Scratch

Would it be possible to include on the "My Stuff" page an address to the person's page on MySpace and/or one of the other sites of this type.  It should be relatively easy to check automatically check the addresses submitted and stop anything else from being posted. 

Presumably if someone has a page on those sites, any problems will have been addressed (to the extent they ever will be) by other parties before the address is obtained.  If this isn't true, it is a problem that is beyond the reach of the Scratch team to address.

Dr Jim: I like that suggestion of linking to outside sites. I know we have discussed in the Scratch Team meetings but we have not come to an agreement. I will bring up the topic again. I am a supporter of that idea. Which sites do you think we should allow links to?

I can think of the following: MySpace, Facebook, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal.

andresmh wrote:

Dr Jim: I like that suggestion of linking to outside sites ...Which sites do you think we should allow links to?

Sorry - afraid I'm not much help on that issue.  Don't have young kids nor am I familar with any of the sites except MySpace.  My suggestion (which is probably obvious to you anyway) is to put it in an announcement that you are thinking of doing it - list the possibilities - and see the response you get.

Personally I'm convinced that 99.9%+ of the worries are overreactions - but then you have over 30,000 members in the forum.

I think this is a REALLY, REALLY great idea! I've always wanted something like this! As for the privacy issue, I think that you should just tell them not to, and if this rule is neglected, you should remove the About Me feature.

StoryMaker wrote:

I think this is a REALLY, REALLY great idea! I've always wanted something like this! As for the privacy issue, I think that you should just tell them not to, and if this rule is neglected, you should remove the About Me feature.

Who is going to be checking if the rules are followed? With more than 30 thousand users it's hard to keep track of this. We have already gotten some emails from very upset parents that want certain information to be deleted from the website after realizing their kid has posted private information.

Facebook doesn't allow people younger than 13 and there is no really a good way to make sure someone is actually 13 without meeting them in person and asking for official IDs.

I wish we didn't have to worry about this issues but the reality is that if only 1 person brakes a rule it affects the rest 30 thousand.

andresmh wrote:

I would love to add something like that too. The problem is: how can we protect the children's privacy? There are already some parents worried about what their kids are posting on the website. The About Me box would encourage kids to post information that people could use to know where kids live. We would have to monitor the content of the About Me box as well which requires a lot of hours of work every day. If you have any ideas on how to make this easier please let us know.

The children currently have the capability of posting all their personal information every time they share a project or leave a comment. Giving them a place to write about their interests or current projects is not putting them further at risk;  particularly if you guided the content with approriate field labels.

I am opposed to the external link proposal as I suspect it will be slow and needlessly complex.

I agree!http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/post.php?tid=1734#req_message

ElMikkino wrote:

You could put an "About Me" box on the My Stuff page. That way, Scratchers could read something about you (that you had typed in yourself), to get to know you more. Scratchers could also use this to tell people about what they are working on or something. It would be a great edition, cause I'm a very active Scratcher, and I don't want to have people skimming through the comments on my games to see what I'm planning on making (luckily, I haven't made any comments of that sort, so don't worry).
I would luv it, and I sure other people would too.

[blocks]<forever if><say yes><play sound[ Wahoooo!> [/blocks]

I agree,kinda.But i think it should be like a facebook page on scratch. Thinking of that,ill make one right now![blocks][/blocks]http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/edit.php?id=115334#req_messagehttp://scratch.mit.edu/forums/edit.php?id=115334#req_messagehttp://scratch.mit.edu/forums/edit.php?id=115334#req_message
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Last edited by shamrocker (2009-04-28 20:06:42)

This could be a good idea but like andres said. I would also like a "New Box". To post news for projects. 

relyt12101 wrote:

If you have a way of finding people's ages (I think you had to say your birthdate when you signed up) you could only allow it for those 13+

Well that's not helping a lot of us. Most of us Scratchers are under 13.

andresmh wrote:

I would love to add something like that too. The problem is: how can we protect the children's privacy? There are already some parents worried about what their kids are posting on the website. The About Me box would encourage kids to post information that people could use to know where kids live. We would have to monitor the content of the About Me box as well which requires a lot of hours of work every day. If you have any ideas on how to make this easier please let us know.

Wouldn't a box with "WARNING If you are under 18 call your parents and ask them what to write". Parents would tell kids what they can write and what not to write.
It will work I think.

ElMikkino wrote:

You could put an "About Me" box on the My Stuff page. That way, Scratchers could read something about you (that you had typed in yourself), to get to know you more. Scratchers could also use this to tell people about what they are working on or something. It would be a great edition, cause I'm a very active Scratcher, and I don't want to have people skimming through the comments on my games to see what I'm planning on making (luckily, I haven't made any comments of that sort, so don't worry).
I would luv it, and I sure other people would too.

[blocks]<forever if><say yes><play sound[ Wahoooo!> [/blocks]

I would like that and that it would allow you to comment on people's stuff! maby we can e-mail scratch our request!