(Redirected from Frequently Rejected Suggestions)

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This is a list of frequently rejected suggestions on the Scratch Suggestions forum. This list contains brief explanations that are shortened for readability. To see more detailed explanations, see The Official List of Rejected Suggestions.

Scratch Blocks

"Message Received" Boolean

( v) received?::events boolean

It is very ambiguous when it would trigger.[1] The blocks "Repeat until () received" and "Wait until () received" are not rejected and currently have their own topic here.

"When Stop Sign Clicked" Hat

when @stopSign clicked::events hat

This block would defeat the purpose of the stop sign.[2]

"Pointing Towards Sprite" Boolean

pointing towards ( v)::sensing boolean

This block would allow a sprite to detect if it is pointing towards another sprite. However, it is ambiguous when it would trigger.[3]

Money Blocks

ask for [$ v] [5] and wait::operators
when [$ v] [5] paid::operators hat

This block would allow users to make certain Scratch project features cost money to access. Scratch, however, is an educational site, and is not intended as a way for users to make money.[4] The feature can also be defeated by editing a project and many users might not know a lot on spending money.

Social Action Reporters

number of [loves v]::sensing reporter

This block could allow projects to know how many social actions they have, but that would be against Scratch's programming focus and focuses too much on fame. This rejection extends to all social actions, including views, loves, favorites, remixes, comments, and followers.[5]

Cloud Lists

☁️ list ::list reporter

Currently, cloud variables have several restrictions. Users can create no more than 10 in one project, each with a limit of 256 numeric digits (effectively a few more using the negative/positive and the decimal point).[6]   This feature would allow cloud lists, but this would allow the length limit to be bypassed, and make cloud chat projects too easy to create, even if only numbers were allowed in the list.

2D lists

2D lists are a type of data structure that allows putting an entire list as an element of another list; that is, it allows putting lists inside of lists. These sorts of data structures are used widely in other programming languages, although they are considered too complicated for Scratch.[7]

The feature is available in Scratch Modification Snap!.

delete (),() in [2d list v]::list
delete all of [2d list v]::list
delete [row v] () of [2d list v]::list
add () to (),() in [2d list v]::list
replace item (),() with () in [2d list v]::list
item (),() of [2d list v]::list reporter
store location of item () of list [2d list v] in list [normal list v]::list
[x v] length of [list v]::list reporter

3D Scratch

go to x: () y: () z: ()::motion

3D Scratch would allow projects to be three-dimensional. However, this would be complicated with many cameras settings and different types of 3D models. This could also lag browsers. Many existing blocks in Scratch may also not work.[8]

Beetle Blocks, CreatiCode, Starlogo TNG and Alice contain 3D features.

Control Mouse Pointer Blocks

hide mouse pointer::looks

This block, and others like it could be used to move, hide, or set the mouse-pointer to an arbitrary costume,[9] but would confuse users when their mouse-pointer disappears or gets stuck.[10]

However, changing the look of the mouse-pointer to one of the default mouse-pointers is not rejected and is being discussed here.

"Forever If" Block

forever if <> {
}::cap control

This block was in the Scratch 1.4 editor, and worked the same as putting an "if block" inside a "forever” loop. It was removed in Scratch 2.0 because many beginning Scratchers found it to be confusing. The aforementioned workaround, evidently, is simple and more intuitive.[11]

Text/Symbols in Cloud Data

This would allow people to store usernames and other text in cloud variables. However, this feature, that existed in the 2.0 beta would be very easy to abuse.

By Encoding And Decoding, it is possible to simulate letters in cloud variables. In reality, however, this is just using numbers in cloud variables and letters in normal variables.[12]

Make Cat Blocks permanent

The Cat Blocks were only an April Fools joke, and even if this was an option or extension, this would give extra work for the Scratch Team.[13]

when gf clicked ::cat

The Coding Interface

Adding Users to work on projects

Some users would like an option to work with other users, however, having multiple Scratchers work on the same project would be difficult to moderate not only due to technological limitations but also because it could lead to private messaging.[14]

At the moment, a turn-based collaboration system for shared projects is not rejected; and can be discussed on this topic.

Text Based Scratch

Some users wish to code Scratch not with blocks, but by typing code instead (similar to how more advanced programming languages work), or convert it to other programming languages.[15] The feature is considered too complicated for beginners.

