Make Scratch more beginner-friendly

MrFluffyPenguins

Scratch is made for beginners who are new to coding, but it isn't really beginner friendly.

There should be a “Help” section on the thing that says “Create, explore, ideas, about” at the top of the page. It tells you how to use Scratch, for example, saying that right clicking the coding area makes an undo button appear. It could also link to the Questions about Scratch or Help with Scripts page in the forums.

The forums should also say what to do and what not to do for each section, to prevent spam and off-topic posts.
Right clicking a block should also tell you what it does, like it did in 2.0, but that's in a different suggestion.

this isn't a list of suggestions they are all related to making scratch more beginner-friendly i swear

Last edited by MrFluffyPenguins (Sept. 4, 2020 13:27:28)

pavcato

Support, the new users just get tossed in when the start Scratch, without any tutorials except those project making ones. But I don't think they'll include links to the forums.

Ihatr

Nothing is permanent

Last edited by Ihatr (Dec. 8, 2020 02:34:26)

MrFluffyPenguins

Ihatr wrote:
No support for the forums. It'll bring up the same issue as the discuss tab did, and I think forum misuse will shoot up.

But there will be a thing that tells you how to use the forums, what to do and what not to do, and if they don't follow those rules, that's when you use the Report button.

Removing the discuss tab wasn't the solution to the spam problem, anyways- the solution is telling people how to use the forums correctly.
If completely hiding a thing solves problems, why not hide the comments section on projects? People could spam in them.
in fact, removing the discuss tab is probably part of the reason people advertise in places other than show and tell

Last edited by MrFluffyPenguins (Sept. 5, 2020 16:53:16)

MrFluffyPenguins

bump

Bluebatstar

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
No support for the forums. It'll bring up the same issue as the discuss tab did, and I think forum misuse will shoot up.
But there will be a thing that tells you how to use the forums, what to do and what not to do, and if they don't follow those rules, that's when you use the Report button.

Removing the discuss tab wasn't the solution to the spam problem, anyways- the solution is telling people how to use the forums correctly.
If completely hiding a thing solves problems, why not hide the comments section on projects? People could spam in them.
in fact, removing the discuss tab is probably part of the reason people advertise in places other than show and tell

Just because there'll be tutorials and instructions on how to use the forums doesn't mean people would actually read them.

MrFluffyPenguins

Bluebatstar wrote:
Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
No support for the forums. It'll bring up the same issue as the discuss tab did, and I think forum misuse will shoot up.
But there will be a thing that tells you how to use the forums, what to do and what not to do, and if they don't follow those rules, that's when you use the Report button.

Removing the discuss tab wasn't the solution to the spam problem, anyways- the solution is telling people how to use the forums correctly.
If completely hiding a thing solves problems, why not hide the comments section on projects? People could spam in them.
in fact, removing the discuss tab is probably part of the reason people advertise in places other than show and tell
Just because there'll be tutorials and instructions on how to use the forums doesn't mean people would actually read them.

you know that button right next to the “quote” button? you could use that if they dont read it

Bluebatstar

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Bluebatstar wrote:
Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
No support for the forums. It'll bring up the same issue as the discuss tab did, and I think forum misuse will shoot up.
But there will be a thing that tells you how to use the forums, what to do and what not to do, and if they don't follow those rules, that's when you use the Report button.

Removing the discuss tab wasn't the solution to the spam problem, anyways- the solution is telling people how to use the forums correctly.
If completely hiding a thing solves problems, why not hide the comments section on projects? People could spam in them.
in fact, removing the discuss tab is probably part of the reason people advertise in places other than show and tell
Just because there'll be tutorials and instructions on how to use the forums doesn't mean people would actually read them.
you know that button right next to the “quote” button? you could use that if they dont read it

Yes, I do know how to report people on the forums.
Anyway, how are these rules going to work?

Jeffalo

sportfan999

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Scratch is made for beginners who are new to coding, but it isn't really beginner friendly.

There should be a “Help” section on the thing that says “Create, explore, ideas, about” at the top of the page. It tells you how to use Scratch, for example, saying that right clicking the coding area makes an undo button appear. It could also link to the Questions about Scratch or Help with Scripts page in the forums.

