(If you don't want to read all of this, skip to the bottom to see my questions.)

So, I usually never scroll through the explore page or the front page (or whatever it's called) because I lose motivation overtime because the people on those pages seem to get like, 100 v/s and it almost feels like I don't even get ONE view per year. (Yes, I know that's an exaggeration, one of my projects has almost 250, but that's ONE project, and 250 really isn't a lot, and I only have one other project that's over 100 views.) But that project at 250 leads me to asking this question:
What the heck is required to get on the Explore page?!
I've seen projects with about that same amount, maybe even a little less, on the explore page, but there's me with that project and it's still ignored and left off the explore page. Why?
And second question, HOW DO THEY DO IT?!! How the heck do these people end up with 1000 views in less than 2 days but the majority of my recent projects stay at zero for like, a week before they get their first viewer (other than myself)?!!

So to sum it up:
1. What are the requirements a project needs to be on the explore page?
2. How do people go from 1 to 1000 views in two days?!
3. (Probably the biggest question)
WHY DO I NOT EXIST?!!

(Also, please do not suggest things like “Advertise in an appropriate way” or “Create quality projects” because that doesn't work, and also please do not say “Popularity doesn't matter! Forget about it!” I'm a perfectionist, and the “popularity doesn't matter” trope just makes it even worse because I honestly disagree with that claim.)

To answer your questions…

1) A project just needs to be “trendy”, as in, “receives popularity in a short amount of time”. These projects can be extremely old, even, but as long as they're still getting views, loves, favourites, and whatnot at a fast rate, they'll stay on the Explore page.

2) These people usually are either featured, curated with a huge project, or already were immensely popular beforehand. Going onto the Explore tab, you'll find that lots of the project creators have tons of followers and/or cater to specific interests (animations and art are extremely popular), allowing their projects to become popular extremely quickly.

3) You do exist, but unfortunately, not many people have heard about you or just aren't interested in your projects… Even if you do make quality projects, you can't persuade someone to be interested or suddenly find it amazing. I make the elusive note block projects all the time on Scratch, and sure, while a couple may have gained a lot of popularity due to being on the front page, most of them haven't cracked 100 views or grow very, very slowly - it's a niche interest, after all! You can't expect for others to do exactly what you need to become popular, unfortunately. People just do what people do, and with the way the Explore and Search pages are set up, it's difficult for users that aren't already popular to get views.

The most effective “strategy” to get views is to post, comment, and interact with the community a lot, as that'll get your name out there. Make some friends, actively participate in studios, help users… These will all contribute to popularity. But if you really only care about views, you could attempt to request a future Front Page Curator (future FPCs can be found at this studio) for one of your projects to curated and put on the front page. Of course, don't get your hopes up - these FPCs get lots of requests, have varying standards or may already have all the projects decided - but it's worth a shot.

Galaxia_TheWolf684 wrote:

So, I usually never scroll through the explore page or the front page (or whatever it's called) because I lose motivation overtime because the people on those pages seem to get like, 100 v/s and it almost feels like I don't even get ONE view per year.
WHY DO I NOT EXIST?!!

Those two sentences pretty much sum up my life on Scratch. I used to have like, 600 projects, but none of them ever got viewed.
Except by me.

Surprisingly though, I did manage to get 200 followers.
Which to be honest is pretty sad, since I've been on Scratch for almost 3 years.

I guess just, make a really good project?

The way the Explore page and Scratch popularity works is flawed. As far as I know, it's run by a computer rather than actual human beings, so the projects can't be judged directly for how good they are. Instead, the computer looks at how the humans using Scratch react to a project to see how good it is. It does this by seeing how much interaction the project is getting.

People who have a large amount of followers have a significantly easier time getting their projects noticed, because any of their followers who see a new project in the “What's happening?” box on the front page can love/favorite it within minutes of the it being shared. Scratch puts a project on a ‘Trending’ list if it gets a lot of attention in a short space of time, so that initial boost from followers who saw the project as it went out makes it more likely to get on that list. This in turn almost guarantees the Scratcher even more follows from people who liked their last project, making it even more likely to trend the next time. (This only works if the Scratcher's followers are ones who were actually impressed with their work, F4Fing will do almost no help at all.)

