Scratch is putting too much time and effort into member-only things. For example, Zepto and Milli. One of them even looks like a certain Sprunki character. The “Winter Cheer” event is member-only. And they're making member-only sprites. Putting these things behind a paywall only angers people. The ST has made more controversial decisions than not this year, and forum helpers are at their breaking point because they want to fight the Scratch Team at this point. Making memberships divides Scratch. We don't want to pay into this dumb game just to support things like the costs of implementing zepto and milli, who literally will give young kids nightmares. We don't want to support a LeArNiNg Ai, which is costly and unpopular. Instead, please make a fundraiser that, for a couple days, encourages Scratchers to donate. I don't want Scratch to say eventually, “WaNt To AcCeSs ThE uPdAtEd ExPlOrE pAgE? cLiCk HeRe To DoNaTe!” and people are going to start to leave Scratch if this doesn't change. If people leave Scratch, you have less funds, and then Scratch is obliterated.

thedolphin_ wrote:

Scratch is putting too much time and effort into member-only things.

If I were a company who wanted to attract and retain people who are paying me, I'd certainly put effort into it.

thedolphin_ wrote:

For example, Zepto and Milli. One of them even looks like a certain Sprunki character.

That's for this topic.

thedolphin_ wrote:

The “Winter Cheer” event is member-only.

True, but…

Za-Chary wrote:

There are plenty of ways to “win” on Scratch without paying. The prize of the contest confuses me a little — to what degree is someone getting “featured”? — but at the end of the day, this just seems like another way to encourage creativity/engagement, like with the SDS.

Note that Scratch is still considered non-profit. “Non-profit” basically means that any money they receive must be used to support the Scratch Foundation. The Scratch Memberships still do this.

thedolphin_ wrote:

And they're making member-only sprites. Putting these things behind a paywall only angers people.

They aren't member-only:

cheddargirl wrote:

Please don't misinformation

thedolphin_ wrote:

The ST has made more controversial decisions than not this year, and forum helpers are at their breaking point because they want to fight the Scratch Team at this point. Making memberships divides Scratch.

Nobody is making you stay on this site.

thedolphin_ wrote:

We don't want to pay into this dumb game just to support things like the costs of implementing zepto and milli, who literally will give young kids nightmares.

Nobody is making you pay anything. Other people are paying so that you don't have to.

thedolphin_ wrote:

We don't want to support a LeArNiNg Ai, which is costly and unpopular.

Almost all of the people who don't want it don't know what it is. They just hear “AI” and panic. Misinformation again… :P

thedolphin_ wrote:

Instead, please make a fundraiser that, for a couple days, encourages Scratchers to donate.

They literally have had a huge banner on their homepage that says “Donate” for the past few years?? If everyone was doing that, they would have sufficient funds and wouldn't need a membership??

the dolphin_ wrote:

I don't want Scratch to say eventually, “WaNt To AcCeSs ThE uPdAtEd ExPlOrE pAgE? cLiCk HeRe To DoNaTe!” and people are going to start to leave Scratch if this doesn't change. If people leave Scratch, you have less funds, and then Scratch is obliterated.

Guess I'll repeat it…
Nobody is making you stay on this site.
Nobody is making you pay anything.
Other people are paying so that you don't have to.

thedolphin_ wrote:

And they're making member-only sprites.

Try looking at the bottom.

This suggestions seems to again spread the misinformation that memberships sprites are exclusive instead of early-access. Please remember that membership is a donation tier with sprite early access, and that access content associated with Membership will be accessible to everyone anyways (just obviously not early for non-members). Now with that correction out of the way…

Sometime ago, I posted a blurb about some of issues faced when dealing with donations.

One of the known pitfalls of having things run on donation money is that it's dependent on how much and when those donations come in. Most donate one time, few do recurring donations and these have a tendency to be kind of small. A lot of our large recurring donations come from larger organizations, and sometimes these might not come in at a consistent time due to factors at their organizations, and we do have to acknowledge the possibility they could also stop donating (or, in the case of some services, start charging instead of offering the service as a donation). This kind of makes it hard to plan things like fixes or features (or, in the case of services, it could be disruptive). Which isn't great.

Needless to say, a suggestion asking for the ST to cancel membership in favor of host fundraisers isn't really a good suggestion on how to fix this problem. Fundraisers aren't a recurring consistent stream of donations, and having to host them regularly per month to act as such would be counter-intuitive considering the time and logistics it takes to host just one fundraiser.

I'd suggest taking the time to step back to think things over to propose a more realistic suggestion if you really wish to propose another form of a recurring donation tier that's something else than a membership.