THE FEDERATION TIMES

Check out the organization behind this newspaper!

At the Shop Federation, as a way to enhance our organization, and further boost recognition to those Shops and Scratchers deserving, we have started a newspaper! Hopefully this paper, deemed the Federation Times, will grow TSF to even bigger heights, therefore helping those Shops who have been so very faithful to us.

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Have feedback? Want to answer some Polls? This thread is the place.

Let's get this show on the road! To see previous issues, click here, and to see our Newspaper Team, click here. However, if you want the current, up to date stuff, let your eyes gaze just below…


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T H E F E D E R A T I O N T I M E S

ISSUE 1
– September 11, 2016

Featuring special guests makethebrainhappy, CrazyGoldfish3, and Austinato

Hey! Check out ✔ Ray of light ✔ !

Makethebrainhappy, owner of ﷼ ∞ MakeTheBrainHappy's ⓈⒽⓄⓅ! ∞ Infinite Possibilities ∞ ﷼, discusses the innovation of his Shop

Recently, The Federation Times very own monkeytrooper did an interview with makethebrainhappy, the owner of ﷼ ∞ MakeTheBrainHappy's ⓈⒽⓄⓅ! ∞ Infinite Possibilities ∞ ﷼, an innovative Shop that at one point dominated the Requests Forum for months, but has recently fallen inactive. Monkeytrooper, who for the sake of the article we will call Monkey, and makethebrainhappy, who we will call Brains, had a conversation that highlighted the successful shop owner's career and legacy.
When asked about what made his shop special, Brains said, “We had a community within ourselves. The Shop was so innovative because our members were packed with a lot of creativity and little restraint. We kept things simple when it came to hierarchy, and we could sustain long-term growth easily .”
The Scratcher who has been on for more than 3 years wasn't lying. The hierarchy at his Shop was about as simple as it got, as there were 2 Managers, and the rest were members. He touched on this, saying, “The Hierarchy I set up only had two managers, so I was manager for most of the time.”
When Monkey inquired on the Shop's beginnings, Brains gave a very straightforward answer: “No, it was definitely humble beginnings. I was a part of the large shops of the time, and I really only opened it with the idea of owning a small shop.” He also mentioned the time it was until his Shop blew up: “I also didn't accept members until after 7 pages of bumps and orders. The Shop was really just a venue for my little style of art and to practice.”
Brains was sure in his belief that, “We created a community within ourselves, and it was an open community.” Indeed, the sense of togetherness was very strong, and occasionally it was too friendly, as Brains briefly commented, “Occasionally things got out of hand though, for example once we spent some time role playing in our forum.”
Brains true point throughout the whole interview, however, was that innovation made his Shop what it was. “Shop size is highly emphasized, but innovation is the true driver of success.”
And though the Shop might be done, Brains is still helping the Scratch community make better Shops. “Yeah, go check out my whole guide on making shops in the stickied section of the requests forum. There's a lot to say, and I've summarized the basics there.”
You can find Brain's stickied topic at: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/135524/

-CrazyGoldfish3, Writer of The Federation Times.
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Take a look at our Employee of the Week, chosen for his number of helpful links and topics in the middle of production, it is MegaByteCorporations!
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Recently, I ordered a piece of art from Ocean Breeze Shop of Almost Anything, owned by rainbow_waves, and I was thoroughly satisfied by how my order turned out. However, there were some things I disliked about the service; one of these things was how my order was almost immediately swamped in offtopicness, and I ended up bumping my order twice before anyone noticed it. Despite this, they still managed to get my order done on the same day, and the finished product was exactly what I asked for. All in all, Ocean Breeze is a good shop with some flaws.


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CrazyGoldfish3 is a Scratcher that will almost definitely go down in Scratch history. He is owner of a reliable Custom Block shop and more notably he's the Owner/Founder of The Shop Federation. He was interviewed by MegaByteCorporations about TSF.
When asked what The Shop Federation was he swiftly replied, “The Shop Federation is an organization that was founded by me in December, 2015. It helps Small Shops get due recognition, while at the same time Big Shops get many advantages. We do Endorsements for small shops and Certification for bigger ones, plus so much more.”
He says that he came up with the idea while in a debate for a position in Tropical Waves when he was asked by the Moderator about unique ideas. He said that he was always a fan of business related stuff, and professionalism. He then decide that he should bring that to scratch hence TSF.
He was then asked about assistance when he first started up, and he said, “Almost immediatly I was met by support from various Scratchers who wanted to know the whos, the whys, the whens, etc. I did give them some minor details, but I mainly kept it to myself to build up the hype. Finally, I asked a Shop for the Banner that you currently see overhanging TSF today, and that day I started it up, on my own.”
He told MegaByte that, “We haven't done everything right, but we are getting a lot better, and I'm confident that our future is bright.”
MegaByte also asked about what specific ideas Crazy had about TSF. To this he replied, “The whole timeframe of TSF I break into 3 Phases. Phase 1 was Start, which went from the beginning all the way to the start of this summer, a few months ago. Then, Phase 2 is Reform, which started just recently. We have many, many goals, and Reform is going to be not only getting the Hierarchy up to date, but also completing our many tasks at hand: Guilds, Specialized Campaign, House of Representatives, Endorsements, Certifications, and more. After all that hard work, we will finally get to Phase 3, Smooth Rolling, where we are all set for a long time to come.”
The final question was about which goal would be achieved soonest, and to this Crazy remarked, “Well, this very Newspaper has definitely risen in importance, and I'm honestly surprised where we are with it, but besides that, I think that getting our Specialized Campaign to booster what we said we were going to do will get done the soonest.”
I am sure that we will be hearing a lot more from this Scratcher very soon. But for now, thanks for reading.


