The Sixty-Second Rule is a limitation on the Scratch Forums that prevents Scratchers from posting more than once per minute. The technical term for this rule is "flood control".[1]
Reasoning
The sixty-second rule exists to prevent spammers from quickly filling the forums with spam. While the rule does not stop them completely, it greatly decreases the amount of spam posts, giving the Scratch Team more time to deal with any problems before they grow too large.
Controversy
Many users complain about the sixty-second rule, but because of its necessity, it will most likely never be changed.[2] Some users create accounts[3] or projects[4][5] to protest against the rule.
Despite possible variations of the rule, the chances of it being completely disabled are highly unlikely.
There was a poll sticky thread in January 2011 created in the Text Based Games Forums about rewarding friendly Scratchers with a reduction to the sixty-second rule, but many users disagreed because it would create high arguments and competition. The thread, as well as the TBG forums, are now closed. The suggestion has currently not been accepted, and the sixty-second rule will most likely never be removed.[2]
120-Second Rule
- See also: New Scratcher Status
New Scratchers who have the ability to post on the forums have to follow a 120-second (2 minutes) rule instead of the sixty-second rule. It was implemented as an effort to combat spammers from advertising on or otherwise cluttering up the forums. While it helps tremendously to combat spam, it can be irritating to innocent new users.
Previously, there was a 1000-second (16 minutes and 40 seconds) rule — however, it was decreased to 600 seconds (10 minutes), 360 seconds (6 minutes), and then 180 seconds (3 minutes) on July 3, 2011.[6] Following the release of Scratch 2.0, it was changed to 120 seconds (2 minutes). Then, after the Hour of Code event, during which the Scratch Forums became more vulnerable to spambots, the rule returned to 600 seconds.[7][8] Later, it was changed back to 120 seconds.
Exceptions
Members of the Scratch Team and Community Moderators have the sixty-second rule disabled on their accounts.[9] This is because they are trusted members of the community, and so that they can deal with trouble and clean up spam on the forums faster.
Retired Community Moderators also had the sixty-second rule disabled before the group was removed, as they were trusted community members.
Sixty-Second Demon/Devil
- See also: Forum Trends
The Sixty-Second Demon (also known as Sixty-Second Devil) is a trend on the Forums started by the Scratch user congyingzhou.[10] It occurs when users get caught by the sixty-second rule and when it occurs, the user who it has happened to will usually write at the bottom of their post that they have been caught.
References
- ↑ wikipedia:Flood control (communications)
- ↑ a b Za-Chary. (09/03/2019). "10.1 Remove or decrease the 60 Second Rule – too easy to create spam" post:3471785
- ↑ users:Ihatethe60secondrule
- ↑ projects:66763434
- ↑ projects:64924536
- ↑ cskidmsonic. (08/07/2011). "180 seconds isn't long compared to the 1000 second rule, or even the 360 second rule that I had when I (Scratcher7_13) was a New Scratcher." ar-post:825652
- ↑ post:270883
- ↑ post:268429
- ↑ Za-Chary. (05/02/2021). "I have the 0 second rule; that means I have to wait 0 seconds between posts." post:4863271
- ↑ post:3285292