| Questions about Scratch | |
| Forum ID: | 4 |
| Amount of activity: | High number of topics and a high number of replies. |
| Types of users who can post: | All users. |
| Brief description: | "Post general questions about Scratch here." |
| URL: | scratch:discuss/4 |
| Previously named: | All About Scratch |
The Questions about Scratch forum is a forum in the Scratch Discussion Forums where Scratchers can ask for help with Scratch, get advice, and more. Prior to the forum update on January 26, 2012, it was called All About Scratch.
What the Forum Contains
This broad forum category contains all of the following:
Questions and Help
Whether it is about the Scratch Program, Scratch Website, Scratch Forums or something else about Scratch, Scratchers can ask for help there. The help varies a lot from questions about whether something is appropriate for Scratch, to posting on the forums. These topics nearly always get replies — questions and help is normally received. If the question is specifically on scripting help, it belongs in Help With Scripts.
Questions about Scratch exists so that users can get answers to questions they are curious about. Questions about whether users can follow them, view their projects, or any other requests, are not allowed. Users may also not ask the Scratch Team to unban them on the forum. The Scratch Team prefers to keep this discussion private, so banned users may appeal via Contact Us. Users may not give requests on Questions about Scratch.
Unlike the Suggestions Forum, "duplicate questions" (questions that are asked multiple times) do not exist, unless a user asks the same question in multiple topics. It is okay to ask a question, even if another user has asked it before.
Guides
Prior to August 13, 2020[1], Scratchers were allowed to post guides in the Questions About Scratch forum. Guides did not ask a question, but rather provided advice for other users.
As the forum has a broad subject, so did the guides. There were a wide range of guides, but guides for programming in Scratch accounted for a large amount of them.
Users are no longer allowed to make guides because there are too many of them, and it is better to help other users directly.
Many guides can be found in the forum's ITopic index.[2] Before posting, it is good to check the ITopic index because there are some FAQs inside of it.
Scratch-Related Discussions
Often Scratchers discuss various things with Scratch and discussions highly relevant to Scratch belong in the Questions about Scratch. The discussions are general things, such as projects on the Front Page.
Scratch Wiki Community Portal in the Forums
If Scratchers who are not Wiki editors wish to provide their comments about the Wiki, then this is the place to correspond with both editors and administrators.[3]
Disallowed Topics
The following topics are not allowed in QAS:
Polls
Polls are topics that ask for a user's opinion on something. They do not have a definite answer. These topics are prohibited because Questions about Scratch is meant for help to use Scratch, not to ask for their thoughts on parts of the site.[4]
Hypothetical Questions
A hypothetical question is a "what if?" question. For example, "What if there was only one user left on Scratch?" or "What if all usernames are taken?" These questions are oftentimes highly unrealistic and sometimes frivolous. Most users will not need the answer to these unrealistic questions.[5]
User-Generated Content
Topics that relate to particular users, projects, or studios are not allowed.[6] Questions about Scratch is meant for helping people to use the site, not to have discussions that can easily lead into gossip.
Bans and Alerts
These are meant to be handled via Contact Us. Questions about Scratch is visible to all users, and the Scratch Team prefers to keep information about bans or alerts between themselves and the user who got the ban/alert.[7]
Inappropriate Topics
Even if a user has a legitimate reason to make an inappropriate topic (for example, asking if an inappropriate word is ok for Scratch), all discussions should follow the Community Guidelines. Young users might come across this content, which could lead to disaster.[8]
Rants
Users complaining about the Scratch Team, and making rants about what users dislike, does not actually solve the issue. The Suggestions forum is meant for constructive criticism, where users can give ideas on how to improve the site.[9]
Activity
The forum, having a broad subject, receives a high amount of activity.[10] While more than a page is rarely active, a modest amount of topics are posted in each day. Many Scratchers are eager to give and get help and advice.
References
- ↑ Za-Chary. (13/08/2020). "We are prohibiting the creation of new guides until further notice." post:4323642
- ↑ topic:21060
- ↑ kenny2scratch. (08/03/2018). "You can only use the CP if you have a wiki account - for here you only need to have a Scratch account, so questions can come more directly." post:3017911
- ↑ post:4402530
- ↑ post:4242962
- ↑ post:1047150
- ↑ post:7826339
- ↑ Harakou. (06/10/2018). "If you think something might not be considered appropriate, posting it in public on Scratch is not a good choice." post:3274061
- ↑ post:5441076
- ↑ [1] If it gets to this high number, it should have lots of activity