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Later this week, the TSF Court, who has never actually made a ruling in the history of The Shop Federation, will now get a say. It is a simple case, for sure, but still a historical moment for the Federation. The Court is actually 2 members short of what it can be, but still is on an odd number, therefore the decision will still have a majority.
The ruling will concern whether or not CrazyGoldfish3's shop, deemed CrazyGoldfish3's Custom Block Shop -REMASTERED- , should be Endorsed. The reason why CrazyGoldfish3 can't do it is because of the fact that it is his Shop, and it wouldn't make much sense for him to be the one to determine whether or not it should be Endorsed, which would give a large amount of Advertising and boost the Shop overall, if it is his Shop! Therefore, the TSF Court, led by makethebrainhappy, will make the decision.
The Court is designed to hold 5 Justices, but due to recent Hierarchy reforms, is only sporting 3. Besides the Chief Justice, makethebrainhappy, the 2 other Justices are Doni24 and Austinato. The Court might be incomplete, but is still functional, and will be able to make this minor ruling before they get 2 more dedicated Justices.
The Shop meets all Endorsement Standards, so all that is left to discuss for the Court is whether or not they consider Custom Block service unique enough. Until then, however, the Shop will simply be a basic member of TSF, waiting for a minor verdict that has historical implications.


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Recently the Shop Federation has been going through some major changes. This began sometime near the end of CrazyGoldfish3's - who we'll call Crazy from now on - summer vacation. Crazy's summer inactiveness caused TSF to go into a very severe activity slump. About 3 posts were made very week, though occasionally there would be activity spikes that lasted a day or two. This caused TSF Officials to begin planning a complete reform of TSF, the only hampering circumstance was Crazy's absence from the happenings; and so TSF Officials opted to elect a Temporary Manager until Crazy returned from his hiatus. As election preparations were being made, Crazy returned, and with the return of Crazy, the reform truly began to happen. All of the inactive TSF Officials were cut, opening up spots for Hierarchy hopefuls.


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An Interview with Austinato, the newest Justice in the TSF Court

Recently, The Federation Times very own MegaByteCorporations interviewed the newest Justice on the TSF High Court, Austinato. MegaByteCorporations, who we'll call Mega, and Austinato discussed Austinato's recent appointment to Justice.

The new Justice is going to have a test right off the bat, as a recent case has just come up, and the Court will have to decide. Though only featuring 3 justices, it is still an odd number and will be doable. The Justice is ready for what is to come, and complimented the system, saying, “I think it is complex and useful in a good way.”

When asked about MakeTheBrainHappy's reasoning for appoint him to Justice, Austinato, who has been Justice for a solid two months now, said it was “most likely because I have been active in the forums and we have worked in previous collaborations. He also may see that I enjoy helping others if needed!”. This point was further proven when Austinato remarked that what he enjoyed most about the High Court was “being able to help if needed.”

When Mega asked if Austinato had completed any serious work as a Justice, Austinato replied, “I have not so far, but I hope I could do some in the future.” This makes sense, considering the experienced Scratcher has only been on the TSF Court for 2 months.

So, though this Justice is new, he is still ready to do good work, and we can expect fair rulings in the future.


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At banana439monkey’s shop, Ray of Light, orders are a priority. Ray of Light provides a number of services that can not be found anywhere else! They offer Lego® Guides, websites, Unicode emojis, HTML code, and Scratch Wiki signatures.
Along with their special offers, Ray of Light also provides the traditional services: art, outros, ideas, stories, BBcode, projects, reviews, code, logos, and designs. At Ray of Light, orders are taken quickly, and completed within a week, guaranteeing happy customers.
This shop is fairly old, as it has been open for almost nine months. It has fifty-two pages of order completion and satisfied customers, and no inactivity to be seen. The staff list is fairly small, with only fourteen workers, yet these Scratchers are dedicated to getting orders done quickly.
All in all, Ray of Light is a great shop to go to if you want a large selection of services, and fast completion. The staff are friendly, the quality is high, and Ray of Light is, well, a ray of light.



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