Scratch

I quite strongly disagree with the majority of your post, so prepare for a mega-wall of text explaining why.

Da_su-Ra1el wrote:

1 - Misuse of scratch. If a user is using only the forums, and not making projects, they will get a warning.

I disagree with this - many users are very helpful on the forums, but rarely make projects. For instance, I've only made about 5 projects in the last 2 months. Jonathanpb, until about a week ago, hadn't made a project in 8 months, but still helped out on the forums a lot. And there are some who use the forums as a place to chat, even if they don't make projects I don't think it's reasonable to warn them about it.

2 - Any sort of swearing. Major swearing is blocked right now, but minor swearing must be blocked too. Even "bathroom" words. Because small crimes DO build up. If you allow minor swears, soon everybody will be yelling out major ones, which are unacceptable.

We block just about everything that could be considered a swear word, with a few small exceptions. Users who consistently cheat the censor are given a warning, and if they continue will be banned, though not permanently.

3 - Bad grammar, leet. These are signs of "punks", which usually become trolls, or are even trolls in disguise. Therefore, "trash talk" must not be allowed. Mistakes are okay, but more than three in one post will count as "trash talk".

That's going very far. This has, surprisingly, been suggested before. Many of the users on this site are quite young and may not know every grammar convention out there. Besides, what's a little bad grammar going to do to the website?

Here's what security measures must be taken:
1 - Suspects. If somebody who signs up becomes a troll, and their birthday is in, let's say, January 2000, then anybody else who signs up up to a month after them and enters that as their birth-time, they must be extremely suspected.

That is going ridiculously far. In a website targeted at such a small age group, you'll have thousands of suspects, and the system could be easily avoided by just putting in a fake age. In fact, most trolls do put in fake birthdays anyways, making it all the more ridiculous.

2 - Email Validation. Force people to use access codes sent to them. Then, people will not be able to join as [random letters]@[random letters].com, which is the mark of a troll.

This is the only suggestion in this thread I approve of.

3 - User Questioning. Put some users online that seem suspicious in a sort of chatroom, which they cannot leave until they have been questioned by a moderator.

Wouldn't that seem to be going a bit far? If they want to get unbanned, they just contact the Scratch Team and explain what happened - and the system works fine as is. Websites that don't let you leave are always a bit iffy, and it may deter some members. Besides, who's to say the moderator and the person are going to be online at the same time? While it may work in real life, it doesn't serve quite as much purpose on a website.

And here's a new ban system which I recommend:
1 - Warnings. 2 Warnings: Monthlong Ban. 3 Warnings: Permanent Ban.

That's going fairly far. Most people get many, many more warnings than 3. Obviously, the severity of the crime determines the length and urgency of the ban. Most bans are only about a week or two, and rarely do we ever permanently ban people. Often, warnings are very minor.

Think of it this way: if you littered 3 times, should you be exiled? No. That's the scale of what you're trying to implement.

2 - User Deletion. If a user is permanently banned and the obvious troll topics are deleted, that is not enough. All their projects and posts must be deleted to ensure that there are no traces of trolling left.

The posts, projects, comments, and galleries that are inappropriate are deleted when they are found. I see no reason to delete any posts they might have made that seemed helpful.

3 - No Way Out. Once a user is banned, that's it. He/She can't defend His/Herself. Why? People don't reform, sorry. And the rules are the rules. It doesn't matter if they're "unjust", they're still the rules. Do what you're told. There'd be chaos if everybody decided for themselves. I'm sorry to sound extreme but that's just how it is.

This is something I strongly disagree with. Many people learn from their mistakes. I know that I was banned once when I was younger, more naive Scratch user. Have I changed? Of course. Would I ever do anything that might remotely get me banned these days? Of course not. I would have been permanently banned two years ago if these systems were put into effect, and then you wouldn't have your favourite moderator    Especially at the targeted age group of this website, people who use this website will be changing dramatically as they become more mature.

I'm sorry but I find many, if not all, of these suggestions to be ridiculously extreme. Many of the people who use this website are still developing mentally, and may not understand that they've done something wrong. And then they won't have a chance to explain it to the Scratch Team.

Besides, the system we have now seems to work fine, no? Why is there need for a change?

Last edited by coolstuff (2010-07-17 08:41:37)

I agree with coolstuff.

Would you really like it if you got permanently deleted for not making enough projects and making 4 typos and not be allowed to email scratch because your "Not going to change" so you have to lie about your age on a new account, then get permanently banned again and all your projects and posts deleted just for calling someone annoying or something? Its really going to far, scratch is meant to be a fun site to learn and play, not if you make a small mistake or don't have enough grammar you get deleted.

Last edited by colorfusion (2010-07-17 08:45:25)

Oh and the funny thing is my spell-check spotted 7 grammar problems in your post, so according to your own rules, you should get a DELETION!

Da_su-Ra1el wrote:

1 - No sarcasm. Saracasm is the sign of budding trolls. Slang is too. Slang and Sarcasm are things that could very well turn one into a troll once they build up.

Oh, come on, everyone uses sarcasm. As long as it's clear that it is sarcasm, it works fine, as long as it's not used to insult another user. I don't see any problem with slang, either - how does it matter how you speak as long as you get your point across? What will slang ever do to the website to make it a "dangerous" place?

2 - Miscellaneous. Sounds dangerous. Wait, but you can't post in it. That forum shouldn't even be here, anyways, if nobody can post in it.

Only "Members" can post in it - and you're a "New Scratcher." With time, you'll be upgraded to member status and will be able to post in Miscellaneous.

Despite the occasional flame war that may erupt, Miscellaneous isn't going anywhere.

3 - Criticism. This may sound tyrannical, but criticizing scratch should be watched. Those who aren't happy will eventually turn into trolls.