Tosh is a text-based version of Scratch similar to this feature.

Make The Editor look like Older Versions of Scratch

Some users prefer the layout of old versions of Scratch and want to be able to revert to them, however that would cause many problems, like removed blocks. It would also make the Scratch Team maintain more versions of the Scratch UI and not all tutorials would match every layout.[16]

Official Scratch to Executable Converter

Some users would like an option to convert Scratch projects to an executable. However, Scratch is designed to have everything be open source so users can see how projects work and tinker, and also for moderation purposes. If a project was converted to a black box executable, or even a language like JavaScript, that would be lost.[17]

Removing or Raising the clone limit

Some users would like to change the limit on the maximum amount of clones. However, the clone limit is to stop problems on low end devices. It will not be removed or changed.[18]

Scratch for video game consoles

Scratch does not have the resources (money to buy devkits, time to program Scratch in a console compatible language, etc).[19] USB controller support is not rejected, and can be discussed at this topic.

AI image generation

The Scratch Team is concerned about ethical issues related to AI,[20] and the possibility to show biased and inappropriate content.

Scratch Projects

Allowing cloud chats

Allowing cloud chats will not happen because of the potential of bullying. You can still have the user select from a predetermined list of phrases. You can also have it be "fill in the blanks"(for example, allowing users to send messages like "hi [user in the game]" or "i am at [place in platformer game]".[21] Cloud chats like this were not disallowed because someone could say a swear word, but out of non-swear words, or they could say things like "you suck" or "you are not good at making scratch projects".[clarify]

Remix/see inside/download locking

One of the most important features of Scratch is the share aspect, and by sharing a project you agree that it can be remixed.[22][23]

Ban a certain franchise (book/movie/video game/etc.)

Just because a project about a certain thing that could be inappropriate does not mean all projects about them are.[24]

Censor projects with no coding

Scratch encourages creativity other than coding, such as art or music.[25]

Remove the automatic project censor

The automatic project censor is necessary for the community to stay safe.[26]

Dislike Button or Project Rating System

This is rejected because newer Scratchers might get discouraged by low ratings.[27][28]

Ability to see who viewed your project

Drama could be created if someone viewed a project without liking/faving/following.[29]

Studios

Remove studio activity messages

Many users are annoyed by studio messages, but they are helpful to some users.[30]

Invite All button for studios

Could lead to a lot of unwanted traffic in inboxes.[31]

Revert the studio changes

While many Scratchers hate the new design and features, the Scratch Team had good intentions and abandoning all of those changes would be a bad idea.[32][33]

Comments and text fields

Edit or delete your comments anywhere

This is rejected to stop spam and dishonest manipulation of comments.[34]

Remove the character limits

The limits are in place to prevent spam.[35]

Notification for being mentioned in comments

This would be easy to abuse for spam.[36]

Live commenting or live streaming

This is rejected because of the issues of moderation. It would also be taxing for Scratch's servers.[37][38]

Censor certain mild words

The Scratch Team has decided that they are not too offensive and don't need to be censored completely. However, disrespectful use of these words is not allowed.[39][40]

Scratch Community

Private messaging

Private messaging goes against the idea of everything being public and would not be taken action on as much for inappropriate content than public comments [41]

A 13+ version of the site or age restricted content

Splitting the site would not be useful, and there is the problem of verifying user age.[42][43]

Ban Follow For Follow (F4F)

Some people are annoyed by F4F, but some people do it, so the Scratch Team will not ban it.[44]

Allow Scratchers to moderate the website

This is rejected because people could abuse that power and they could also be exposed to inappropriate content.[45]

Ban sharing political views

Anyone is allowed to express their political views on Scratch, as long as it is not used to attack others.[46]

Change or remove the extension policy

The extension policy is designed to prevent privacy issues and will not be removed.[47]

If there were paid ads on the Scratch website, that might go against the non-profit methodology of Scratch, which could also lead to legal issues.[48] For unpaid ads, it's unclear how projects would be chosen for them.[49]

Popup alert that encourages users to take a break from screen time

Scratch having a popup alert is not a solution to too much screen time, and can be done externally.[50]

Proposing own projects to be featured

If Scratchers could propose their own projects, there would be too many projects proposed, among other issues.[51]

Recently shared projects row

There is a risk of inappropriate projects appearing on that row.[52]

Featured Scratchers row

The front page is for showing off projects, not users.[53]

User Accounts

Changing usernames

If someone could change their display name, then the website would be hard for the Scratch Team to moderate. It would also put strain on the servers.[54][55] The suggestion to change capitalization is not rejected, and it can be discussed here.

