View source for Discussion Forums

{{April Fools}}{{featured|February|2018}}{{External Programs}}{{other version|3.0|1.4}}{{about|the main forums on Scratch|information on the Text Based Games Forums|Text Based Games Forums}}
[[File:Scratch Discussion Forums.png|thumb|275px|A picture of the Scratch Forums]]The '''Discussion Forums''' is a {{wp|forum}} on the [[Scratch Website]] where [[Scratchers]] may show others their [[project]]s, ask for help, or suggest ideas for the [[Scratch]] program or website. Some Scratchers choose to volunteer regularly on the forums.

== Accessing the Forums ==
As mentioned above, the forums can be found in the site footer under "Community".<ref>[[topic:269283]]</ref> Until July 5, 2017, they could be accessed via a link in the header. The removal of the link caused many complaints that new [[users]] would not be able to find the forums.<ref>[[topic:269283]]</ref>

==Menu Bar==
The menu bar for the forums is below the words "Discuss Scratch", under the Scratch logo and has one option, [[#Forum Categories|Discussion Home]]. This lets a user quickly access the forum home.

==Forum Categories==
There are many forum categories. They are grouped as "Welcome to Scratch", "Making Scratch Projects", "About Scratch", "Interests Beyond Scratch", and "Scratch in Other Languages".

Each group of forum categories can be minimized or expanded by clicking the + or - sign at the top right of the group of forum categories.

===Welcome to Scratch===
The Welcome to Scratch category has the following two forums:

* <u>[[Announcements (forum)|Announcements]]</u>: ''"Updates from the Scratch Team."'' Only the [[Scratch Team]] can post new topics here. Whenever there is a major update to the website, they will post about it for everyone to know {{-}} these updates can consist of new versions of Scratch, website changes, downtime, Scratch events, or a survey. Topics here are always closed by a member of the Scratch Team after they have been open for a while.
* <u>[[New Scratchers (forum)|New Scratchers]]</u>: ''"A forum to welcome New Scratchers to the Scratch community. If you are new to Scratch, please post to say hello!"'' Created for new users, this is where New Scratchers can introduce themselves or ask simple questions. [[Scratchers]] can also greet new members of Scratch.

===Making Scratch Projects===
* <u>[[Help With Scripts (forum)|Help with Scripts]]</u>: ''"Need help with your Scratch project? Ask here!"'' This is where users can ask questions about [[scripts]] for their projects.
* <u>[[Show and Tell (forum)|Show and Tell]]</u>: ''"Tell everyone about your projects and studios."'' Filled with advertisements, this is where to advertise [[projects]] and [[studio]]s or check out other users' advertisements.
* <u>[[Project Ideas (forum)|Project Ideas]]</u>: ''"A place to give and get help thinking of project ideas."'' This forum is generally used for helping others and asking others for ideas on Scratch projects, as well as discussing projects that are currently being made.
* <u>[[Collaboration (forum)|Collaboration]]</u>: ''"Join with others to work together on Scratch projects!"'' This forum is generally used for talking about different organizations, [[Collaboration (group)|collaborations]], and companies Scratchers have made to create projects together.
* <u>[[Requests (forum)|Requests]]</u>: ''"Looking for something? Want to offer your skills to others?"'' This forum is generally used for requesting art for games and the website, as well as programming help. Many users open up [[Shop (forums)|shops]] to offer their skills to others, as well.
* <u>[[Project Save & Level Codes (forum)|Project Save & Level Codes]]</u>: ''A place to store codes from projects that let Scratchers resume play or show a design they have made.''