Scratch was built on constructive criticism - as long as the criticism provides a reason for it being a problem, or a possible solution, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't belong here.

1 - Comments. This is how trolls crush self confidence. Not entirely, how about . . . You need to be a more advanced user to comment, like, at 2 months.

This is taking it way too far. Why shouldn't you be able to comment? Half of the website rotates around comments; new users would get bored and leave within 2 months, and then nobody would be left on the website after older users left. And commenting doesn't seem an issue; if a comment appears rude or inappropriate, it gets flagged and removed. Only a small fraction of the community will actually do that, and why make the rest of the community suffer for a ridiculously long period of 2 months?

This is similar to what was put into effect with the forums; but those only limited how often and where the new users could post, not the fact that they can post at all.

2 - Users. People should simply post on the forums and make projects anonymously, and only IPs should be banned, and only moderators and the scratch team should be able to have accounts. This makes it harder to victimize one person.

This is outrageous. How would people be able to tell who made what project? Oftentimes people go searching for projects by a particular user, but with your suggestion that would be impossible. The whole concept of the website would be completely destroyed - and what if you're on, say, a library's computer? The entire library will get banned. Same with schools - heck, the entire school board would get banned! I'm sorry, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

In addition to this, there are moderators. It would be impossible to tell who was and wasn't a moderator. It would be like being blind when watching a movie you aren't familiar with the characters of.

3 - Signatures. Isn't that what Show and Tell is for? Signatures are simply excuses for double posting. Do we really need to see the same thing repeated again and again?

How are signatures excuses for double posting? They often add a little personality to the post, though I don't usually have one. And it doesn't take up much space - if you have a problem with the images, just turn them off. The question is, why shouldn't we have signatures?

Da_su-Ra1el wrote:

Bad grammar, leet. These are signs of "punks", which usually become trolls, or are even trolls in disguise. Therefore, "trash talk" must not be allowed. Mistakes are okay, but more than three in one post will count as "trash talk".

That is an extreme stereotype. In fact, I think more than 3/4 of the Scratch community writes like this, and hardly any of them are trolls. Imagine how many people would get banned and than not come back because they think this is going too far. We're talking 10s of THOUSANDS of users...just gone. And seriously.....what's wrong with:  i luv tis project! itz aweshum!   ? They aren't hurting anyone. Actually, they're being completely nice.

Da_su-Ra1el wrote:

1 - Misuse of scratch. If a user is using only the forums, and not making projects, they will get a warning.
2 - Any sort of swearing. Major swearing is blocked right now, but minor swearing must be blocked too. Even "bathroom" words. Because small crimes DO build up. If you allow minor swears, soon everybody will be yelling out major ones, which are unacceptable.
3 - Bad grammar, leet. These are signs of "punks", which usually become trolls, or are even trolls in disguise. Therefore, "trash talk" must not be allowed. Mistakes are okay, but more than three in one post will count as "trash talk".
Here's what security measures must be taken:
1 - Suspects. If somebody who signs up becomes a troll, and their birthday is in, let's say, January 2000, then anybody else who signs up up to a month after them and enters that as their birth-time, they must be extremely suspected.
2 - Email Validation. Force people to use access codes sent to them. Then, people will not be able to join as [random letters]@[random letters].com, which is the mark of a troll.
3 - User Questioning. Put some users online that seem suspicious in a sort of chatroom, which they cannot leave until they have been questioned by a moderator.
And here's a new ban system which I recommend:
1 - Warnings. 2 Warnings: Monthlong Ban. 3 Warnings: Permanent Ban.
2 - User Deletion. If a user is permanently banned and the obvious troll topics are deleted, that is not enough. All their projects and posts must be deleted to ensure that there are no traces of trolling left.
3 - No Way Out. Once a user is banned, that's it. He/She can't defend His/Herself. Why? People don't reform, sorry. And the rules are the rules. It doesn't matter if they're "unjust", they're still the rules. Do what you're told. There'd be chaos if everybody decided for themselves. I'm sorry to sound extreme but that's just how it is.
1 - No sarcasm. Saracasm is the sign of budding trolls. Slang is too. Slang and Sarcasm are things that could very well turn one into a troll once they build up.
2 - Miscellaneous. Sounds dangerous. Wait, but you can't post in it. That forum shouldn't even be here, anyways, if nobody can post in it.
3 - Criticism. This may sound tyrannical, but criticizing scratch should be watched. Those who aren't happy will eventually turn into trolls.
Things that should be deleted:
1 - Comments. This is how trolls crush self confidence. Not entirely, how about . . . You need to be a more advanced user to comment, like, at 2 months.
2 - Users. People should simply post on the forums and make projects anonymously, and only IPs should be banned, and only moderators and the scratch team should be able to have accounts. This makes it harder to victimize one person.
3 - Signatures. Isn't that what Show and Tell is for? Signatures are simply excuses for double posting. Do we really need to see the same thing repeated again and again?

Are you also going to suggest that they don't allow smilies? Because that (as coolstuff says) would be outrageous too.

what-the wrote:

Yes there are some places on the site which could be alittle stricter but a lot of this is too stricked.

On the contrary, I feel this website is quite open, as Lightnin pointed out.

what-the wrote:

Yes there are some places on the site which could be alittle stricter but a lot of this is too stricked.

What I mean by this is what you have said is a little to stricked. (For anyone who thinks I said the scratch site is too stricked. That is not what I meant)

Isn't that the opposite of the other topic.   

Are you the new guy on Scratch teens?

These rules are way to strict. quote if you agree

This is the most idiotic, ridiculous thing thing I have ever seen. Ever. What you ar-WAIT. This seems awfully familiar...Okay. I know my trolls. And right now, I'm begging to smell a rat.