Many of you New Scratchers out there may have made a few projects, but unlike on other websites, it's getting little to no attention!!! Most people wonder after a few days, ‘How do I get my name out there?’, or it's more commonly, "How do I become famous?'

Here are a couple of things you should know first before you get too involved with this thought:

- Scratch is NOT a social media website. It is a programming website, where the goal is to learn basic programming in an easy programming language and get feedback. Join Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram if you want to post social media.
- Scratch ISN'T a popular website. No matter how many people you think are on Scratch, if you go out and ask people if they know what Scratch is, most of the time the answer is no, and if they do know what it is, it's usually because they had to take a basic computer class and for the class they made an account on Scratch to make basic games.
- Scratch is for programming. Not art. You can post art on here, but let me warn you, there is HORRIBLE quality on the art, unless it's vector.
- Megan Trainor, Justin Bieber, and agents aren't out on Scratch looking for talent. Popular on Scratch means having 500-1000+ followers. On YouTube, it's having 1000000+ followers. See the difference?

So knowing this, I hope you know that being popular on Scratch won't effect your immediate life and you won't go on to being a famous singer just from posting a few projects on Scratch.

Still, it may help you enjoy your life a bit more if you have followers. I'm not here to judge you, just to let you know about those things.

Here are some tips to become a well-known Scratcher:

- Post on the Forums. By that I don't mean going around and commenting on random things saying ‘cool’. I mean actually making useful topics about maybe things Scratch could change to make the quality of the project better, or about bugs you found in the software. Maybe you might post topics to help New Scratchers get used to Scratch.
- Greet New Scratchers. Go onto some of the introduce yourself topics, and go to the profiles of new scratchers, and leave a friendly comment. Since you're one of the first people they see on Scratch, they're more likely to follow you. Remember to keep up a friendly and professional profile to greet them if they decide to view your profile.

- Post interesting projects. Sorry to break it to you, but if you've been on Scratch for a couple of weeks, posting like crazy, and nobody's been noticing, it's probably because of the quality of your projects. Posting a bajillion projects doesn't make people like you. Actually, people who do have a lot of followers when they first start have them because they have a FEW cool, interesting projects. Having interesting projects is the biggest follower-racking thing out there.

THINGS NOT TO POST:
- Remixes of things that aren't meant to be remixed. So many people like you, when they first start just go and remix a bunch of things, and don't change them at all, or if they do, they just change the color. That's not cool. It doesn't make you look good, it just makes you look like an annoying beginner. Some things, like CCs (Coloring Contests) and Adoptable Draw to Adopts are meant to be remixed, along with various contests and sign up sheets. Pretty much nothing else is. Remixes are just annoying to most people. So whatever you do, just be original with your projects, and don't steal other people's projects in a remix.
- Sucky Coloring Contest Entries. There are SO many out there, that people making Coloring Contests have started specifically making in the rules: DO NOT USE THE PAINT BUCKET!!! They're so right. There are plenty of good drawing programs out there to use. If you want to find out how to make a basic CC entry, visit this link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/48904272/. It isn't a very good CCE, but it's to try and save you from your horrible CCEs that are filled with paint buckets. Seriously, paint bucket does NOT look cool.
- Scratch's pre-made sprites. They may look cool, but NOBODY likes seeing them in projects. This also goes for Scratch's backgrounds. Not cool, man. Trust me. People would rather see backgrounds you made, and there are many tutorials on how to make rainbow backgrounds out there. Even just use color schemes!!! You can look some up on the internet, and borders work fine!!! Make your own sprites, and I suggest if you don't consider yourself a good artist, use vector, because you can edit the little lines. I don't truly consider vector to be art, and I don't prefer vector, but it also gets you some views, because apparently a lot of people like the neatness of it or whatever.
-Anything that opposes the things that are in my ‘What to Add’ column.

