Important Note: Some of this is copied and pasted from the original Itopic, (though I have edited it a fair bit) created by @fyromaniac1. I re-created this topic because @fyromaniac1 no longer uses Scratch, therefore the post can no longer be edited.

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE MORE EXAMPLES OF SPAM THAN IS NECESSARY

Spam is where you do add a comment/post that is NOT relevant to the subject on a project/profile/topic.

It is against the Community Guidelines, so it should (in MOST cases) be reported. However, often people get confused about what is actually considered spam.

You may think that spam is something like this:

lfvuaoubvfougnfenvghfudbvuyhiabvhyusbfhugnahubvbyuoabvgyubvyuoaybuonayufoiybvguaonbyvabnvyuoiabnyvoanyoiuvbgtyaobc codjufbryyyyyy brfbaf uoawgyhfuobdayu bfy

Technically, you're right. That is spam… but spam also has many other forms. That is the main purpose of this post: to show what is/isn't spam, and what to do if you encounter it on the website.


1. Advertisement spam:

check out my latest game scratch.mit.edu/projects/XXXXXXX/

2. Commercial Spam: If someone tells you to go to a website, you shouldn't do it, unless the website is approved by the ST.

this is a cool place where you can make your projects popular (strange link)

3. Bad/harmful/inappropriate images: Do not post/provide a link to a bad or inappropriate image.

Lol, this is a funny pic (inappropriate image)

4. Number of comments/loves/favourites/views: Self-explanatory; this simply contributes nothing, which is not the purpose of the Scratch project comment section.

100th comment!

5. Duplicate topics: A topic in the forums which is exactly the same as another topic is considered spam; as only one topic per subject is needed.

6. Scratchblock Spam: There are still many opinions on whether this is spam, or just a cute way to express one's self (@Paddle2See's words).

say [hi (random Scratcher)! You are awesome!]

7. ASCII Art: Usually this is used on Scratch in an annoying/unhelpful way, so it counts as spam.

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But wait! What do you do if you see spam?

That depends. If it's a New Scratcher, they might not know that spamming is wrong, or that what they're doing is spam at all. Even if the person is not a New Scratcher, it's very easy to make mistakes.

If you see one spam post, don't report it straight away. Technically, there's nothing wrong with reporting it, but it's nicer to just warn the person that spamming is wrong in a polite, kind way. Then they probably won't do it again.

However, if there are several spam posts in a row, made by the same person, then definitely report it. Reporting just one of the posts will do; the moderators don't need a bunch of alerts for one problem.

Don't be ashamed if you are/were new to Scratch and you spammed without knowing it was wrong.

New Scratcher wrote:

plz check out my (type of project)!

New Scratcher on Scratcher's profile wrote:

Yay! 1000th comment!

You may also want to look at the wiki article on spam if you're still confused. However, this post is here for your convenience, and hopefully it explains things well.

If you have any questions about this, just reply! And let me know if you think I should add anything - I will be slowly editing it over time.

You copied this from this ITopic?

-Spectrum, please also know that ACSII Art, such as the illuminati triangle, dog face, and other memes using alt codes is also spam.

BY147258369 wrote:

-Spectrum, please also know that ACSII Art, such as the illuminati triangle, dog face, and other memes using alt codes is also spam.

such as

why not!!___
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Nice update! I added it to the index document here

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/21060

awesome-llama wrote:

You copied this from this ITopic? I am sure the ST can change who can edit the post, so an active user can edit it.

I just thought it was less complicated to do it this way, that's all

Now the ST don't have to get involved (apart from maybe deleting/closing the other topic, which I think a moderator can do anyway).

Paddle2See wrote:

Nice update! I added it to the index document here

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/21060

Thank you very much! :-)

BY147258369 wrote:

-Spectrum, please also know that ACSII Art, such as the illuminati triangle, dog face, and other memes using alt codes is also spam.

Thanks for reminding me, I'll add that ASAP!

JonathanSchaffer wrote:

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Thanks for the example

Hello! I said on one of my projects ‘22 views already?’ but that was before I read this forum. Should I delete the comment?

ceci786 wrote:

Hello! I said on one of my projects ‘22 views already?’ but that was before I read this forum. Should I delete the comment?

Oh, no - you posted it on your own project, so it's not really spam. I mean, spam is unwanted and annoying, so because you did it on your own project, it's not really unwanted, if that makes sense

Bump!

Bump! (It's an ITopic, yet on the fourth page. It must be bumped.)

Abstract- wrote:

Bump! (It's an ITopic, yet on the fourth page. It must be bumped.)

Oops, I forgot to bump it. I shall give it another sneaky bump! >

Bump!

Bump! Especially since I've noticed some spam recently…

What Does ASCII Stand For?

PerryPlatypus95 wrote:

What Does ASCII Stand For?

It think it stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, but like I said in the main post, these days it's usually used to spam comment sections and things like that.

Bump!

-Spectrum wrote:

Bump!

!pmuB
Couldnt resist…
(bump reversed)
EDIT: This is an example of spam.

Fun fact: Spam was named after the Monty Python sketch where a couple orders food from a diner. Every dish the diner has has varying degrees of spam in it, such as “spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam and spam”. The repetition of the word “spam” inspired some early Internet trolls to repeatedly send the aforementioned word to people's email accounts, which is why spam is usually described as repeatedly posting a word over and over.