I was recently blocked for an unwritten rule I didn't even know existed. I even reviewed the Community Guidelines and realized my reason for being blocked didn't fall under anything.

I decided to remake the Guidelines page to explain in depth each part of the guidelines to include reasons that weren't previously listed.
Here is my remake:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/416773697/

Hi there! The community guidelines does not show all of the rules of Scratch but outlines the core values - if you were looking for something which outlines every rule try taking a look at the terms of use agreement you accepted when you joined Scratch.

Is your suggestion for us to officially provide an exhaustive list of all the things that break the Community Guidelines, or did you mean to post this in the Show and Tell forum?

I

HostPresto wrote:

Hi there! The community guidelines does not show all of the rules of Scratch but outlines the core values - if you were looking for something which outlines every rule try taking a look at the terms of use agreement you accepted when you joined Scratch.

I actually didn't know that existed and I'm almost an adult. More than likely, the majority of Scratchers don't know it exists either, so there should be a more obvious link/button.

Za-Chary wrote:

Is your suggestion for us to officially provide an exhaustive list of all the things that break the Community Guidelines, or did you mean to post this in the Show and Tell forum?

No, I feel like the guidelines should be more informative rather than their current 6-topic state. Like I replied to the other person, I actually had no idea that Terms of Use existed (I became a Scratcher 5 years ago).

I think I remember in 2.0 that the top links were different (Create, Explore, etc), and I feel as if the Scratch terms or guidelines should replace About, since About is more for the parents/teachers who would likely use the links at the bottom of the page.

You have been alerted for (insert anything here) spamming.
Yeah, there are too many types of pam.

• Blockspam
  
• Emojispam
  
• Quotespam
  
• Browser/OS spam
  
• Code spam
  
• Image spam
  
• ASCII spam (okay in The Lordship of ASCII)
  
• List spam
  

And many types of spam I've never even heard of before.

-InsanityPlays- wrote:

You have been alerted for (insert anything here) spamming.
Yeah, there are too many types of pam.

• Blockspam
  
• Emojispam
  
• Quotespam
  
• Browser/OS spam
  
• Code spam
  
• Image spam
  
• ASCII spam (okay in The Lordship of ASCII)
  
• List spam
  

And many types of spam I've never even heard of before.

And also chainmail spam

Col_Cat228 wrote:

-InsanityPlays- wrote:

You have been alerted for (insert anything here) spamming.
Yeah, there are too many types of pam.

• Blockspam
  
• Emojispam
  
• Quotespam
  
• Browser/OS spam
  
• Code spam
  
• Image spam
  
• ASCII spam (okay in The Lordship of ASCII)
  
• List spam
  

And many types of spam I've never even heard of before.

And also chainmail spam

Yeah, I feel like you shouldn't be warned/muted/blocked for rules that aren't addressed.

moss-shadow wrote:

No, I feel like the guidelines should be more informative rather than their current 6-topic state. Like I replied to the other person, I actually had no idea that Terms of Use existed (I became a Scratcher 5 years ago).

The purpose of the Community Guidelines is to be short and to the point, as was mentioned above. Sure, we could make it longer like the Terms of Use — but then the issue is that no one would want to read all of that in order to join Scratch. The Community Guidelines, although “vague,” technically do cover everything that is against the Community Guidelines.

Za-Chary wrote:

moss-shadow wrote:

No, I feel like the guidelines should be more informative rather than their current 6-topic state. Like I replied to the other person, I actually had no idea that Terms of Use existed (I became a Scratcher 5 years ago).

The purpose of the Community Guidelines is to be short and to the point, as was mentioned above. Sure, we could make it longer like the Terms of Use — but then the issue is that no one would want to read all of that in order to join Scratch. The Community Guidelines, although “vague,” technically do cover everything that is against the Community Guidelines.

There are some things I can mention that aren't under any of these. Chain mail, spam, advertising your projects on other people's projects, telling people passwords. Also, in “Share.”, yes it does say “You are free to remix projects, ideas, images, or anything else you find on Scratch”, but there isn't anything saying you can't create exact remixes, which you can report a project for which will get it taken down. The person who made the exact project will not understand what rule they broke since “ anyone can use anything that you share.”

moss-shadow wrote:

There are some things I can mention that aren't under any of these. Chain mail, spam, advertising your projects on other people's projects, telling people passwords. Also, in “Share.”, yes it does say “You are free to remix projects, ideas, images, or anything else you find on Scratch”, but there isn't anything saying you can't create exact remixes, which you can report a project for which will get it taken down. The person who made the exact project will not understand what rule they broke since “ anyone can use anything that you share.”

Spam and advertising violate the “Be constructive” rule — neither spam nor advertising on a project is being constructive. Exact remixes can fall under “Share” — that states that you are able to remix projects, which implies you're changing something about the project. Sharing passwords I would think is obvious anyway — it's generally a bad idea to give someone an account password that you have, and that's not restricted to Scratch.

Za-Chary wrote:

moss-shadow wrote:

There are some things I can mention that aren't under any of these. Chain mail, spam, advertising your projects on other people's projects, telling people passwords. Also, in “Share.”, yes it does say “You are free to remix projects, ideas, images, or anything else you find on Scratch”, but there isn't anything saying you can't create exact remixes, which you can report a project for which will get it taken down. The person who made the exact project will not understand what rule they broke since “ anyone can use anything that you share.”

Spam and advertising violate the “Be constructive” rule — neither spam nor advertising on a project is being constructive. Exact remixes can fall under “Share” — that states that you are able to remix projects, which implies you're changing something about the project. Sharing passwords I would think is obvious anyway — it's generally a bad idea to give someone an account password that you have, and that's not restricted to Scratch.

