Scratch Wiki:Frequently Asked Questions

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S:FAQ

This Scratch Wiki page is about questions frequently asked about the Scratch Wiki. For FAQ (disambiguation), see Frequently Asked Questions (disambiguation).

Below is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Scratch Wiki and wikis in general. Not all questions are included here, so feel free to ask any other questions on the Community Portal. Also, questions about Scratch itself do not belong here — if you have a question, you can ask it on the Scratch discussion forums.

General FAQs

What is a wiki?

A wiki is an informational website that anyone can edit. To let yourself and others enjoy this site to the fullest, please research the facts before posting anything on it (and be sure to cite your sources). Unlike many wikis, this wiki does not allow anonymous users to edit and does not allow anonymous users to create accounts. This is only to prevent vandalism and to make sure that "GenericScratcher" on the wiki is the same "GenericScratcher" on Scratch (no impersonation). For more information on wikis, please feel free to check out Wikipedia's wiki article.

A wiki? For Scratch?

Yes. Everything on this wiki is entirely Scratch-related. We have information on blocks, parts of the website, project creating techniques, "how to" articles related to Scratch, and much more.

Can't I just go on Wikipedia?

While Wikipedia has an article on Scratch, it is very limited as to what they can add. Wikipedia's Scratch article is also designed so any reader can learn about the program, whereas this wiki is more for Scratchers. The level of detail permissible and encouraged here would be rapidly deleted as fancruft is not allowed on Wikipedia.

Can I make articles about Scratchers and projects?

Articles about Scratchers and projects are not allowed. Sorry, but these articles are often advertisements (e.g. "Make sure to check out this really great project!") and could be targets for vandalism (e.g. "this user was mean!"). If you would like to write articles about your own projects, do so in your userspace.

I found an article that is only about a Scratcher/project. What now?

If you are an editor, simply replace the contents of the page with {{delete|Article about a Scratcher or project}}. This creates a box that tells an admin to delete the page because it is only about a Scratcher or a project. If you are a Scratcher but not an editor, then head over to the Community Portal on the forums and leave a reply telling us about that page.

How do I edit?

Help:Formatting is a good place to start. Practice formatting on the sandbox. If you still need help, ask an administrator or another experienced user. Once you know the basics, click the "Edit" button at the top, or click the "[edit]" link by a section to edit just that section.

How do I create an article?

Visit S:CREATE to create an article.

What happens if I see a title that is incorrectly spelled or capitalized?

Either way, it must be renamed. If it is misspelled, uncheck the "Leave a redirect behind." Otherwise, leave it checked.

What's with the different colored links?

There are two different colored links.

• Blue links are links. They can either be internal links that link to other pages on the wiki or external links that link to other pages outside the wiki.
• Red links are pages that have not been created or have been deleted. Clicking on these links creates or recreates the page in question.

What do the numbers mean in the Recent Changes?

Some numbers can be seen in the Recent changes after the time an edit was made. This number indicates how many characters were added or removed from the article. If the number is in bold, it means that a lot of characters (over 500) were either removed or added, indicating a major revision to the article.

For example:

would indicate 1,000 characters were added to this article by a user named User with a summary "Comment", whereas:

would indicate 1,000 characters were removed from this article by a user named User.

Who owns this site? Who is the site leader?

Technically, this wiki is hosted at wiki editor MartinWollenweber's server, but mostly it is a free and independent community.

The founder of the original Scratch Wikia, LukeTek, retired and never had an account on any version of the Wiki after Wikia. Most matters are decided by community consensus, with the bureaucrats, sysops, and EWs (collectively "admins") presiding; elections are fully democratic while some decisions are made unilaterally by admins.

Is the content of this wiki copyrighted?

This website is provided under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Attribution is required.

Here is an example attribution message, if you simply copied the contents of the page Scratch:

If you modified the contents:

Where do discussions take place?

Discussions fall into three categories:

• Wiki discussion
• User discussion
• Page discussion

Wiki discussion is done at the Community Portal. That page is the main place for discussion; questions on almost anything Wiki-related can go there.

User discussion is done on users' talk pages. For example, if a user overwrote another's work with no reason, the user who has lost their work can post a message on the other's talk page, asking why the edit was made.

Page discussion is done on the discussion pages of either an article, a file, a category, or any other page. The discussions there are kept on topic to the page, not the topic itself; a typical discussion may involve a section of an article, asking if the information given is relevant or not.

If a discussion is posted in the wrong place or evolves into a whole new topic, the discussion may be moved to a more suitable place, usually the Community Portal.

When adding a post on a talk page, always type ~~~~ after your post to display your signature. This lets people know who the post was posted by and when.

Where can I learn about the wiki's history?

There is a page about it here that serves as an article about the wiki.

What's the difference between includeonly and onlyinclude?

Only text inside <onlyinclude> tags will be transcluded but can still be seen when viewing the page directly; text inside <includeonly> tags can only be seen when transcluded and is hidden when directly viewing the page.

Other Questions

These are questions that have been taken from questions asked by real users before in the past.

What is a minor edit?

A minor edit shows that when editing the page, you only edited a small part, such as capitalizing a letter, or adding your signature on a talk page. You should use the minor edit feature when you have made many edits to a page at one time, but at different time slots, or when you actually have done something very minor, found above.

What does "Purge" do?

The purge button is often found on template documentations (for example on the template documentation at the bottom of Template:Header Template.) It simply purges the page's cache to see if any changes have been made to pages transcluded within. Alternatively, to purge any page, see Help:Purging an Article.

Is it necessary to blur usernames or project names in images?

No, it is not necessary to blur usernames or project names, unless the user pleads anonymity.

Can we use talk pages to chat?

Though off-topic conversations are allowed on user talk pages, it is generally recommended to have such conversations on users' Scratch profiles, since long conversations can flood the Recent Changes.

Should we be using second person in articles?

Third person is always preferred over second person. The only exception is "How-To" pages, where second person can be used for tutorial purposes. In any other case, second person should never be used.

Can we write about Scratch Modifications?

No, it is not allowed to make a page or write about Scratch Modifications anymore. Please do so on the modification's own documentation pages.