In short, once you pass a certain threshold in popularity, it becomes extremely easy and almost inevitable to become a consistently popular Scratcher. The problem is that there is no reliable way to reach this threshold. One person can work for years and never get anywhere, whereas someone else with better luck can shoot up to the top of the explore page with almost every new project. It's pretty much entirely down to luck. The project that got me past this point was an interactive animation about sentient potatoes, but there's no guarantee that the same will happen to you if you do something similar.

(Of course, almost all of this is just from my own experiences and observations, so this might not be how it works at all.)

WolfCat67 wrote:

The most effective “strategy” to get views is to post, comment, and interact with the community a lot, as that'll get your name out there. Make some friends, actively participate in studios, help users… These will all contribute to popularity.

I already do this, and still nobody knows who the heck I am.

WolfCat67 wrote:

But if you really only care about views, you could attempt to request a future Front Page Curator (future FPCs can be found at this studio) for one of your projects to curated and put on the front page. Of course, don't get your hopes up - these FPCs get lots of requests, have varying standards or may already have all the projects decided - but it's worth a shot.

You really think the ST wants a person who doubts herself all the time and has devoted her life to posting furry trash on this site? No? What I thought.

Hi! I think if you'd like to get on the front page you need to make a unique project. Games and animations are most likely to make it up there. If you're proud of a project you made create a thumbnail.

Projects that don't get front-paged:
Contests
Contest entries
Remixes (usually)
Rants
Projects labeled NFE

Creativegirl9 wrote:

Hi! I think if you'd like to get on the front page you need to make a unique project. Games and animations are most likely to make it up there. If you're proud of a project you made create a thumbnail.

I've done this plenty of times. Doesn't work.

Creativegirl9 wrote:

Projects that don't get front-paged:
Contests
Contest entries
Remixes (usually)
Rants
Projects labeled NFE

I've made almost no projects that fall under these categories. So….

I just wanted to say that getting on the Explore page is purely algorithm/computer-based. I don't think the Scratch Team would be willing to reveal the exact algorithm, since it could be abused.

Remember that Scratch is not about fame or popularity.

Za-Chary wrote:

Remember that Scratch is not about fame or popularity.

I guess you forgot I said…

Galaxia_TheWolf684 wrote:

(…and also please do not say “Popularity doesn't matter! Forget about it!” I'm a perfectionist, and the “popularity doesn't matter” trope just makes it even worse because I honestly disagree with that claim.)

Yes, keep in mind that the project must:

-Not be NFE
-Have a substantial amount of views, loves, favorites in a short period of time

Galaxia_TheWolf684 wrote:

Za-Chary wrote:

Remember that Scratch is not about fame or popularity.

I guess you forgot I said…

Galaxia_TheWolf684 wrote:

(…and also please do not say “Popularity doesn't matter! Forget about it!” I'm a perfectionist, and the “popularity doesn't matter” trope just makes it even worse because I honestly disagree with that claim.)

Then I suggest you change your viewpoint on the site. You're going to burn yourself out if that's going to be your goal on Scratch (you'll see why).
At this point, I've given up trying to become “famous” and use Scratch for actual needs rather than having incentives to force myself to think analytically to program. It's a harsh reality but there's nothing you can do about it.

Scratch is designed to be a place where you learn coding. The only reason why they have these unintended popularity contests is to encourage people to think creatively and to demonstrate that coding is more than just… coding. It's a whole diverse world that requires tons of different skills - artwork, audio/visual technicals, programming, math, and logic to name a few - all put together into a project.

Also, keep in mind that there are literally thirty million projects that are currently shared on the website. That number grows every day. Out of what chance do you expect a project of yours to be featured? Assuming all events independent from each other, you can say that you have a 0.000000026% chance of a project being featured. And one project is picked only once a week. You're just going to have to be lucky.

Does that mean you shouldn't try your best as if your project won't get in? Of course not! I love projects that clearly show that the person has put hard work into the production process. It's certainly not easy, but your hard work will pay off one day. - you'll just never know when.

