Scratch

MyRedNeptune wrote:

NeilWest wrote:

... no matter how you put it, a link to your project is considered spam and may get you ignored, flagged and banned.

I object! Posting links to your projects will never get you banned unless you spam uncontrollably and continuously, posting 100 links a day on the same project.

...but nobody does that.

  Yeah, agreed. I think that you just need to find the perfect way to put it. For example, on a project about a side-scrolling engine you might want to post a link to your scroller project to show a possible way of implementing their engine. And throw in a compliment about how better their engine is, just because everyone likes to hear that 

If the Scratch Team didn't want links to projects at all, why did they allow them in the first place?

stevetheipad wrote:

Any suggestions on how to get rid of the "New" in "New scratcher”?

Just be active on the forums AND the main website, sooner or later, the Scratch team will manually upgrade you.

>implying people can become famous by spamming.

NeilWest wrote:

Its called spam - and no matter how you put it, a link to your project is considered spam and may get you ignored, flagged and banned.

I disagree with the red part. A link by itself to something completely unrelated is spam, but this is misleading (and may lead to lots of things being flagged unnecessarily). If somebody runs a competition, runs an audition or request something, then you need to put a link in a comment. If you want to show someone a related project, inspired by the project you are looking at, you could add a link whilst commenting about the project.

What's the point of links if you shouldn't use them?

Or just watch Mr.Happy Man's Tutorial of Fame.

ellscharstark wrote:

NeilWest wrote:

Its called spam - and no matter how you put it, a link to your project is considered spam and may get you ignored, flagged and banned.

I disagree with the red part. A link by itself to something completely unrelated is spam, but this is misleading (and may lead to lots of things being flagged unnecessarily). If somebody runs a competition, runs an audition or request something, then you need to put a link in a comment. If you want to show someone a related project, inspired by the project you are looking at, you could add a link whilst commenting about the project.

What's the point of links if you shouldn't use them?

Whether or not link spam is seen as spam kind of really depends on how it being done as well as how often. Quoting ST member Lightnin on the issue:

On Scratch 'spamming' is when Scratchers post lots of links to their projects so that others will see them and increase their views and love its. There's a fine line between "show and tell" and spamming. Think of it this way: If someone comes to a party and says "Hey check out my new project!" that's cool - it's nice to see what others are up to. But if they say "Hey check out my new project!" every 5 seconds to everyone in the room, it gets old pretty fast. That's a kind of spamming, so we politely discourage it.

Simply put, sometimes even commenting about a project while adding a link to your project as well can sometimes be seen as callous (in other words, some would question if the comment is sincere or not because of the link), especially when it's being done a lot. Surely there are cases where it would be practical to put a link in a comment; but for the case where a link is sneaked in just for the sake of getting more views, it's just not necessarily a good idea all the time and it should be used sparingly. ^^

@NeilWest: Why don't you use this guide as a resource? 

Thanks cheddar! I'll include this link in the post, oh and could you move this to FAQ?