In light of recent updates from the Scratch Team, the Yoom project has been shut down.

Yeah, it's a real shame. However, this isn't the end of things yet. The technology I created when developing Yoom has outperformed my previous attempt at a web browser project, Project Platinum. Yoom may be dead, but it's legacy will live on!

MikeDEV wrote:

The animation regarding this project was taken down by the Scratch Team. I'm currently trying to receive feedback on how to improve, and see what I can do to mitigate the problem. If not, I might as well just give up and leave Scratch due to mainly being over 2 years with little to no success on projects I work wayyyy too hard on.

Why did the ST take down your project? Was it because of the actual project? Or was it because you did a Google Form?

MikeDEV wrote:

EZ-Games wrote:

MikeDEV wrote:

…

Why did the ST take down your project? Was it because of the actual project? Or was it because you did a Google Form?

(edit: I found the message, here it is in all of it's depressing glory!)

“The Scratch Team has removed this project because it links to a form that requests too much private information from Scratchers. We also have concerns that the Scratcher-moderated cloud chat/social media platform mentioned in the project will not adhere to the Community Guidelines. If you'd like to discuss this, we encourage you to send us a message through Contact Us. There's a link at the bottom of each page. Thanks! - Scratch Team”

I really hope they don't block me, mainly because of this caliber of hiccups in the past. I have had a similar issue with CatChat, and even Cloud Messenger!

The problem with chat rooms is that they're just not safe. You need to filter them, heavily. Blacklists aren't allowed, because the younger members of the community can look through the project and see the words you put in it (which are not kid-friendly), and if the blacklist was encrypted, some troll could keep on trolling by using an alternate spelling of a blacklisted word.

Whitelists are the only real form of censorship allowed, and even those are a bit hard to deal with. If you put single letters in the whitelist, it wouldn't be hard to spell out bad words, just add space in between. Just full words, and even then, sometimes people will ask for you to add more words to the whitelist.
Actually, just looking through some of these projects, some troll managed to get past the white list and do the exact thing I said (space out bad words). They also substituted words that rhymed or sounded similar.

I think the reason why they took it down is because you said it was moderated. You need moderators to be on at all times then, because if a troll decides to get on at 2 AM and spam bad words it wouldn't be caught until a moderator saw it, deleted those messages, and banned the user. I'd rather have safety over freedom with the whitelist.
And the email collection. Why not just use a regular thread for applications? Tons of collabs do that.

I checked your “Potential Ban Alert” project, too.

MikeDEV wrote:

I have had similar issues to projects like this long ago. Any project of mine that involved cloud chats/messaging just HAD to rustle some feathers with the ST. Why can't I get a “good job” or “wow” or “that's a lotta code”?

Because it's been in the community guidelines since forever, and no matter how much code you put into a project, the ST will take it down if it will violate their community guidelines. If I had a child I'd rather not have them learn their first bad word on a cloud chatroom on Scratch (again, user moderation will not work. Use a whitelist, and use it carefully), or be bullied by someone else.

MikeDEV wrote:

People like Griffpatch make simple projects, and the ST/community doesn't complain! If they can make a project like that, why can't I?

Griffpatch has made such projects, but again, they use whitelists. And all the items in the whitelist are “crafted” in a way so that bad words cannot be spelled. He's done it correctly. On the other hand, Yoom! Requires a user to be on to catch the bad word, and then ban the offender. Again, I don't want my hypothetical child to “color their vocabulary” because of Scratch, or be bullied.
And Griffpatch's projects are simple in scope, but their coding is quite up there in the complexity. Not only that, but his projects are well polished, which is why he's so popular on the site.

MikeDEV wrote:

So now, what is left? … An OS that I can't even get the GUI right? A programming language that is underappreciated? Some unloved vector art?

An OS that isn't just “loading simulator 2000” or a fully fledged programming language would be well appreciated, especially if they are entertaining to use or useful. Maybe create a two-in-one, an OS or virtual computer (I may or may not be working on a VM) that can be programming using a custom programming language to make applications.

…

TLDR It's not that ST dislikes your idea, it's just that the harm they could do isn't worth the fame anyone could get from making one of them.

B_E_H_E_M_O_T_H wrote:

…

I have used whitelists in the past, and at one point took advantage of the translate block, since it already has a built in whitelist. The email thing was entirely experimental. Since that hit the ceiling pretty quick, I'm just going back to forums (unreliable, but safe). Yes, I know about Griffpatch… I was just ranting. Also, may I suggest that a proper whitelist system and a mod. system is possible?

The Griffpatch whitelist worked well, up to a certain extent. The translate block also works well, with it's limitations, too. How about combine the two?

Also, thank you for your suggestion / post. It's really helpful to see how I can fix the issue, unlike the default “removed because blah blah blah” message. Also, I have done something similar of combining a console with a programming language, but it got broke since I made it in 2.0.

bump, added explanation about Yoom's security measures (to help handle the situation with the Scratch Team)

I will create a sign up forum in the collaboration section in the discussion forums, but that will have to wait. I need to get some sleep!

Oh boy I sure do stink at keeping things once every 24 hours…

Our job sign up forum is online, and all users who signed up before the link catastrophe still has their role!

Update: Added an explanation of how moderators and the Scratch Team can help out each other when dealing with malicious users.

What? An entire social media platform on Scratch?

First things first, how do you plan to cough up all the needed cloud variables? There's a limit of 10.

But I am intrigued. I want to see how this develops :D

ResExsention wrote:

What? An entire social media platform on Scratch?

First things first, how do you plan to cough up all the needed cloud variables? There's a limit of 10.