Remove New Scratcher Status

The New Scratcher rank is meant to stop spam[56] and it does not take that long to become a scratcher.[57]

A rank above Scratcher

A rank above Scratcher could cause division and conflict in the community.[58]

Show when users are online

The Scratch Team has decided that that would not benefit Scratch as an educational platform.[59]

Show when users are banned

It would cause unwanted attention to a user[60]. An option to make your ban public is not rejected, and has its own topic here.

Recycle Usernames

Even if a user is inactive, they may still want their account. If someone could use their name, all of their work would be deleted and they could be impersonated. The Scratch Team also wants to keep the account to refer back to.[61]

Ability to block users

Blocking users would just cover up the problem, not solve it.[62]

Digital Currency or Awards for achievements

Having a reward for getting loves or favorites, or other "achievements" or actions in games is rejected. That would make a community that judges by that arbitrary score or other rewards you got, and for in-game achievements, who would stop someone from making a project just to give them/others rewards?[63][64][65]

Notification when someone unfollows/unloves/unfavoritess a project/a user

This could cause some drama between the user and the unfollower, and the Scratch Team believes that users should be allowed to unfollow without feeling guilty.[66]

Change or remove the list of locations

Scratch's list is based on an international standard. It will not be added or removed.[67][68]

Discussion Forums

Bring back the discuss tab

The Scratch forums are easy to misuse, and New Scratchers might not know how to use the forums properly, and the button would cause many New Scratchers to use the forums.[citation needed] The forums also allow for more spam and misuse, especially for new forum users who are not aware of how the forums work.[69]

Notifications for being quoted in the forums

Due to the way the forums work, this would not be possible. There would also be the issue of spam. To stay up to date on a topic, follow it.[70]

Off topic section in the forums

There used to be the Miscellaneous forum, but it got shut down due to spam.[71]

A list of accepted suggestions

Every feature on Scratch would have been suggested at one point, whether by the Scratch Team or the community; the list would be a list of every feature in Scratch.

Allow users to upload files to Scratch

The issue is that it would cause a need for more moderation work and storage space.[72]

Polls on the forums

The Scratch Team is more interested in constructed replies and less in votes to suggestions.[73]

Tutorials section on the Forums

They are rejected because the forums are for discussion. Use a project or Wiki article instead.[74]

Report button for signatures

Users can press the Report button on a post with an inappropriate signature, explaining that the signature is inappropriate. There is no need to make a new button to report signatures.

Forums Restriction

Removing 60/120 Second rule, New Scratcher status, etc.

While some Scratchers might perceive them as annoying, they are extremely effective shields against spam.[75]

Show exact post count

The number of posts might be competed over [76], although a user's own count can be seen here.

Remove restricted image hosts or personal whitelisting

The Scratch Team does not want to have to spend time moderating tons of image sites. The Scratch Team only allows image hosts with certain rules.[77]

