skills to make, and is not among the most front-page worthy.  I did not ask for any attention to that project. 

I believe it got attention because I already had a project that was on the front page,
people saw it in my "More projects by AddZero"  Often projects are promoted this way.  -User popularity instead of merit, or (more importantly) desire for attention/feedback.

And getting feedback/attention/popular often takes posting the forums and galleries, asking for feedback/love its, and hoping somebody takes the time to review your project... so to improve those chances, do it more- spammers are rewarded with attention.  (Though reduced with url filtering now.)
While those that don't do these steps many times are frustrated with no attention to their hard work.


A solution may be to level the playing field some:
1. Make it simple to request feedback to a project, (a checkbox/button click)
2. Limit the amount this can be done (once a day or so), so people are more likely to choose the projects they worked on.
3. Immediately take those that want feedback to this "seeking feedback" gallery with others that recently requested feedback, where they are encouraged to give feedback while they wait for feedback.

(Perhaps allow filtering of tags on this page so that people can help others with types of projects they are interested in.)

The latest 3 from this page could replace newest projects on the front page.  (That is not as effective because of frequent submits and reasons listed by Paddle2See.)

Galleries will still have their place, for categorizing and highlighting good projects. 
Love It's will still have their place too.

I think this idea would help people who want it, get those first views/feedback on their hardest worked on project.  And reduce the need to be 'popular' to get it.

(I suggested a similar idea long ago to a online school- they didn't use it, so anybody can have it.)

So, what do you think?  Could this work?  How else can this problem be solved?

Last edited by AddZero (2009-02-14 14:10:29)

I like this idea really a lot, but the name ("seeking feedback") sounds odd to me. This site is a childrens-community, so I'd pick an easier name, like "Help me!" or something 

You guys should also keep in mind that English is not a native language (as seen to picture below lol) to all people on this site (like me    ).

I actually find that people will view your projects more if you post nice and helpful comments. Instead of comments like ' nice, check out my awesome new game (link to project)' post such as answers to questions in people's comments or nice comments about the're project and that way they are getting more project attention, (from you) and they may click on your username and see what you have. I know I always do. That way you both benefit instead of posting links no one will follow anyway. Also, scratch has a gallery for almost everything (I have one for projects with over a hundred scripts), if you make a pong game for example, try searching pong and you will come up with about five galleries for your project, PONG PONG PONG, Pong mania, pong is cool, to name a few. Adding your project to fitting galleries not only gets more people to look at it but also makes the gallery's owner more liked. So I conclude that this would be much less of a problem if everyone just stopped spamming and used other, cleaner ways of getting people to see there projects.

P.S. There are actually galleries just for space invaders games, just to give you a taste of the diversity of galleries in scratch.


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