===About Scratch===
* <u>[[April Fools Day - Suggest-Show-Question-Bugs-Help-Glitch-Tell-Etc (forum)]]</u>: ''"All joke posts go here! Community Guidelines still apply. Happy April Fools Day!"'' This forum is for Scratchers to post joke topics on [[April Fools' Day]] 2023. It was added on March 29, 2023, to make the forum clean-up easier after April Fools and to ensure that serious topics don't get flooded out by joke topics.
* <u>[[Questions about Scratch (forum)|Questions about Scratch]]</u>: ''"Post general questions about Scratch here."'' This is the place to ask any questions about Scratch. Those questions may ask for programming help, questions on past versions of Scratch, and anything about Scratch can be posted here, not just questions.
* <u>[[Suggestions (forum)|Suggestions]]</u>: ''"Discuss ideas for making improvements to Scratch."'' Most Scratchers have an idea they would like, and this is where to share it. However, Scratch Team member Lightnin posted a stickied topic explaining how to make more helpful suggestions.
* <u>[[Bugs and Glitches (forum)|Bugs and Glitches]]</u>: ''"Found a bug in Scratch? Describe it here!"'' Nothing is perfectly free from bugs, so a way to find them is necessary. This is where to discuss problems, and possibly find a reason why it is occurring.
* <u>[[Advanced Topics (forum)|Advanced Topics]]</u>: ''"Talk about technical aspects, advanced features, or Scratch Modifications (Mods) here."'' This forum is where advanced parts of Scratch are discussed, such as editing the [[System Browser]], the [[Shift-Click-R]] feature, [[Scratch Modification]]s, or [[Build Your Own Blocks]].
* <u>[[Connecting to the Physical World (forum)|Connecting to the Physical World]]</u>: ''"Topics related to Pico Boards, LEGO WeDo (tm), and connecting Scratch projects to the physical world."'' This forum is for discussing Sensor Boards and PicoBoards, and almost anything involving them. This forum is rather inactive, due to the small amount of users who have purchased a PicoBoard.
* <u>[[Developing Scratch Extensions (forum)|Developing Scratch Extensions]]</u>: ''"A forum to give and get help creating Scratch Extensions."''
* <u>[[Open Source Projects (forum)|Open Source Projects]]</u>: ''"Forum for all discussions that relate to Scratch's open source projects."''

===Interests Beyond Scratch===
* <u>[[Things I'm Making and Creating (forum)|Things I'm Making and Creating]]</u>: ''"Discuss things you are creating or exploring outside of Scratch, like art, music, programming languages, or crafts."'' This forum allows Scratchers to discuss any project that they are working on, even if it is not related to Scratch.
* <u>[[Things I'm Reading and Playing (forum)|Things I'm Reading and Playing]]</u>: ''"Discuss books, TV, movies, art, music, or video games that inspire you."'' A relaxing forum enjoyed by most Scratchers, many subjects are discussed here. Topics should not be about [[TBG]]s.

===Scratch Around the World===
{{main|Language Forums}}
Forums for non-English languages are available for discussion in non-English languages. The forums in Scratch Around the World are:

* African
* Indonesian
* Catalan
* German
* Greek
* Spanish
* Persian
* French
* Hebrew
* Korean
* Italian
* Dutch
* Japanese
* Norwegian
* Polish
* Portuguese
* Russian
* Turkish
* Chinese

There are two other forums for other purposes:

* <u>[[Other Languages (forum)|Other Languages]]</u>: ''"For languages not listed above''" This forum is used for hosting topics that do not contain their own forums in Other Languages.

* <u>[[Translating Scratch (forum)|Translating Scratch]]</u>: This is where to discuss translations; for example, a mistaken translation should be pointed out here.

==Signature==
{{main|Signature}}
[[File:Forum signature.png|frame|The largest height allowed for a forum signature]]
A forum signature is a message displayed at the bottom of posts. Signatures are created on a per-user basis, appending the signature to the posts created by the initiating user. Signatures support post content, although images can only be 155 pixels tall.{{cite post|hedgehog_blue|08/07/19|The size of signatures is 690 by 155 pixels|[[post:3619524]]}} The Scratch Discussion Forums offers the ability to change signatures through the discussion footer.<ref>[[ar-topic:64276]]</ref> This signature can be as creative as one would like as long as it follows the Scratch [[Community Guidelines]] and [[Terms of Use]].

===Uses===
The forum signature supports any content that posts support but with a fixed height.
Forum signatures commonly contain:
* Advertisements for projects, shops, collaborations, etc.
* A favorite quote
* Information about the user
* A banner/image by the user
* News the user wants to share
* Links to user's creations
* A banner with the username

Signatures have been used in many ways. Scratchers have programmed APIs in PHP to display special images that change automatically based on online information. These images can give up-to-date data on topics like a user's most recent projects, its [[Project Statistics]], whether or not a user is online, or even a user's post count.<ref>[[ar-topic:69113]]</ref> Similarly, Scratchers have created custom Scratch [[blocks]] whose text is their username, or the name of a project.

== Private Forums ==
[[File:Access denied to topic 412.PNG|thumb|250px|A 403 error that appears when attempting to access a restricted topic on Google Chrome. Safari and Mozilla Firefox may display a blank page. The result on other browsers may vary.]]
Private forums are forums only accessible to certain users. They have a number of uses, but usually, they exist for planning purposes and to hide information from those who should not see it. Only the Scratch Team can create a private forum.