See Also

External Links

References

  1. Paddle2See. (18/12/2014). "but as we thought about it more, it became clear that it didn't really fit in with the idea of messages" post:634620
  2. Paddle2See. (28/6/2016). "When the stop sign is clicked, the project should stop - that's what people expect to happen." post:2070854
  3. Paddle2See. (24/6/2019). "Because of the fairly simple workaround - and the lack of definition of exactly how such a block would be used, I believe this suggestion is rejected at this time" post:3603084
  4. Paddle2See. (20/8/2015). "Scratch is an educational site for learning and creating - not for making money" post:1333242
  5. Paddle2See. (14/8/2019). "Yeah - interesting idea - but I can see where we might get a lot of problematic projects with these. Sorry, no. " post:3669210
  6. PaddleSsee. (30/4/2019). "Cloud variables have proven to be expensive to maintain and subject to abuse. Cloud lists magnify these issues even more." post:3528653
  7. Paddle2See. (27/8/2019). "No, sorry - seems overly complicated for a first programming language." post:3684338
  8. Paddle2See. (11/4/2014). "Scratch is likely to stay 2D for quite a while." post:272115
  9. Paddle2See. (25/3/2020). "This particular suggestion would be helpful in improving a few types of projects - but wouldn't change very much the kinds of projects that could be made with Scratch" post:3889314
  10. Paddle2See. (2/7/2020). "The potential for confusion outweighs the anticipated benefits" post:4186455
  11. Paddle2See. (May 9 2020). "Actually, it wasn't removed because it had an easy workaround. It was removed because many beginning Scratchers found it overly confusing." post:4034761
  12. Paddle2See. (June 5 2020). "Sorry - this feature was in the 2.0 Beta, but it immediately caused a bunch of moderation issues and was removed. I don't see it coming back at this time." post:4094599
  13. ceebee. (March 31 2020). "This is just for April Fool's Day, so they will not be permanent." post:3899362
  14. Paddle2See. (May 2, 2016). "it isn't something we can support right now, because of the moderation and technical issues" post:1958869
  15. Paddle2See. (March 14, 2019). "it's not a feature that would benefit beginning programmers" post:3471767
  16. Paddle2See. (Jan 21 2019). "this would require that we maintain twice the amount of code for the user interface portions of Scratch. I don't think that is something we can afford, given the resources we have. It would also make Scratch more complicated (more options)." post:3409849
  17. Paddle2See. (Nov. 5 2018). "Scratch is designed to be an educational language, with the “source code” always accessible for viewing and tinkering (remixing). Locking the code up in an EXE format runs counter to those goals." post:3303002
  18. Harakou. (July 12, 2014). "The clone limit we've added is a practical one to prevent projects from becoming unplayable. Otherwise, you could accidentally get sprites making infinite copies of themselves and such." post:375856
  19. Paddle2See. (May 4, 2020). "While it would be very cool if Scratch ran on the Switch, we don't have the resources to make that happen on our own." post:3983340
  20. cheddargirl. (Aug. 6, 2024). "AI for image generation is currently a rejected suggestion due to ethical concerns." post:8078494
  21. dietbacon. (July 11, 2019). "Going forward, we will no longer allow projects that include cloud-based chat functionality on Scratch" post:3622655
  22. cheddargirl. (July 19,2015). "A lot of users think that additional permission is required to remix a project and that they can put up things in notes such as “no remixing/”no recolors"/etc. rules. The reality is that this that this practice goes against the remix policy" post:1222338
  23. Za-Chary. (June 2,2021). "By sharing your creations on Scratch, under this license, you are automatically giving permission to everyone to use your creations" post:5302901
  24. Paddle2See. (July 25,2018). "As with so many of these “Ban some game or movie” suggestions, we feel that it is possible to make Scratch projects that are appropriate for Scratch with the material." post:3187896
  25. Paddle2See. (Unknown Date(original topic deleted) but before march 18,2017). "Scratch is about more than just programming" post:4541993post:2509816
  26. Za-Chary. (Nov.13 2020). "The automatic project removal and temporary account block system that is currently in place is extremely useful to ensure that the community stays safe. Without this system, users who make inappropriate projects would be able to keep making them, possibly without immediate consequence if a moderator is not online at the time." post:4600199
  27. Paddle2See. (May 2,2016). "Sorry - we aren't going to do this as it might be discouraging for beginning Scratchers." post:1958521
  28. Harakou. (July 29,2017). "Yeah, we're not interested in adding a rating system for projects." post:2749716
  29. Paddle2See. (Oct 1,2018). "it could lead to a lot of traffic on the inbox of some Scratchers - and it could lead to drama about who is or isn't viewing projects" post:3268569
  30. Paddle2See. (May 16, 2017). "No - I don't see the point of removing it entirely." post:2621530
