Advertising and Follow-for-Follow (f4f)

Paddle2See

Scratch is a big community and it is important that everyone follow the Community Guidelines, including being respectful and friendly. There are several topics that we would like to address to continue to keep the site friendly.

Advertising

We understand that you want other people to see your projects.. However, misplaced advertising or spamming links is not friendly or respectful to other users.

Where is it okay to advertise?

There are many ways that you can share your projects with others that we don’t consider to violate the Community Guidelines, including:
The ‘About Me’ and ‘What I'm Working’ on fields of your profile
Changing the Featured Project on your profile
Leaving a comment on your own profile
Your forum signature in the Discussion Forums
In the Show and Tell area of the Discussion Forums (make a new topic for your project)
In Studios that are designed for advertising
In Studios that have a theme similar to your project (to ask that your project be added to the Studio)

Where is it not okay to advertise?

Any place where your ad would be considered “off-topic”, such as:
Comments on someone else's project
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)
On areas of the Discussion Forums other than Show and Tell
In Studios that are not relevant to the project you are advertising
Note that “asking for feedback” (with no specifics) for one of your projects could still be considered advertising. However, inviting somebody to enjoy one of your projects that is similar to one of theirs might be considered okay, since you are sharing an interest. We ask that you do not post more than one such comment, and avoid doing this at all on projects which are featured on the Scratch homepage.

Follow-for-Follow (f4f)

Follow-for-Follow, also called f4f, is when a Scratcher invites another Scratcher to become a follower by promising to do the same for them. It is allowed on Scratch. However, it can also be considered spamming or misplaced advertising if you repeatedly post this type of request. We ask that you be respectful of other Scratchers and do not spam Follow-for-follow (f4f) comments.

Following is intended to make it easy to see what another Scratcher is doing. It's a great way to build friendships through shared interests. Just getting more followers should not be your goal - what's important is building strong relationships with other Scratchers and having fun through sharing with them.

That being said, there is no denying that more followers often leads to more views for projects and perhaps more incentive to continue making projects. So it's understandable that some Scratchers try to increase the number of followers they have by offering f4f. However, choosing to follow someone is always a voluntary choice. If you are not interested in following somebody when they ask you (whether it's through an f4f request or any kind of request), just politely decline.

Last edited by Paddle2See (April 21, 2020 14:23:44)

Scratch Team Member, kayak and pickleball enthusiast, cat caregiver.

This is my forum signature! On a forum post, it is okay for Scratchers to advertise in their forum signature. The signature is the stuff that shows up below the horizontal line on the post. It will show up on every post I make.
(credit to Za-Chary)

;

Za-Chary

Thank you for the clarification! I bet many users will find this helpful.

This is my forum signature! On a forum post, it is okay for Scratchers to advertise in their forum signature. The signature is the stuff that shows up below the horizontal line on the post. It will show up on every post I make.

I was a Scratch Team member from May 10th 2019 to October 29th 2021.

my notebook | scratch team essay | accessibility essay

Boomer001

Great, thank you! It's helpful! (i do not advertise much and i don't do f4f but still this is a great guide)

Last edited by Boomer001 (April 21, 2020 16:07:58)

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#+#    #+# #+#    #+# #+#    #+# #+#       #+# #+#        #+#    #+# #+#   #+# #+#   #+#   #+#   
#########   ########   ########  ###       ### ########## ###    ###  #######   #######  #######

CHECK OUT MY FORUM STATS

LRTroiano15

this will be helpful.

BaBy_Fin

Paddle2See wrote:
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)

Is it okay if the profile says you can advertise?

Remember Jesus loves you and have a great day!
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
My alt account: @Bucken__Berry

Johnny wrote:
Thanks! Now I might not starve.

Toxic_Team

yay i now know how to stop getting hated on.

Hi!

if <awesome?> then 
say [thanks for the support!] for (10) secs
else
set [awesome?] to [true]
end

click me!
yes

CrystalKeeper7

Sounds good.

NaN

crazypraiselyn

when green flag clicked
say [Scratch is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] for (2) secs
turn cw (100) degrees

Last edited by crazypraiselyn (April 21, 2020 16:32:57)

http://www.webestools.com/page/images/uploads/titleGlitter_toloessWeb952.gif

FloatingMuffins

Great for clarifying this!

10th comment!

Last edited by FloatingMuffins (April 21, 2020 17:00:08)

Hi, I'm FloatingMuffins!
You can call me Muffins!
Age 17 | Irish | Traditional Catholic | Conservative

LilyMakesThings

thank you for posting this!

A message for the Scratch Team <3

-Firesnake-

Sounds good! I hope this will clarify a few things for some Scratchers! Thanks for releasing this post!

Last edited by -Firesnake- (April 21, 2020 18:13:53)

Col_Cat228

Listen to Paddle2See, kids -__- this is pure wisdom

“Everything in the universe is either an apple or not an apple”
-a smart guy

Paddle2See

BaBy_Fin wrote:
Paddle2See wrote:
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)
Is it okay if the profile says you can advertise?

Interesting question! My first thought was that it would be okay - however I have concerns that problems might happen if you advertised and then they changed their mind later and changed their profile to say that it was not okay. Then, it would appear that you were advertising in an area where you shouldn't be and you might get an alert about that. So, it could be tricky. Your safest course would be to stick to the areas we mapped out in the first post.

Scratch Team Member, kayak and pickleball enthusiast, cat caregiver.

This is my forum signature! On a forum post, it is okay for Scratchers to advertise in their forum signature. The signature is the stuff that shows up below the horizontal line on the post. It will show up on every post I make.
(credit to Za-Chary)

;

crazypraiselyn

when green flag clicked
if <someone advertises> then
hide
end

http://www.webestools.com/page/images/uploads/titleGlitter_toloessWeb952.gif

MREVIL076-

This is a very nice post I think that every new scratcher should see this so that they
will know not to f4f or to advertise I believe that it is not good to advertise on a person's
game because it basically trying to take the peoples viewers and the people that made
the game work hard and people come along and try to have people see their projects.

you know what I think “I think that if people really want there games to get popular
then don't advertise it makes people mad and not want to see your project”

crazypraiselyn

Paddle2See wrote:
BaBy_Fin wrote:
Paddle2See wrote:
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)
Is it okay if the profile says you can advertise?
Interesting question! My first thought was that it would be okay - however I have concerns that problems might happen if you advertised and then they changed their mind later and changed their profile to say that it was not okay. Then, it would appear that you were advertising in an area where you shouldn't be and you might get an alert about that. So, it could be tricky. Your safest course would be to stick to the areas we mapped out in the first post.

oh ok i needed that info too! thx!

when green flag clicked
say [i ❤ scratch]

http://www.webestools.com/page/images/uploads/titleGlitter_toloessWeb952.gif

carot3

Most people now call asking for feedback advertising. Would you agree?

carot3 - Games - Platformers - Animations - And More - [ My Latest Game is ‘- Orbit° - A 360° Rotating Scrolling Platformer’! ]

Like, Favourite, Follow for more!

carot3_alt

Paddle2See wrote:
BaBy_Fin wrote:
Paddle2See wrote:
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)
Is it okay if the profile says you can advertise?
Interesting question! My first thought was that it would be okay - however I have concerns that problems might happen if you advertised and then they changed their mind later and changed their profile to say that it was not okay. Then, it would appear that you were advertising in an area where you shouldn't be and you might get an alert about that. So, it could be tricky. Your safest course would be to stick to the areas we mapped out in the first post.

What about asking for feedback?

Mdawg4884

Great info!

Mdawg4884

I’ve heard that people are doing this: making accounts and following themselves. Is that allowed?

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