=== List of Subjects with Private Forums on Scratch ===

* [[Scratch Design Studio]]
* [[Scratch Welcoming Committee]]
* [[Scratch Team]]<ref>https://github.com/LLK/s2forums/blob/master/djangobb_forum/scratchr2_settings.py#L27</ref>
* [[Scratch Stability Team]]
* [[Scratch Mentors]]
* [[Creative Characters Camp]]
* [[Dustbin Topics]]
* [[Scratch Camp: Scratch the Musical]]

=== 403 Access Forbidden Error ===
{{main|403 Error}}

When one attempts to view a  private forum section, topic, or post that they do not have access to, they will get a [[403 Error]].

==Following Topics==
[[File:Follow Button Forums.png‎|thumb|The button that allows following a topic]][[File:Unfollow Discussion.PNG|thumb|left|The button to unfollow a topic.]]
Users have the capability of following topics of their choice by clicking the blue "Follow Discussion" button at the top of a forum page. When following a topic, whenever someone posts on that topic, the followers will receive a notification telling them so. By default, when a user creates a topic, it is automatically followed by the creator, but one can unfollow a topic. When a topic that is followed is opened, instead of the "Follow Discussion" button a grey "Unfollow Discussion" button at the top will appear, which one can click to opt out of receiving notifications on new posts. A user will receive messages as the topic is updated.

==Mobile View==
[[File:Mobile forums.png|thumb|alt=text|A screenshot of the mobile forums on a Kindle Fire HD]]
At the bottom of every forum page is the option to switch to the [[scratch:discuss/m|mobile forums]]. This only works for the forums, as the rest of the Scratch website only uses standard view. When switched to mobile viewing, the text in users' posts is adjusted to be more legible. Profile pictures and signatures do not display in the mobile view, which may speed up the time for a page to load. The [[Blocks Plugin|blocks plugin]] currently does not render when in the mobile view. To switch back to standard view, click the "Standard" link at the bottom.

The feature often breaks when logged in, returning a [[500 Error]]{{cn|date=January 2023}}.

==BBCode==
{{main|BBCode}}
BBCode is a collection of formatting tags that are used to format users' forum posts. BBCode is based on the same principle as and is very similar to, HTML. BBCode can be used for things such as text formatting, links, and images.

==Uploading Images==
To upload images to the Scratch forum, an approved image hosting service must be used. Only images on the [[Image Host|image host]] list can be used.

==Editing Posts==
{{main|Edit Post}}
Posts can be edited after posting. The first post can be edited by the author to change the topic name. New Scratchers cannot edit their posts after 24 hours have passed, to prevent users from saying something mean or inappropriate and changing it after other users see it.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

==Polls==
It is possible to add a poll to the top of a topic when it is first posted. Polls are a remnant of the original DjangoBB code. The feature is partially broken and does not work at all when only one option is selectable. This functionality is not intended and using it is against the rules.<ref>[[post:5106356]]</ref>

==Viewing All of One's Posts==
A rather hidden feature on the forums is the ability to view, for a logged-in user, all of their [[post]]s and [[topic]]s. These can be accessed by scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the "Show your topics/posts" links. "Topics" is a separate link from "posts" and will display all the various topics the [[user]] has posted on. It is ''not'' restricted to topics the user actually created. Clicking on the post link will display all the user's posts in multi-page format in chronological order from newest to oldest. Editing a post does not affect its chronological positioning in the sequence of a user's posts.

==Post Count==
When a user makes a post, the number of posts that they have is shown under their username. The exact post count is not displayed directly except a user's own post list (which is not visible to other users), but is rounded to certain other numbers:

* 1-100 posts: The exact number of posts is shown
* 101-500 posts: The number of posts is shown as ''100+ posts''
* 501-1000 posts: The number of posts is shown as ''500+ posts''
* 1001+ posts: The number of posts is shown as ''1000+ posts''

===Controversy===
Post counts are somewhat controversial on Scratch, as some Scratchers have requested exact post counts,<ref>clearlywalsh. (13/12/2013). "I think it would be nice if under your username it showed the total number of posts you had posted, not just 100+, 500+, and 1000+." ([[topic:22930]])</ref> while others want post counts removed completely.<ref>MathlyCat. (10/2/2016). "It puts almost a ranking system that Scratch doesn't want." ([[topic:182858]])</ref> However, the general consensus is that the current system works fine because it prevents bragging and stops Scratchers with few posts feeling isolated among Scratchers with thousands of posts.<ref>MegaApuTurkUltra. (27/10/2015). "It's so that newer Scratchers aren't alienated when they see experienced users with enormous amounts of posts." ([[post:1557568]])</ref><ref>NoxSpooth. (13/12/2013). "The post count is like this to prevent competition between Scratchers and/or bragging." ([[post:206036]])</ref>

