|
This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective. |
- This article or section documents an outdated version of Scratch (version 1.4). For this article in Scratch 2.0, see Project Tags (2.0).
Project Tags are labels to help categorize projects shared on the Scratch Website. The creator of a project may add tags in the upload dialog box, and both viewers and the creator may add multiple tags to a project once on the website.
Upload Tags
Shown to the right is the tags section of the upload dialog box. The creator of a project may choose from six pre-made categories, or make their own tags. Tags are helpful to categorize projects on the Scratch Website, while they can help projects be found easily. The more tags added, the easier it is for the project to be found (so long as they are relevant).
The six main tags are:
- Animation
- Art
- Game
- Music
- Simulation
- Story
These are the basic Project Types.
Four other lines in the upload box appear for custom tags. Users can add additional tags on the website after uploading.
Website Tags
Website Tags
Tags also exist on project pages. Here, both viewers and the project creator can add, flag, or support tags. The creator also has the ability to remove tags as they see fit. Like upload tags, these tags help categorize projects. Upon sharing the project all upload tags are immediately "converted" into website tags.
By pressing the [+] link to the right of a tag, one can affirm that tag. This is meant to show one's agreement with the tag, but users mainly used it to spam.[citation needed] If enough people affirm a tag, the physical size of the tag becomes larger.
Gallery Tags
Tags are also used to categorize galleries. When creating a gallery, one may choose from seven categories, but may not create custom tags. Once the gallery is made, more tags cannot be added and cannot be viewed on the gallery's page.
The Tag Cloud
- Main article: Popular Tags
On a sidebar of the Front Page, there is a tag cloud which shows, in varying sizes, the most popular tags on the website. Clicking on one of these tags brings you to a page that displays 100 similarly tagged projects shared within the last month sorted by love-its. On this page, there is the option of sorting these projects by views and date they were shared.[1]
Searching for Tags
One way to search for tags is to go to scratch:tags/view/[dead link] and add the tag that one wishes to search for. For example:
scratch:tags/view/games[dead link][2]
You may also search for a word in the search bar but it shows projects, galleries, users as well.
The search bar in Scratch does not support multiple tag searches, so "3D" and "games" can not be searched for at the same time, it would find projects with either of those tags rather than both of them.
Guide to Tagging
It is important to tag a project so that it can be found, however, one must learn how to tag the responsible way. Users can put a lot of tags, but they should follow these to avoid any problems:
- Associate tags with aspects in a project. (If a project has a Pokémon, for example, tag it with Pokémon)
- Only tag with what is in the project.
- Try to avoid tagging minor features of projects.
 Tip: | Think to yourself, "What does my project contain? What is my project's type?" |
Problems
Many Scratchers have complained about the high and rising level of spam tags (tags that are completely irrelevant to the projects they are posted on).[3]
Suggestions have been shared to combat the problem, but no solutions were ever implemented to stop this.
Irrelevant tags could be flagged if they were problematic.
Waffles
The most popular irrelevant tag by far was "waffles". The problem has been around for years, irritating many users — multiple suggestions have been brought up in the Scratch Forums, discussing ways to combat the problem, but no solutions were implemented.[3]
___ Was Here
Another common tag which some Scratchers used a lot was "[username] was here". One should report these as well.[3] However, on Scratch 2.0, with its new tag system where users can only add tags to their own projects, this was no longer a problem.
[+] Spam
Many users abused the affirm feature of a tag, using it as a poll or simply to encourage users to make their tag the largest of the project. Examples include "press [+] if you like _____" and "click that -->" amongst others.[3] This was no longer a problem in Scratch 2.0 because the [+] feature was removed.
Blatant and Obvious Tags
Some Scratchers posted obvious tags such as "project" or "made by ____".
Other Uses
The word "tag" can also mean to get someone to remix a project, especially a meme.[citation needed]