WHAT TO ADD:
-Credits. If you do end up remixing, give credit, even if you are entering a contest. But don't just say, ‘Credit to @blah’. Say something nice, like ‘Credit to @blah for making the original of this amazing <enter whatever it is>.’, or give something, like if you were entering an adoptables contest, do something like:
Art: @katiebug82304
Bio: @katiebug82304
Original Design: @blah
Thank you to @blah for making this amazing DTA that's perfect to enter! I love this design, and I hope I will win them!!!
- Good graphics. Games, Stories, Art, whatever it is, if it's easy to navigate and pretty, people love it. Making highlights around boxes when you touch them, and having organized graphics and color schemes help a lot with stealing people's attention, along with good, neat effects that all in all make things turn out good. And, don't commit art theft to do this. You don't have to be an artist to make things neat. The duplicate button and matching up the x categories really help!!!
- Share art. Usually people on Scratch somehow turn into fabulous artists within a year of them making a Scratch account and posting art. Art on here gets a lot of views, although Scratch has HORRIBLE quality for posting images. So, if you do share art, make sure you have an art blog (Blogger/Blogspot is good) or Deviant Art or Chicken Smoothie to post better quality. It really makes you look like a more professional artist.
- Share cool games/simulations. Make things clickable in you games. People love platformers, and there are some tutorials out there on how to make your own!!! There are plenty of cool ideas out there!!! Plus, it makes you look more professional if you post updates for your game in it's notes and credits!!! A good game could be anything!!! Look at featured projects for inspiration! Maybe share a platformer, or a roller coaster simulator, or anything you want!!! Don't just make a sucky animation! Make detailed graphics, even if you're not the best artist. Make something inspiring!!! Don't just make something in 5 minutes!!! Some of the best Scratchers only post about 50 projects in a year!!! (That may sound like a lot, but trust me, it isn't.) Take your time on things, and have a creative idea. Soon you'll be getting tons of followers every day!!!
- Host contests. People always love a cool adoptables contest with creative characters that's well run and detailed, or a CC with cool lineart you made!!! There's even plenty out there to give you an idea of what to do!!!
-Add thumbnails. People don't want to see whatever crazy things popped up when you were working on the project. They would like to know straight away just from looking at the little picture what your project is, and if it's any good. That's where thumbnails come in. They make your project look very professional. Go onto another program, and make a little background or whatever that states the title of your project in it. Then you turn that into a sprite. Make it be showing, as the last thing you were working on, in the middle of the screen, but put a script on it to when start is clicked, hide. Don't test it, or it won't show up as the thumbnail.

-Be Nice. People on Scratch have made horrible, sucky projects, but gotten tons of followers just because they've been generally nice people to others. So always remember to be nice and caring, and you'll get a long ways.

I hope this forum was useful to any new Scratchers or even Scratchers that have been on Scratch for a long time!!! Scratch on, guys!!!

katiebug82304 wrote:

Many of you New Scratchers out there may have made a few projects, but unlike on other websites, it's getting little to no attention!!! Most people wonder after a few days, ‘How do I get my name out there?’, or it's more commonly, "How do I become famous?'

Here are a couple of things you should know first before you get too involved with this thought:

- Scratch is NOT a social media website. It is a programming website, where the goal is to learn basic programming in an easy programming language and get feedback. Join Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram if you want to post social media.
- Scratch ISN'T a popular website. No matter how many people you think are on Scratch, if you go out and ask people if they know what Scratch is, most of the time the answer is no, and if they do know what it is, it's usually because they had to take a basic computer class and for the class they made an account on Scratch to make basic games.
- Scratch is for programming. Not art. You can post art on here, but let me warn you, there is HORRIBLE quality on the art, unless it's vector.
- Megan Trainor, Justin Bieber, and agents aren't out on Scratch looking for talent. Popular on Scratch means having 500-1000+ followers. On YouTube, it's having 1000000+ followers. See the difference?

So knowing this, I hope you know that being popular on Scratch won't effect your immediate life and you won't go on to being a famous singer just from posting a few projects on Scratch.

Still, it may help you enjoy your life a bit more if you have followers. I'm not here to judge you, just to let you know about those things.

Here are some tips to become a well-known Scratcher:

- Post on the Forums. By that I don't mean going around and commenting on random things saying ‘cool’. I mean actually making useful topics about maybe things Scratch could change to make the quality of the project better, or about bugs you found in the software. Maybe you might post topics to help New Scratchers get used to Scratch.
- Greet New Scratchers. Go onto some of the introduce yourself topics, and go to the profiles of new scratchers, and leave a friendly comment. Since you're one of the first people they see on Scratch, they're more likely to follow you. Remember to keep up a friendly and professional profile to greet them if they decide to view your profile.

- Post interesting projects. Sorry to break it to you, but if you've been on Scratch for a couple of weeks, posting like crazy, and nobody's been noticing, it's probably because of the quality of your projects. Posting a bajillion projects doesn't make people like you. Actually, people who do have a lot of followers when they first start have them because they have a FEW cool, interesting projects. Having interesting projects is the biggest follower-racking thing out there.

THINGS NOT TO POST:
- Remixes of things that aren't meant to be remixed. So many people like you, when they first start just go and remix a bunch of things, and don't change them at all, or if they do, they just change the color. That's not cool. It doesn't make you look good, it just makes you look like an annoying beginner. Some things, like CCs (Coloring Contests) and Adoptable Draw to Adopts are meant to be remixed, along with various contests and sign up sheets. Pretty much nothing else is. Remixes are just annoying to most people. So whatever you do, just be original with your projects, and don't steal other people's projects in a remix.
- Sucky Coloring Contest Entries. There are SO many out there, that people making Coloring Contests have started specifically making in the rules: DO NOT USE THE PAINT BUCKET!!! They're so right.
-Anything that opposes the things that are in my ‘What to Add’ column.