==Closing a Topic==
If a topic has been open for 24 hours, the person that created the topic can close it. Topics may also be closed by the Scratch Team. Closing topics disallows posting to the topic and removes the link to edit posts, although posts can still be edited directly. Closing topics does not remove the ability to report posts in the topic. Only members of the Scratch Team can re-open topics after they have been closed. Scratch Team members can also post on topics even after they are closed.<ref>cheddargirl "Mods have the ability to comment on closed topics. This way, a topic can be closed to prevent further spam while the mod types up a closing remark. " [[projects:427527093/#comments-198612724]]</ref> [[File:Close Topic.png|thumb|alt=text|The close topic button.]]


===Non-Scratch Team Re-Opened Topics===
{{obsolete feature|cat=no}}
There was a now defunct method to re-open forum topics with a URL.<ref>https://github.com/LLK/s2forums/blob/master/djangobb_forum/views.py#L1048</ref> This vulnerability was fixed at an unknown date.

==Sticky==
{{main|Sticky}}
A sticky is a forum topic that is stuck to the top of its forum and does not have to be [[bump]]ed back up. Moderators and the Scratch Team can sticky a thread. They are used to make important topics readily available. A Scratcher can report a topic to be stickied using the [[Report]] button, to let a moderator know about it. Some examples of stickies would be the [[topic:413393|Collaboration Directory]] or the [[topic:21060|Helpful topics for Questions about Scratch]] stickies. In forums where there are too many stickies, the [[ITopic]] system is used, but some forums use both systems.

==YouTube Videos==
{{main|Scratch YouTube Video Player}}
Any YouTube video linked to on the forums will open the video in a Scratch YouTube viewer hosted in the Scratch Discussion Forums. The player uses the YouTube embed instead of linking to YouTube directly. This will hide comments, likes, the title, and description, and suggested videos on that YouTube video.

==Technical Information ==
The Scratch Forums are currently based on [http://djangobb.org/ DjangoBB], a forum framework based on [https://punbb.informer.com/ PunBB] in Python.

In the old forums, the forum software used was [https://github.com/fluxbb/fluxbb FluxBB], written in PHP.

==Scratch 1.4 Forums==
{{obsolete feature|cat=no}}{{main|Discussion Forums (1.4)}}
With the release of [[Scratch 2.0]], the forums were started fresh. The old forums were archived and can be seen [http://scratchforums.blob8108.net/forums/ here]. The current forums contain posts made during the alpha and beta phases of 2.0.

==See Also==
* [[How do I close a forum topic I created?]]
* [[Post]]
* [[Edit Post]]
* [[Do most users use the forums?]]
* [[Signature]]
* [[How to Post an Image of a Scratch Project/Studio on the Forums]]
* [[Censor#Forums|Forum Censor]]

== Links ==
* [[scratch:discuss/5|Announcements]]
* [[scratch:discuss/6|New Scratchers]]
* [[scratch:discuss/7|Help With Scripts]]
* [[scratch:discuss/8|Show and Tell]]
* [[scratch:discuss/9|Project Ideas]]
* [[scratch:discuss/10|Collaboration]]
* [[scratch:discuss/11|Requests]]
* [[scratch::discuss/61| April Fools Day - Suggest-Show-Question-Bugs-Help-Glitch-Tell-Etc ]]
* [[scratch:discuss/4|Questions about Scratch]]
* [[scratch:discuss/1|Suggestions]]
* [[scratch:discuss/3|Bugs and Glitches]]
* [[scratch:discuss/31|Advanced Topics]]
* [[scratch:discuss/32|Connecting to the Physical World]]
* [[scratch:discuss/39|Scratch Helper Groups]] {{note|This forum is no longer public, and is not accessible by those in Scratch Helper Groups anymore. It is also no longer used by Scratch Helper Groups as it has been replaced by other private forums.}}<ref>[[Talk:Discussion Forums#Scratch Helper Groups Forum - Does it still exist?]] "I can confirm that it is no longer used by Scratch Helper Groups and is not accessible by those in a Scratch Helper Group."</ref>
* [[scratch:discuss/37|Scratch Day 2014 (defunct)]]
* [[scratch:discuss/29|Things I'm Making and Creating]]
* [[scratch:discuss/30|Things I'm Reading and Playing]]

==References==
<references/>

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[[Category:Scratch Forums| ]]
[[Category:Scratch Family|Discussion Forums]]
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[[ru:Форум (для 2.0)]]
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