coder2310 wrote:

While I know that the membership has only existed for a tiny bit now, the direction that scratch is heading in doesn't seem to be all that good. And the membership might just accel this place right to falure.

Or maybe not and it actually turns out well and I'm just being paranoid.

It's too soon to tell either way, but I'm optimistic that Scratch isn't headed toward failure. It is undeniable that the direction that Scratch is taking is different from the past, and there is no doubt that this will change the Scratch community overall. I'd believe that the community — rather than being better or worse — will simply just be different.

Granted, it is sort of up to each individual user to decide whether the changes are better or worse — but when we look at Scratch as a whole, I don't see these membership changes causing Scratch to outright fail. (6 years ago, people said that Scratch 3.0 would fail … but the community is still strong!)

As an example: these days, is the social media website X better or worse than it was 5 years ago? If it is better, then why do people frequently complain about the changes? If it is worse, then why is it still popular and hasn't failed by now?

Zippy02 wrote:

I agree. I do not like the fact there are placing badges and cat ears on people's profiles. People who are new to the website will misunderstand this feature and believe that this means the scratcher is popular or approved and therefore people are more likely to check their profile and click on their projects. This will just result in having the membership profiles with more followers/views than average.

I have noticed that on some areas of the site, like the forums for example, I can see the cat ears on the user but no other signs showing that the user is a member. Cat ears do NOT show that the user is a member, once again, someone could mistake that “the scratcher is popular or approved”.

I just thought of another piece of criticism: People who are new to the website will also misunderstand the meaning of “member”, they will think it means that the user is a part of the Scratch Team or someone who works on the site/scratch itself and so then again “are more likely to check their profile”.

Also why would I care if a user is a member? Scratch seems to be either highlighting these users for their support/richness or/and that membership perk is “get popular on scratch”. (Although if a lot of scratchers had these perks, then it would likely imply to newcomers that it would be some kind of membership).

minikiwigeek2 wrote:

Froggyforeaz wrote:

official part of membership?????

It is indeed an official part of Scratch Membership - I had browser extensions disabled when taking that image.

Kiwi

So then thats more proof their basically adding “first class scratchers” and “second class scratchers”

Za-Chary wrote:

It's too soon to tell either way, but I'm optimistic that Scratch isn't headed toward failure. It is undeniable that the direction that Scratch is taking is different from the past, and there is no doubt that this will change the Scratch community overall. I'd believe that the community — rather than being better or worse — will simply just be different.

The Scratch Team rejected the idea of a paid membership tier with good reason. You don't want to encourage kids to “borrow” their parents' credit cards, subsist on users who forgot to cancel the membership, or promote bullying and classism within the Scratch community, but by backtracking they've opened the floodgates to all of it, and this is a clear moral failing on their part.

minikiwigeek2 wrote:

Froggyforeaz wrote:

official part of membership?????

It is indeed an official part of Scratch Membership - I had browser extensions disabled when taking that image.

Kiwi

on this note this is a really small nitpick sorry can i suggest maybe retaking the screenshot in this post you made since it has the status text from your browser extension in it thanks

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

mingo-gag wrote:

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

That looks so cursed

mingo-gag wrote:

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

i fear no man.
but that thing…
it scares me.

mingo-gag wrote:

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

I feel like I just witnessed horror
right in front of me

Yes, I do agree with this. This website is directed to people of all ages; including children. Adding those rank icons and badges and banners makes it feel like a premium rank you need to have to look good and does not go into the motif of an educational website.

mingo-gag wrote:

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

this is wrong on so many levels
i'm on mobile so this looks so much worse

Olimon7661 wrote:

mingo-gag wrote:

I have to mention now that the Cat Ear's exist Scratch Cat is now front facing.

this is wrong on so many levels
i'm on mobile so this looks so much worse

What the- #changebackscratchcat

why don't they just sell good merch