- "Guidelines" redirects here. For the editing guidelines on the Scratch Wiki, see Scratch Wiki:Guidelines.
- Not to be confused with Terms of Use.
The Scratch Community Guidelines (often abbreviated CG or CGs) are the official set of guidelines that tell Scratchers how to act appropriately on the Scratch Website. It can be found here. There are other etiquette rules that should be followed, but are not part of the Community Guidelines.
The Community Guidelines used to be called "Terms of Use". The name was changed because "Terms of Use" gave the impression of a long piece of "technical jargon."[1]
Information
The guidelines are summarized into six simple guidelines, as the Scratch Team is aware that many people dislike reading pieces of text. A further simplification is below.
Guidelines Summary
- Treat everyone with respect. - Scratchers can share content that excites them or celebrates their identity. Scratchers must not attack other Scratchers about their background or interests.
- Be safe: keep personal and contact information private. Personal information used for private communication, in person or online, cannot be shared. This includes sharing real last names, phone numbers, addresses, hometowns, school names, email addresses, usernames or links to social media sites, video chatting applications, or websites with private chat functionality.
- Give helpful feedback. Content posted must not be critical, but should be kind. It is encouraged to offer suggestions or mention appreciated features. Being sarcastic or disrespectful is not allowed.
- Embrace remix culture. Scratchers may use content from other projects in theirs, but must give credit to the Scratchers' whose content was used. All shared content is free for other Scratchers to use.
- Be honest. Scratchers must be honest and authentic when interacting with others on Scratch, and remember that there is a person behind every Scratch account. Spreading rumors, impersonating other Scratchers or celebrities, or pretending to be seriously ill is considered disrespectful and not allowed.
- Help keep the site friendly. If something on Scratch is unfriendly, insulting, too violent, or otherwise disruptive to the community, click “Report” to message the Scratch Team, instead of replying back to such content or gossiping about the creators of such content. The Scratch Team will look at reports and take the appropriate action.
Broken Rules
When a rule is broken by a Scratcher, the Scratcher receives an alert from the Scratch Team. After multiple messages, a user may be banned, or blocked temporarily, or (in case of a serious offense) even permanently. An account may even be deleted in very severe cases. The Community Guidelines also shows up on the ban page.[2]
If somebody else has broken a rule, such as being aggressive and mean towards a user, the Scratch Team has clearly stated[3] that responding to it in the same kind of manner will also count as breaking the community guidelines, and both accounts may be alerted or banned. Additionally, threatening to report something is not considered respectful. Instead, Scratchers are encouraged to report the comment or project without responding.
Location
The Community Guidelines can be accessed from the footer on the bottom of every page on the Scratch Website and the Scratch Wiki. It is the first link under "Community".
See Also
External Links
- Community Guidelines on the Scratch Website
References
- ↑ Lightnin. (9/8/2011). "[O]ur Terms of Use have always been pretty brief, simple, and never had much jargon. Several people have pointed out that they seem more like Community Guidelines than Terms of Use. We agree - hence the change." ar-topic:71281
- ↑ File:Main-Website-Ban.png
- ↑ andresmh. (8/10/2010). "Replying to disrespectful comments is not OK[title]" ar-topic:47509