4.4 You may only submit user-generated projects that were created with (1) the Scratch website editor or (2) an unmodified copy of the Scratch editor compiled from the source code described in Section 5.3. You may not upload any projects that were created, by you or by anyone else, with a modified version of the Scratch editor.
Now this might not sound like an issue at first, but if you read section 5.3, it says:
5.3 The source code for Scratch 1.4 is available for download and subject to the copyright notice as indicated on the Scratch FAQ page.
So, the implication for at least some seems to be that the only offline editors allowed for uploading are those that are unmodified copies of the Scratch 1.4 editor. Obviously, it seems like that is not the case, as in the thread I link to, it is stated by one user that the Scratch Team has the final say in regards to what is allowed and what isn’t on Scratch, regardless of what the Terms of Use may imply. This is somewhat further reinforced by @Za-Chary (even though he was talking about something a bit different, but it’s still related to the Terms of Use and the Scratch Team’s interpretation of it), who cites this section:
7.1 Scratch has the right to suspend your account for violations of the Terms of Use or Community Guidelines. Repeat violators may have their account deleted. The Scratch Team reserves the sole right to determine what constitutes a violation of the Terms of Use or Community Guidelines. The Scratch Team also reserves the right to terminate any account used to circumvent prior enforcement of the Terms of Use.
Like it has been mentioned before, this would seemingly allow Scratch Team to interpret their rules the way they please. However, with all this being noted, I will bring up the question asked in the title, which concerns what has been shown above:
The Question: What makes an editor “modified” (and, as a result, not able to have its projects uploaded onto Scratch)?
As I’ve mentioned before, there appears to be an objection to uploading projects from a modified version of the Scratch Editor. I know there are certain examples of such editors, including Snap!, which was formerly called Build Your Own Blocks (BYOB). There are certain aspects about an editor such as Snap! which makes its projects not eligible for upload to the Scratch website. However, it would appear that, in some cases, it’s hard to say how this would apply for various unofficial editors forked from the official Scratch Editor, as some are not so different from the original editor. Two examples I am going to talk about here are Scratux and TurboWarp, although I may reference some other editors as well.
TurboWarp (as well as some similar things called Sulforous , Phosphorus, and Forkphorus) appears to be all the rage nowadays. Not surprising considering all the additional features it has, such as a loading bar, FPS control, onion skinning, dark mode, and more. Also, it’s Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). When we consider all the additions to the editor, it would no doubt seem to qualify as a “modified version” of the editor. However, it still exports to .sb3 format, and those files are still able to be uploaded and shared to the website no problem (provided no TurboWarp exclusive blocks are used). In fact, it looks like many people do just that and don’t really receive trouble for it. What exactly, in regards to the Scratch Team’s interpretation of the Terms of Use, is to be made of this phenomenon?
Now, let’s consider the other editor I mentioned, called Scratux. Scratux’s purpose, essentially, is to provide GNU/Linux binaries of the Scratch 3.0 editor (since, as of now, there are no official ones except for maybe a Raspberry Pi version I’ve read about). The editor is essentially the same as the Scratch editor. There’s no special things added in, and Scratch Cat & Co. (the Sprites), along with the Sound and Costume Libraries, are all there. There are, however, some minor differences. First is that, obviously, it has a different name, but it also has a different logo. Another difference is that it is based on an outdated version of Scratch 3.0 (it was formerly based on the online version of the editor, but at some point during development switched to being a fork of the offline Scratch editor) which lacks some of the current features, and although it has had some updates, it appears to have stopped updating some time ago. On top of that, Scratux.org, the developer website, has disappeared. The Wayback Machine confirms that the website did exist, but now if you visit it, it’s gone. However, I think I will revisit that point in another post I plan on making. The point I wanted to make with Scratux is that even though it is based on an outdated version of Scratch 3.0 (one which apparently had some “cross-site scripting” risk in the past, which is referenced here, but I'm not entirely sure of how that affects said version as a whole since it appears to primarily concern the SVG editor), it still retains the basic essense of Scratch 3.0 and doesn’t appear to change the program significantly. The Sprite, Sound, and Costume gangs are all here, there’s no special additions that affect the programming abilities in any way, and, just like TurboWarp, it can be saved as a .sb3 file, uploaded to the Scratch website, and shared for the community to see without any noticeable issues (there may be some weird server stuff going on or something, but I can’t tell because I can’t really see any of that stuff). Perhaps there could be some difference in Scratux’s code due to the process of making it a GNU/Linux binary, but I don’t know if that’s how that works. Either way, whatever differences there might or might not be, it does not appear to greatly (if at all) affect anything in regards to the Scratch website. What is to be made of this?
I really hope someone can help out with this, particularly if that someone happens to be a member of the High Council (a.k.a. the Scratch Team).
(link at bottom of the page)