  31. Paddle2See. (July 27, 2018). "We actually had this feature in the early days of Scratch 2. Unfortunately, we found that it led to a lot of unwanted traffic in inboxes." post:3190328
  32. cheddargirl. (July 8,2021). "We won't be changing it back since the way studios were operating was pretty much starting to get unsustainable for the website." post:5416219
  33. cheddargirl. (july 20,2021). "Maybe sometime we can bring this suggestion up again when website conditions are better to support a higher limit. But definitely not today, and not for a good very long while." post:5452511
  34. Harakou. (April 23,2016). "Comments simply aren't designed as longer thoughts that might need to be edited over time" post:1939992
  35. Paddle2See. (June 6,2019). "We must have some kind of limit on text fields. Otherwise, spammers can chew up a lot of space on the servers and take up network bandwidth." post:3577897
  36. Lightnin. (Dec 17,2012). "Yeah! We thought about making it also send them a notification / message, but decided it would be too easily abused for spamming." post:4221
  37. Paddle2See. (July 27, 2020). "There are two major concerns we have. First, would be the potential negative effects on the servers. It sounds like the suggestion would be asking more from them and increasing the load on them - something we cannot afford to do at this time. Second, while Scratch has a social media aspect, we want the primary focus to continue to be making and sharing Scratch projects." post:4264317
  38. Za-Chary. (Sept 24, 2020). "Sorry — livestreams on other websites have been proven to be troublesome" post:4445027
  39. Paddle2See. (Sept. 6, 2019). "It's always tough to decide which words are offensive and which ones aren't. It depends a lot of the culture and background of the individual." post:3694806
  40. Paddle2See. (Oct. 29 2020). "It's not considered offensive enough to completely censor." post:4551437
  41. andresmh. (Dec. 20, 2008). "No. Because keeping things open and public allow for things to be transparent. Inappropriate behavior is easily spotted and the benefits of having private communication do not outweigh its disadvantages." ar-post:83414
  42. Paddle2See. (Jan. 28 2014). " At this moment, we aren't convinced that splitting the community would be a good thing - and we don't have the resources to build another site (or portion of a site) if we did." post:242372
  43. Paddle2See. (March 11 2019). "Age verification is a tricky thing - people may not be truthful when they create their account. Also, in a group setting, you may have people of different ages sharing a computer (such as in a school classroom)." post:3468115
  44. Paddle2See. (Dec. 30, 2014). "However, I don't think we will be acting on your suggestion - because it's not enforceable (how would you stop people from asking for f4f?) and it's essentially harmless (if you don't want to participate in f4f, just politely decline)." post:663346
  45. Paddle2See. (Unknown). "there was some very ugly stuff showing up in the queue due to some trolling. We decided, for that reason and others, that we would stick to adults for forum moderation." post:3513044
  46. Paddle2See. (July 1,2017). "Please be aware that, while we value your constructive feedback, we are rejecting all suggestions to formalize what the Scratch Team can and cannot promote / construct / feature / etc. We have run the site successfully for 10 years with our current process and are satisfied with it. We recognize that no approach can appeal to everybody so we will continue to use our best judgement." post:2706108
  47. Paddle2See. (March 12,2018). "we are not accepting any proposals to re-institute custom browser extensions or userscripts at this time" post:3023560
  48. Paddle2See. (April 22, 2019). "The problem with ads is that it's “for-profit” methodology, which is going to be extremely troublesome for us in legal matters being that Scratch is supposed to be non-profit." post:3518582
  49. Paddle2See. (Dec 9, 2019). "How would we determine which projects get to be shown in the advertising area? How do we know that the projects are appropriate?" post:3778904
  50. Paddle2See. (June 24,2019). "There are a number of time-management and parental control programs that can perform this kind of task now, if desired. I don't think there is a strong need for it to be built-in to Scratch." post:3603086
  51. Paddle2See. (May 4,2020). "we made the rule that Scratchers could only propose projects made by other Scratchers for two reasons" post:3983330
  52. Paddle2See. (July 16,2020). "Yeah - we found that many new projects were quite rough and the creators of those projects (often people new to Scratch) would get mean comments. And some projects were not appropriate for all Scratchers. So I don't think we'll be trying that again." post:4229735
  53. Paddle2See. (Nov. 15, 2021). "we've thought about that in the past and decided to keep Scratch focused on projects, not Scratchers." post:5784390
  54. Paddle2See. (July 2, 2014). "Unfortunately, this would create too much confusion in the community - and our system isn't set up to handle it." post:367229
