I feel as if people in the SMP (Scratch Mentorship Program) and the related groups have been the ones receiving more attention as of late. For example, a good handful of the featured projects have been by SMP members. No offense to the Scratch Team, but I don’t think that the ST should be allowed to choose people and, indirectly, popularize them. My suggestion is to end the SMP and all of the related groups.
I’m not jealous or anything, but I am kind of upset that the Scratch Team is somewhat catering to these people.

Edit: Very good post (by dinoparty0) that really expands on the reasoning for this suggestion: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/9149960

Current Stats:
Support: 6
Semi-support: 3
No support: 1

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

As someone who’s part of the SMP, the reason why we usually get featured projects are due to the event studios. Since we help design and plan the studio, we make seed projects to showcase good examples of what can go into the studio, and they are commonly featured.

No support.

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

samuelthedude wrote:

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

is it something i can join?

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

is it something i can join?

Applications open occasionally, when they do open they’ll be on the Scratch News section

samuelthedude wrote:

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

is it something i can join?

Applications open occasionally, when they do open they’ll be on the Scratch News section

oh, then i would sign up? would i need my name?

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

is it something i can join?

Applications open occasionally, when they do open they’ll be on the Scratch News section

oh, then i would sign up? would i need my name?

uhh read this faq for more info. when I signed up I didn’t need to give my real name.

We’re getting off topic, let’s get back on track, shall we?

samuelthedude wrote:

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

plum_the_fox wrote:

samuelthedude wrote:

blessingj100 wrote:

What do you mean by “SMP” in this case?

Scratch Mentor Program

You seem a lot more impatient since recently…

is it something i can join?

Applications open occasionally, when they do open they’ll be on the Scratch News section

oh, then i would sign up? would i need my name?

uhh read this faq for more info. when I signed up I didn’t need to give my real name.

We’re getting off topic, let’s get back on track, shall we?

oh i can't join.. i'm over the age limit

blackcow29 wrote:

I feel as if people in the SMP (Scratch Mentorship Program) and the related groups have been the ones receiving more attention as of late. For example, a good handful of the featured projects have been by SMP members. No offense to the Scratch Team, but I don’t think that the ST should be allowed to choose people and, indirectly, popularize them. My suggestion is to end the SMP and all of the related groups.
I’m not jealous or anything, but I am kind of upset that the Scratch Team is somewhat catering to these people.

I COMPLETELY AGREE. TOTAL SUPPORT!

You're not alone who thinks that. But while you're suggesting that, I might consider also suggesting giving more privileges and rights to non-English users like me so all scratchers can be more equal.

Semi-support
I think it should have less attention altogether as

samuelthedude wrote:

As someone who’s part of the SMP, the reason why we usually get featured projects are due to the event studios. Since we help design and plan the studio, we make seed projects to showcase good examples of what can go into the studio, and they are commonly featured.

No support.

is basically saying “only we can make good examples and you can’t because you didn’t make it” which isn’t really true and it should honestly be balanced between the main website’s audience’s attention and the SMP’s attention

Well, when you think about it, discontinuing all related groups to the SMP would also mean abandoning the YLL (Youth Leadership Lab), which seems to be Scratch's main way of consulting people in Scratch's target audience about upcoming features and the like that aren't ready to release to the public.

I'm not sure whether I'd support this or not.

SUPPORT

I thought the featured projects are supposed to be unique… I feel like some people spend so much time on a project trying to get it featured and YAB members get featured instead because they are part of a separate community. No hate to them or anything though. Suggesting more transparency in how projects get featured may also be better as the current ones I feel aren't sufficient.

samuelthedude wrote:

As someone who’s part of the SMP, the reason why we usually get featured projects are due to the event studios. Since we help design and plan the studio, we make seed projects to showcase good examples of what can go into the studio, and they are commonly featured.

No support.

I understand that SMP members create seed projects for event studios, and that makes sense as a way to help others. However, that doesn’t really address the main concern.

Even if the original intention is just to provide examples, the seed projects are still receiving a level of exposure that most users don’t have access to. Being featured, regardless of the reason, usually/always brings more attention, followers, and influence to the same group of people over time. So while it may not be “favoritism”, it can still result in unfairness for ALL users on Scratch.

Also, if SMP members are consistently involved in planning studios (I think they plan studios too) and creating the example projects that get featured, that only gives a small amount of power to a small group. Fewer people are contributing at that level due to the SMP members being featured. There is already the guidelines in the studio, so why do you need more than that. We don't need the projects featured as that gives a LOT of fame to them, but instead inside the studios description a “sample” project could be nice

So, my concern isn’t just “why are they featured,” but rather how the Scratch Team, intentionally or not, keeps amplifying the same voices.

Also, is the SMP and the YAB the same or what?

I mean, we don't have to discontinue it, just stop the seed projects on the front page DIRECTLY I guess

Wow that was long, I don't know, I just had a lot of thoughts on that for some reason as this trend has happened

dinoparty0 wrote:

~snip~

I agree with @dinoparty0 they make a very good point.

Bump

What is smp

scratchy_boy106 wrote:

What is smp

Scratch Mentorship Program.

Semi-support, while I do think the members are getting more attention than normal Scratchers, I don't think they should discontinue it all together. Maybe just stop giving members much more attention than other users.

Pi_master31 wrote:

Semi-support, while I do think the members are getting more attention than normal Scratchers, I don't think they should discontinue it all together. Maybe just stop giving members much more attention than other users.

Exactly. Honestly the attention balance between us (SMP members) and normal Scratchers is not well.

support (i though smp meant survival multiplayer like in minecraft lol)

i swear all the people featured are the exact same, especially on the featured studio section