I guess if you reaaally stretch it, it kind of covers everything but doesn't address it. I'm going to leave the conversation here, but I do feel like the terms should be more accessible (not at the bottom of the page).

Za-Chary wrote:

moss-shadow wrote:

There are some things I can mention that aren't under any of these. Chain mail, spam, advertising your projects on other people's projects, telling people passwords. Also, in “Share.”, yes it does say “You are free to remix projects, ideas, images, or anything else you find on Scratch”, but there isn't anything saying you can't create exact remixes, which you can report a project for which will get it taken down. The person who made the exact project will not understand what rule they broke since “ anyone can use anything that you share.”

Exact remixes can fall under “Share” — that states that you are able to remix projects, which implies you're changing something about the project.

But does it? The remix button is always visible now. And as soon as you've pressed it, the Share button takes its place. I don't think it's too farfetched to imagine a younger user just clicking those two buttons, leaving the project (and thus having not changed anything), and then potentially later on receiving an alert for it.

The community guidelines say they're free to remix projects, and they don't have to change anything (not even move a single block) to be able to click the button, so I imagine that some users will do so.

When one person is banned in your household, everyone is banned including siblings who live with you, so don't log into any of your accounts to prevent being permanently IP banned.

Not everybody gets IP banned when they get banned, and this isn't a guideline anyways.

moss-shadow wrote:

I

HostPresto wrote:

Hi there! The community guidelines does not show all of the rules of Scratch but outlines the core values - if you were looking for something which outlines every rule try taking a look at the terms of use agreement you accepted when you joined Scratch.

I actually didn't know that existed and I'm almost an adult. More than likely, the majority of Scratchers don't know it exists either, so there should be a more obvious link/button.

While becoming a Scratcher, it says multiple times to follow the community guidelines.
The CG outlines some things.
Why don't we change this to be
“The List of Rules and Disclaimers” and say
"Please read The List of Rules and Disclaimers before making your account"
Because that's basically every single rule.

ioton wrote:

When one person is banned in your household, everyone is banned including siblings who live with you, so don't log into any of your accounts to prevent being permanently IP banned.

Not everybody gets IP banned when they get banned, and this isn't a guideline anyways.

moss-shadow wrote:

I

HostPresto wrote:

Hi there! The community guidelines does not show all of the rules of Scratch but outlines the core values - if you were looking for something which outlines every rule try taking a look at the terms of use agreement you accepted when you joined Scratch.

I actually didn't know that existed and I'm almost an adult. More than likely, the majority of Scratchers don't know it exists either, so there should be a more obvious link/button.

While becoming a Scratcher, it says multiple times to follow the community guidelines.
The CG outlines some things.
Why don't we change this to be
“The List of Rules and Disclaimers” and say
"Please read The List of Rules and Disclaimers before making your account"
Because that's basically every single rule.

For the IP ban, I was IP banned when I was blocked and my sister tried logging into her account. I'm guessing Scratch thought I was using an alt to get around the block and I was IP banned. Many people with siblings/friends who play at their house will run into this.

Also, some of us haven't become a Scratcher in a long time and you only get that “You're a Scratcher now, read this” once.

moss-shadow wrote:

ioton wrote:

When one person is banned in your household, everyone is banned including siblings who live with you, so don't log into any of your accounts to prevent being permanently IP banned.

Not everybody gets IP banned when they get banned, and this isn't a guideline anyways.

moss-shadow wrote:

I

HostPresto wrote:

Hi there! The community guidelines does not show all of the rules of Scratch but outlines the core values - if you were looking for something which outlines every rule try taking a look at the terms of use agreement you accepted when you joined Scratch.

I actually didn't know that existed and I'm almost an adult. More than likely, the majority of Scratchers don't know it exists either, so there should be a more obvious link/button.

While becoming a Scratcher, it says multiple times to follow the community guidelines.
The CG outlines some things.
Why don't we change this to be
“The List of Rules and Disclaimers” and say
"Please read The List of Rules and Disclaimers before making your account"
Because that's basically every single rule.

For the IP ban, I was IP banned when I was blocked and my sister tried logging into her account. I'm guessing Scratch thought I was using an alt to get around the block and I was IP banned. Many people with siblings/friends who play at their house will run into this.

Also, some of us haven't become a Scratcher in a long time and you only get that “You're a Scratcher now, read this” once.

I refresh myself on the CG's often.

A lot of the rules come down to common sense.

Yeetoburro1 wrote:

I refresh myself on the CG's often.

I have to admit, I don't do that, and a lot of people don't either. Especially kids. Imagine being very young. You're not going to scroll all the way down to that mesh of links at the bottom and read through all of them and find the guidelines and read through them all regularly (not daily, maybe every once in a while).

moss-shadow wrote:

Yeetoburro1 wrote:

I refresh myself on the CG's often.

I have to admit, I don't do that, and a lot of people don't either. Especially kids. Imagine being very young. You're not going to scroll all the way down to that mesh of links at the bottom and read through all of them and find the guidelines and read through them all regularly (not daily, maybe every once in a while).

I'm still in middle school. Does that count for “Very young”?

Yeetoburro1 wrote:

moss-shadow wrote:

Yeetoburro1 wrote:

I refresh myself on the CG's often.

I have to admit, I don't do that, and a lot of people don't either. Especially kids. Imagine being very young. You're not going to scroll all the way down to that mesh of links at the bottom and read through all of them and find the guidelines and read through them all regularly (not daily, maybe every once in a while).

I'm still in middle school. Does that count for “Very young”?

I feel like that isn't relevant to this topic.