The forums should also say what to do and what not to do for each section, to prevent spam and off-topic posts.
Right clicking a block should also tell you what it does, like it did in 2.0, but that's in a different suggestion.

this isn't a list of suggestions they are all related to making scratch more beginner-friendly i swear

Maybe it could be a tab that shows when you are a New Scratcher. idk, but I support it!

MrFluffyPenguins

Jeffalo wrote:

would that be a part of the help page?

Yeetoburro1

sportfan999 wrote:
Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Scratch is made for beginners who are new to coding, but it isn't really beginner friendly.

There should be a “Help” section on the thing that says “Create, explore, ideas, about” at the top of the page. It tells you how to use Scratch, for example, saying that right clicking the coding area makes an undo button appear. It could also link to the Questions about Scratch or Help with Scripts page in the forums.

The forums should also say what to do and what not to do for each section, to prevent spam and off-topic posts.
Right clicking a block should also tell you what it does, like it did in 2.0, but that's in a different suggestion.

this isn't a list of suggestions they are all related to making scratch more beginner-friendly i swear
Maybe it could be a tab that shows when you are a New Scratcher. idk, but I support it!

New Scratchers are not inherently bad at coding, and scratchers are not inherently good either.

Ihatr

sportfan999 wrote:
Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Scratch is made for beginners who are new to coding, but it isn't really beginner friendly.

There should be a “Help” section on the thing that says “Create, explore, ideas, about” at the top of the page. It tells you how to use Scratch, for example, saying that right clicking the coding area makes an undo button appear. It could also link to the Questions about Scratch or Help with Scripts page in the forums.

The forums should also say what to do and what not to do for each section, to prevent spam and off-topic posts.
Right clicking a block should also tell you what it does, like it did in 2.0, but that's in a different suggestion.

this isn't a list of suggestions they are all related to making scratch more beginner-friendly i swear
Maybe it could be a tab that shows when you are a New Scratcher. idk, but I support it!

I really hate it when people diss new scratchers for being “bad”. Just because they are new doesn't mean they are bad. The role only exists to prevent spam, nothing else.

mtech22

Scratch is already beginner friendly- way too friendly,it's super easy to learn.

MrFluffyPenguins

mtech22 wrote:
Scratch is already beginner friendly- way too friendly,it's super easy to learn.

it's kind of beginner friendly. it would be better if it was more beginner friendly though.

CatsUnited

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
No support for the forums. It'll bring up the same issue as the discuss tab did, and I think forum misuse will shoot up.
But there will be a thing that tells you how to use the forums, what to do and what not to do, and if they don't follow those rules, that's when you use the Report button.

Removing the discuss tab wasn't the solution to the spam problem, anyways- the solution is telling people how to use the forums correctly.
If completely hiding a thing solves problems, why not hide the comments section on projects? People could spam in them.
in fact, removing the discuss tab is probably part of the reason people advertise in places other than show and tell

This is just speculation, but I think during the time that the discuss tab was being removed, the ST may have been considering removing the forums entirely for Scratch 3 since it's more disconnected from the rest of the site than other sections of the site and I think that's still something that will eventually happen but hasn't yet due to the forums still being home to a pretty large community.

Since a lot of Scratch's focus in terms of implementing features are to benefit schools, I do see that an extensive Help section that would get students new to Scratch up and going within minutes to be a useful tool with teaching Scratch in schools so they get more time to make their cool project rather than figuring out the interface or the blocks.

MrFluffyPenguins

bump

CatsUnited wrote:
This is just speculation, but I think during the time that the discuss tab was being removed, the ST may have been considering removing the forums entirely for Scratch 3 since it's more disconnected from the rest of the site than other sections of the site and I think that's still something that will eventually happen but hasn't yet due to the forums still being home to a pretty large community.

hmm gee i wonder what group of people designed the forums to be that way

Last edited by MrFluffyPenguins (Sept. 6, 2020 18:30:11)

fdreerf

Mr_PenguinAlex wrote:
hmm gee i wonder what group of people designed the forums to be that way

hmm gee i wonder what community largely did not care for the forums causing the site moderators to questions its neccesity

cooldude-222

Jeffalo wrote:

no we still need create and explore

JPOWERPUFFGIRLS

So which one do we remove if this was implemented Create, Explore ore Ideas (About can't be removed)

Discuss Scratch