  55. Harakou. (Feb 18, 2017). "As described above, we're concerned with the confusion it could cause for other users, not just moderation. We don't intend on making namechanges possible, even if it's only to a display name." post:2456140
  56. Paddle2See. (May 5, 2015). "In addition to being a barrier to spammers, there's one other reason for the New Scratcher restrictions that hasn't really been touched on - and that's to make it more difficult for people to spawn new accounts." post:993968
  57. jvvg. (May 31, 2013). "Just be active, create some projects, post constructive comments on peoples' projects, and generally be helpful around the site, and you will eventually find a link on your profile that says “Become a Scratcher”. Click it, and you will be promoted." topic:6986
  58. Paddle2See. (March 24,2016). "more ranks would just divide the community unnecessarily." post:1870800
  59. Paddle2See. (Nov. 28,2018). "We (the Scratch Team) have talked it over a few times - but have never managed to convince ourselves that it is a feature that would benefit Scratch as a creative platform." post:3326952
  60. Harakou. (Nov. 27, 2015). "The status of a user's account is between us (the Scratch Team) and them." post:1631442
  61. LastContinue and Paddle2See. (Sept 16,2019). "The API is a way for the public to access the database, it would likely require expensive database purge operations to remove this data, and also modification to account deletion. ... We also think it would be confusing to the community" post:3704074
  62. Paddle2See. (Aug. 1,2016). "It tends to bury problems rather than bringing them into the light where they can be fixed" post:2128208
  63. Paddle2See. (March 26,2015). "However, badges / coins have been considered in the past ... but ultimately rejected as we don't feel it would be a good fit for our community. " post:884708
  64. jvvg. (May 10,2013). "This would harm Scratch's purpose, and people would determine their social worth on the site based on achievements in games, and some users would act as if they are more important than others merely because they have more game badges." topic:4789
  65. Paddle2See. (Sept. 29, 2014). "Thanks for the suggestion - but it doesn't really fit in with our philosophy for the site at this time." post:456374
  66. Paddle2See. (Aug. 12 2019). "We feel that it would potentially create a lot of drama with some Scratchers that are focused too much on the number of followers they have. Scratchers should always feel free to follow or unfollow Scratchers as their interests change, without feeling guilty about it. Remember that Scratch is for learning, sharing, and having fun - it's not about the number of followers."
  67. Paddle2See. (March 5, 2021). "They rejected it on the basis that they go by an international standard that determines these kinds of things" post:4965047
  68. Paddle2See. (Nov 28,2018). "it's still pretty cool to see all the different places that Scratch is used. We decided to keep it for now." post:3326935
  69. dietbacon. (July 5, 2017). "We have also removed the “Discuss” button from the navigation menu. We made this decision based on usage (how often it was clicked) and to give emphasis to the other menu options like “Create” and “Explore.”...These changes were made to help highlight project creation and get new users started on becoming full fledged Scratchers! " post:2711595
  70. Za-Chary. (June 6,2019). "Sorry, this has been rejected. As it has been mentioned early on in the thread, we cannot add this suggestion simply because of the way that the forums work. The large potential for spam could also be more trouble than this suggestion is worth." post:3579079
  71. Paddle2See. (Nov. 8,2016). "Sorry - we're still not interested. " post:2282480
  72. Paddle2See. (Nov. 2 2020). "We have to pay for storage - so we really don't want to be paying for storage beyond what we need to for projects and other Scratch stuff. It would also require more moderation work - an area that is already pretty stressed with the Covid-19 traffic." post:4564638
  73. Za-Chary. (April 8, 2021). "Unfortunately, polls are not something we believe would fit in the forums. We are more interested in seeing Scratchers create constructive and helpful posts, rather than believing that simply saying “support”" post:5109469
  74. Paddle2See. (March 5,2018). "However, my feeling is that guides and tutorials are better handled by the Wiki, which has a good organizational structure, working search features, and quality standards" post:3014753
  75. Paddle2See. (June 22, 2015). "Sorry - we still feel that it's a necessary security feature to throttle the post rate. Some commercial spammers and trolls have made it to full Scratcher status in the past." post:1134018
  76. Paddle2See. (Sept 17, 2018). "The reason that post counts were made “fuzzy” in the first place was to de-emphasize the importance attached to the post count - to prevent spamming for post count."
  77. Lightnin. (Dec. 18, 2012). "We can't take the time to add everyone who has a personal website to the whitelist. Sorry - you'll have to use one of the approved hosts." post:4569
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