WHAT TO ADD:
-Credits. If you do end up remixing, give credit, even if you are entering a contest. But don't just say, ‘Credit to @blah’. Say something nice, like ‘Credit to @blah for making the original of this amazing <enter whatever it is>.’, or give something, like if you were entering an adoptables contest, do something like:
Art: @katiebug82304
Bio: @katiebug82304
Original Design: @blah
Thank you to @blah for making this amazing DTA that's perfect to enter! I love this design, and I hope I will win them!!!
- Good graphics. Games, Stories, Art, whatever it is, if it's easy to navigate and pretty, people love it. Making highlights around boxes when you touch them, and having organized graphics and color schemes help a lot with stealing people's attention, along with good, neat effects that all in all make things turn out good. And, don't commit art theft to do this. You don't have to be an artist to make things neat. The duplicate button and matching up the x categories really help!!!
-

(UNFINISHED FORUM!!!)

I agree

I agree

Thank you for agreeing!!!

Great guide! Perhaps I should add to What to Add section, Be Original? There are a lot of very common projects - ping pong, simple multiplayer games… blah blah blah, but you can try to be completely original in your idea and create something the Scratch community hasn't seen - or is rarely seen.

Like:

- Lengthy animations that tell a story
- Horror games
- Artworks

And more…

Again, should be stickied

I think you should change up the “Things not to post” section.
At the moment it seems quite harsh on new scratchers, particularly with the words “annoying beginner” and “sucky”. Plus, a lot of things on the list are just your personal opinion and in some cases even go against some of scratches rules.
For example, remixes that just change colors are allowed, and there is no such thing as a project that shouldn't be remixed- remixing helps newer scratchers to understand how projects work and they shouldn't be discouraged from learning, should they?
I also don't see your problem with the scratch drawing editor or the pre-made sprites. The editor is easy to use and while it lacks some features it is still functional many people use it for projects, even some who are quite well known. The pre-made sprites can work in a lot of places like scratch-themed projects or coding tests, and I see no problem with them- I even use recoloured versions of them for some of my projects and I don't see anyone complaining.
To summarise, the “Things not to post” section is too biased and harsh.

Nether_before wrote:

I think you should change up the “Things not to post” section.
At the moment it seems quite harsh on new scratchers, particularly with the words “annoying beginner” and “sucky”. Plus, a lot of things on the list are just your personal opinion and in some cases even go against some of scratches rules.
For example, remixes that just change colors are allowed, and there is no such thing as a project that shouldn't be remixed- remixing helps newer scratchers to understand how projects work and they shouldn't be discouraged from learning, should they?
I also don't see your problem with the scratch drawing editor or the pre-made sprites. The editor is easy to use and while it lacks some features it is still functional many people use it for projects, even some who are quite well known. The pre-made sprites can work in a lot of places like scratch-themed projects or coding tests, and I see no problem with them- I even use recoloured versions of them for some of my projects and I don't see anyone complaining.
To summarise, the “Things not to post” section is too biased and harsh.

I agree with this.

EDIT: This,

Scratch's pre-made sprites. They may look cool, but NOBODY likes seeing them in projects.

I think is not true. Many people, such as me, like those sprites. Plus, what's wrong with Gobo?

Wow, thanks! This will be really helpful!

It's great that you want to help out the newest members of our community!

However, there are a few things that you have wrong.

Let's remember that Scratch is a community of remixing - it's a core value of the site. We believe that creativity is aided by remixing and that most of what we see as “new” in the world is really a remixing of older ideas - building on the work of others. The Scratch site and language itself is an example of this - it was created based on work and ideas from many preceding sites and languages. Scratch would not have been created without open-source software - which is just software that people have made available for remixing.

Because of this belief, every script, song, and costume on Scratch is freely available to other Scratchers to reuse to express their own ideas however they wish - so long as they give credit. We take a very liberal view on what makes a valid remix - even a minor change is considered a remix. As a member of the Scratch community, all those millions of assets are available to you! The “price” you pay for this is that every asset you share becomes part of the collective assets for others to use in their creations.

So to all you folks that are new to the community, go right ahead and remix and recolor as much as you want as you experiment with Scratch and use it to make things that are meaningful to you! Just be sure to give credit for the pieces of your projects that came from other people - it's the thanks they get for sharing their work with you.

Scratch on!