DownsGameClub wrote:

You're going to burn yourself out–

M'kay, I'mma stop you right there, buddy: I've already done that to myself. Why? Well, pretty sure you wouldn't be motivated to do projects because you knew nobody would view them. 75% of my projects–if not more–are still at 3 views or less. 75% OF MY PROJECTS, PROBABLY EVEN MORE.

DownsGameClub wrote:

Does that mean you shouldn't try your best as if your project won't get in?

Gonna stop you again :3
With my trashy luck, yeah! My projects WON'T get in! Because I'm a freakin' weirdo that has no place in this world ._.

Now, I'm curious — if you're so passionate about becoming popular, yet so distraught from the feeling of not being noticed, then why not leave Scratch and go to a different website, or find a new hobby, where popularity is not as big of an issue?

Galaxia_TheWolf684 wrote:

WolfCat67 wrote:

The most effective “strategy” to get views is to post, comment, and interact with the community a lot, as that'll get your name out there. Make some friends, actively participate in studios, help users… These will all contribute to popularity.

I already do this, and still nobody knows who the heck I am.

Even if a project gets ten thousand views, unless the user's one of the most popular on the entire site, most people will still not know who said person is. I've been on the front page multiple times before, but I'd bet that if you asked almost anyone on the site that didn't frequent the forums a year and a half ago who I was, you'd be met with confusion.

WolfCat67 wrote:

But if you really only care about views, you could attempt to request a future Front Page Curator (future FPCs can be found at this studio) for one of your projects to curated and put on the front page. Of course, don't get your hopes up - these FPCs get lots of requests, have varying standards or may already have all the projects decided - but it's worth a shot.

You really think the ST wants a person who doubts herself all the time and has devoted her life to posting furry trash on this site? No? What I thought.

I mentioned the Curated projects, not Featured - those aren't chosen by the Scratch Team. As long as your project's appropriate, it's eligible for being on the front page, and a Front Page Curator would be your best bet for getting there.

Don't worry, you're not alone.
99.99% of Scratchers don't exist either. Incluidng me.

(Haven't been on the Scratch forums in freaking forever, jeez—)

Za-Chary wrote:

Now, I'm curious — if you're so passionate about becoming popular, yet so distraught from the feeling of not being noticed, then why not leave Scratch and go to a different website,

My mom is extremely “FAMILY-FRIENDLY” so…

I don't even know how else I'm supposed to respond to this.

or find a new hobby, where popularity is not as big of an issue?

Example?
Everything seems to be popularity nowadays. ._.

A new hobby would be like playing an instrument, or perhaps drawing.

You don't need a computer for these, and they exist only to entertain yourself. You don't need to compare your skills with others in an unhealthy way.

Okay, saying popularity does matter, is wrong. Popularity does not signal quality or anything like that. For example, you know Jake Paul. Is he a good youtuber? No. But however, he is still popular.
I'd also just like to mention, if you are doing something and expect to get popular, you'd realize that getting popular is much harder than you think it is.
To answer your question, then you should probably start interacting with the Scratch community. Make friends, join contests, comment, remix projects, make projects for the Scratch Design Studio, talk in the forums. Sure this may seem like a lot, but this is my best advice.

Sorry, but I'm not willing to help if you act like this when people try to help. I would try to give my advice, but you seem to yell at people who are trying to help. Popularity shouldn't become an obsession or an addiction. The important part about Scratch is to have fun and enjoy what you're doing. You won't go anywhere if fame is the only thing you're focusing on.
Becoming popular doesn't just take one day, it's over the long term, and requires lots of patience, persistence, luck, and will.

NilsTheBest wrote:

Sorry, but I'm not willing to help if you act like this when people try to help. I would try to give my advice, but you seem to yell at people who are trying to help. Popularity shouldn't become an obsession or an addiction. The important part about Scratch is to have fun and enjoy what you're doing. You won't go anywhere if fame is the only thing you're focusing on.
Becoming popular doesn't just take one day, it's over the long term, and requires lots of patience, persistence, luck, and will.

I'm questioning how you think I'm going to be fine with people giving me the SAME. EXACT. ADVICE. OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER, when the advice doesn't even help. And if popularity doesn't take one day, explain to me how @-JaelynDraws- gained 1000+ followers in less than TWO MONTHS, and gained 100+ followers on her new account