Making Scratch projects is a lot of fun - and it's even more fun if you can get together with your friends and make something collaboratively! We on the Scratch Team love to see collaborations on Scratch. We have the Collaborations forum section and editor features like the Backpack and Remix button to help Scratchers organize and work on collaborations.

In recent years, we’ve noticed that Scratchers have been making shared “Collab accounts” used by many or all members of the collaboration. While we know these accounts can be convenient, we’ve seen some problems with them as well. Because of this, the Scratch Team strongly discourages the use of shared accounts.

A problem with using shared collaboration accounts is that there is no clear record of who did what parts of the project - and there are no backup versions of the project if something gets messed up. A big problem is that anyone who logs into the account can see its email address, which is sharing contact information. And, if the account is abused in some way, Scratch Team can’t know who was using the account at the time the abuse happened - the result is we sometimes accidentally block people who weren’t even involved.

If you have a shared account, please pick one member to become the account owner and have them change the email address and password so that it becomes a single-user account again. You can collaborate using remixing and/or the backpack and then, if you’d like, the person who controls the account for the collab can share the project when it’s done. You might want to use the Collaboration section of the forums or a studio to plan and organize this process.

Thanks for your help keeping Scratch a creative, fun and safe place!

Questions and Answers

Are all shared Collab accounts going to be blocked?
Not right away, but as we come across them, we will ask the users of it to convert it to a single user account

What if I want to share an account with my Sister/Brother/Mother/Father?
That’s probably okay. If you’re sharing a computer with someone, and especially if you’re using the computer together, it’s okay to use the same account if you’d like.

Our teacher makes us use one account - is that okay?
We generally discourage that, because if one student breaks the community guidelines, the entire class could lose their account.

OMG WANNA DO A COLLAB TOGETHER

scratchgirl_2005 wrote:

OMG WANNA DO A COLLAB TOGETHER

Thanks for the offer! But I'm pretty busy doing moderation stuff. Of course, if we were to do a collab, we would make sure to collaborate using our own accounts, right?

Thanks for letting me know. I have been managing that for a year, and no one has recently been on. I will let the team know.

what if you know the person IRL?

haha I know ON OUR OWN ACCOUTS maybe another time eh?

Blobfish_Of_Doom wrote:

what if you know the person IRL?

If they are a family member or you are sharing a computer anyway, that would be okay. Otherwise, it's best if you use separate accounts.

Paddle2See wrote:

Blobfish_Of_Doom wrote:

what if you know the person IRL?

If they are a family member or you are sharing a computer anyway, that would be okay. Otherwise, it's best if you use separate accounts.

Does this include IRL friend accounts?

Finally! I saw a LOT of comments on your profile about this topic!

9th reply Wouldn't collab accounts be giving away passwords too?

So - are they now officially banned?

Twelfth! Yeah, I understand. I think it's better to do collabs through separate accounts or through a studio.

Thanks for this great insight onto this. I now know this so if I ever do make a collaboration account, I'll keep in mind these guidelines to prevent getting blocked.

pastelistic wrote:

So - are they now officially banned?

If you saw the questions at the bottom of the first post - I wouldn't say they are “banned” - just strongly discouraged. And if we have to block a shared collab account, we will insist that it be converted to a single owner.

What about my best friend, who I've known and trusted since I was 4? Can't I share an account with her?

I was just thinking about making a collab account with my friend IRL, but I might not now that I read this post.
15th post heh :D

Okay, I reread the announcement. I see your points.

Using real names in email addresses is always a big risk to take. Establishing trust in the collab should be recommended before making the collab account. If someone isn't so up about helping, they should be booted. It's a passionate commitment in working together, not against each other, that validates the collaboration.

As long as every member consents to sharing information, the collaboration is okay. Knowing a little bit about everyone helps form trust among members and reduces the risk of sabotage.

If someone is uncomfortable with using their email address because it has their real name, they're free to make a new one. It's even recommended to have a second email account so that it separates personal mail from collab mail.

Of course, parent's permission is important for ambitious younger ones. If anything, you're right they should avoid collabs until they're ready. Older users won't have much of a problem forming collabs, though. We sort things out fairly quickly without trouble.

So from my rambling, could you please include your thoughts on consent? Generally speaking, as long as the user is old enough and comfortable with sharing information with others, there isn't much to worry about in collabs.

Wow, you blocked a shared account I was collaborating on with while I was in China last year.

Zro716 wrote:

<snip>
As long as every member consents to sharing information, the collaboration is okay. Knowing a little bit about everyone helps form trust among members and reduces the risk of sabotage.

I'm personally not comfortable with that statement - unless the collab members know each other in real life and are already sharing information because they are, say, sharing a computer - or are family members. Otherwise, I feel that the safety risks to the members are too high. The potential to abuse the account, or personal information stored in the account, for unmoderated communication is a big concern.

Are “partner accounts” allowed, where you're at school and you're making a project with someone else?