But I am intrigued. I want to see how this develops :D

I only use 4. I use 3 as the main link, and another to check and confirm a connection. All of the data, however, is stored on a computer running the Yoom service as a server. So far, this design works well, for a single connection. I'm curious of how it will work when multiple users connect at a time

MikeDEV wrote:

ResExsention wrote:

What? An entire social media platform on Scratch?

First things first, how do you plan to cough up all the needed cloud variables? There's a limit of 10.

But I am intrigued. I want to see how this develops :D

I only use 4. I use 3 as the main link, and another to check and confirm a connection. All of the data, however, is stored on a computer running the Yoom service as a server. So far, this design works well, for a single connection. I'm curious of how it will work when multiple users connect at a time

I might add more to improve the server's TX/RX bandwidth, but it takes 0.02 seconds of a delay to update multiple cloud variables, and adding more takes a longer time to upload data.

Edit: I did an oops, It's supposed to be a 0.02 second delay, not 0.2 seconds.

Update: I have finished creating an advanced word filter/whitelist system.

Please take a looksies at https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/318921781/ to try it out, and give me suggestions on how to improve.

When the Yoom! Service launches, all of the word filtering is handled on the server, to help prevent users from bypassing and exploiting the word filter. Not only it will be virtually impossible to develop a work-around, but the server can log the messages received by a user and make it easier for mods. to ban users and help report to Scratch Team members.

Now I'm working on getting a user profile system in place.
I'm starting off with a “My Profile” page, and then a “(a_false_username_400)'s Profile”.
After that, I will share with you all a pre-compiled list of all the commands, codes, etc. the project uses when handling data from a client to the server through a cloud variable link!

Mini update (I really stink at keeping it within 24 hours each update, but this project means a lot to me)

The first official test of the Yoom! Master Server is a success!

I got out my old intel i3 3220 powered workstation and used a USB Pen drive (Sandisk Ultra 32 GB, USB 3.0 through a USB 2 port, for some odd reason my USB 3 PCIE card doesn't work for booting) as a boot disk. I have it connected to my makeshift 4G LTE Internet connection, which is routed through a WNR100v2 router, connected to a Gl. iNet Mango v2 mini router, which acts as a modem. With it, I can achieve at least 1 Mbps uplink/downlink, more than enough to run Yoom!

After fiddling around and trying to figure out why the cloud variables aren't working (I keep getting errors in my server's firefox page, saying it failed to connect to the cloud variable server), and getting some antivirus installed (I used Avast), and ran my first ever test.

With lots of success! Connected like a charm, logged in and out in a flash. Although, it was running on the same network, since the server is connected to my router through ethernet and my laptop connected to the router through 2.4GHz WIFI.

To put things to a true, actual test, I decided to connect to my unreliable, slow and probably-gonna-get-throwed-away HughesNet Satellite Modem Router via 5GHz WIFI. Ran a simple test, and it still worked! Albeit, with the limitations of my satellite connection (mainly a tad bit higher latency), it still worked like a charm!

Everything is currently going smooth, following my plans. I'm going to get crackalackin' on the code, and start getting to it!

Mini update: Added a link in the sign-up forum to return to here, fixed a few things here and there.

MikeDEV wrote:

Mini update (I really stink at keeping it within 24 hours each update, but this project means a lot to me)

The first official test of the Yoom! Master Server is a success!

I got out my old intel i3 3220 powered workstation and used a USB Pen drive (Sandisk Ultra 32 GB, USB 3.0 through a USB 2 port, for some odd reason my USB 3 PCIE card doesn't work for booting) as a boot disk. I have it connected to my makeshift 4G LTE Internet connection, which is routed through a WNR100v2 router, connected to a Gl. iNet Mango v2 mini router, which acts as a modem. With it, I can achieve at least 1 Mbps uplink/downlink, more than enough to run Yoom!

After fiddling around and trying to figure out why the cloud variables aren't working (I keep getting errors in my server's firefox page, saying it failed to connect to the cloud variable server), and getting some antivirus installed (I used Avast), and ran my first ever test.

With lots of success! Connected like a charm, logged in and out in a flash. Although, it was running on the same network, since the server is connected to my router through ethernet and my laptop connected to the router through 2.4GHz WIFI.

To put things to a true, actual test, I decided to connect to my unreliable, slow and probably-gonna-get-throwed-away HughesNet Satellite Modem Router via 5GHz WIFI. Ran a simple test, and it still worked! Albeit, with the limitations of my satellite connection (mainly a tad bit higher latency), it still worked like a charm!

Everything is currently going smooth, following my plans. I'm going to get crackalackin' on the code, and start getting to it!

Sweet! Can't wait till this actually releases! I am really excited for the DM system, this could help with secret collaborations!

Alas, the almighty

Bring
Up
My
Post!

I'm a bit curious, how did you set up your old workstation to function as a server for the project?

B_E_H_E_M_O_T_H wrote:

I'm a bit curious, how did you set up your old workstation to function as a server for the project?

The project can operate in 3 different modes. It can run as a client (by default), an RCS (Remote Command System) Console, and a server.

My workstation runs a Firefox page, running the project in server mode. It listens for requests, and handles it accordingly.

I have a really long list of all the commands used, and all the hex values for specific codes. It's a very complex version of “Marco-polo”, when put simply.

One machine says “can I see x in y for this user z?” and the server responds with “yeah here is the data” and more data.

Here's what it actually looks like.

Here, it's a simple request to get a user's profile status (online or not)

USER = the client's username,
and MS is short for Master Server.

USER⏎MS⏎GUS?⏎OTHERUSER

and the server would respond with:

MS⏎USER⏎GUS!⏎0x1⏎1⏎

GUS is short for Get User Status.

Any command ending with a “?” is a requester, and if it ends with “!” it's a return.

0x1 in this case indicates it's a registered Yoom user, and the second set of data, 1, indicates they are online (1=true).