ProdigyZeta7 wrote:

So to feature a Scratcher, another user must provide an explanation of his/her potential, creativity, helpfulness, honesty, or other traits that should be praised in the community. The Scratch Team can only feature one user a day, and users can remain featured indefinitely until another user is elected. Here are some reasons users may be featured:

This user was featured because (s)he helped dozens of other Scratchers with their scripts on the forums.
This user was featured because (s)he created many helpful tutorials for other users to benefit from.
This user was featured because (s)he dedicated his/her time to stop online bullying and gave many nice comments.

Failord wrote:

Hmmm… again, this has been suggested many times to the ST.

I can't offer my opinion, because, well, I have none. Here's why:

Pros:
Scratchers with more experience get their work seen more.
Featured Scratchers get a morale boost.
The community gets to see examples of the best ways to use Scratch.
More focus on quality.
Popularity spreading from Featured Scratchers to the others that show up linked in their profiles.
New Scratchers who need a boost and get featured will feel much more encouraged.

And now, unfortuately, the
Cons:
Featured Scratchers bragging.
New Scratchers might feel discouraged by this.
Spam-like “feature me!” requests. (I mean more stuff like this. It's a con with almost any suggestion.)
Farther imbalance from focus on projects to a Scratcher's popularity.
Hate messages: “You think you're so cool ‘cause you’re featured but you're not” type of thing.
More work for the Scratch Team. (Another con that is almost universal.)
When featured Scratchers turn rotten or do stupid things.

Perhaps the Pros list should be longer. If anyone can name some stuff I forgot, let me know.

PullJosh wrote:

Failord wrote:

Hmmm… again, this has been suggested many times to the ST.

I can't offer my opinion, because, well, I have none. Here's why:

Pros:
Scratchers with more experience get their work seen more.
Featured Scratchers get a morale boost.
The community gets to see examples of the best ways to use Scratch.
More focus on quality.
Popularity spreading from Featured Scratchers to the others that show up linked in their profiles.
New Scratchers who need a boost and get featured will feel much more encouraged.

And now, unfortuately, the
Cons:
Featured Scratchers bragging.
New Scratchers might feel discouraged by this.
Spam-like “feature me!” requests. (I mean more stuff like this. It's a con with almost any suggestion.)
Farther imbalance from focus on projects to a Scratcher's popularity.
Hate messages: “You think you're so cool ‘cause you’re featured but you're not” type of thing.
More work for the Scratch Team. (Another con that is almost universal.)
When featured Scratchers turn rotten or do stupid things.

Perhaps the Pros list should be longer. If anyone can name some stuff I forgot, let me know.

You bring up some very good points.

Maybe a “newest users” section instead? (It could function like newest projects, only with users)

AonymousGuy wrote:

Okay, looking over at this thread again, I've decided that I support. However - I think that there should be maybe one featured user at a time (or maybe a few, but not as many as featured projects), for about a week, with a description under them telling why they are featured.

Now this is where my idea for this is going: the user being featured isn't necessarily because of good projects, but because they set a good example. So there is a lot of focus on what other users can do better.

But users should still be featured to showcase their programming skills, especially if they do things that make it easier for newer users to learn like comment out their code and make it easily understandable. After all, Scratch is educational, and this could greatly improve the learning curve.

NolanAwesome wrote:

AonymousGuy wrote:

Okay, looking over at this thread again, I've decided that I support. However - I think that there should be maybe one featured user at a time (or maybe a few, but not as many as featured projects), for about a week, with a description under them telling why they are featured.

Now this is where my idea for this is going: the user being featured isn't necessarily because of good projects, but because they set a good example. So there is a lot of focus on what other users can do better.

But users should still be featured to showcase their programming skills, especially if they do things that make it easier for newer users to learn like comment out their code and make it easily understandable. After all, Scratch is educational, and this could greatly improve the learning curve.

That's what I'm trying to say.

ImMaximum wrote:

The only reason I don't support is that you didn't give me any specifics. Who exactly could be chosen? Can you give examples? Pros and cons? What are some more benefits with this?

For now, until this is expanded upon, I currently don't support.

RandomPerson1789 wrote:

no support
inflicts jealousy among scratchers. featured projects are already bad enough
(Yes, I don't support featured projects)