Hi everyone! I'm @ErnieParke, and I'm doing some research for the Scratch Wiki on the misconceptions about Scratch. The problem is that the misconceptions article is a bit empty, so I was wondering if you had ever had a misconception about Scratch. Please post below if you had one, and what it was. Thank you!

As an example, here's a misconception: “It is unknown whether Kaj was a girl, as is commonly portrayed.”

Also, I've heard that some people thought that boolean inputs for custom blocks didn't accept true/false, but accepted the block itself? Is this true?

http://wiki.scratch.mit.edu/wiki/List_of_misconceptions_about_Scratch

KrIsMa wrote:

http://wiki.scratch.mit.edu/wiki/List_of_misconceptions_about_Scratch

Ops… Thank you for pointing that out. :)

Thanks,

ErnieParke

Who is kaj and what is the misconception about their gender?

Detriment wrote:

Who is kaj and what is the misconception about their gender?

I'll point you towards the wiki article: Kaj (wiki)

As for the misconception: List of Misconceptions about Scratch (wiki)

Showing,

ErnieParke

You might browse the Questions about Scratch or Help with Scripts forums for a few days/weeks. They might have a bit in the way of misunderstandings by newer users.

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

Firedrake969 wrote:

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

Either games or pictures. I have one kid in my class (i'm teaching Scratch) who keeps referring to his projects as “pictures”.

Firedrake969 wrote:

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

I've heard people (actual heard IRL) refer to Scratch as a second YouTube for watching WazzoTV's videos.

djdolphin wrote:

Firedrake969 wrote:

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

I've heard people (actual heard IRL) refer to Scratch as a second YouTube for watching WazzoTV's videos.

Also the really big one that Scratch is a social networking site. (But I'm not sure if this is really widespread…)

Interesting topic.

Don't have time to search up links for these right now, but here are a few misconceptions that come to mind (in no particular order)…

• loops continue to run concurrently across scripts while a non-refresh script is running

• sensors in booleans sent as parameters into custom blocks can change the parameter's value while the custom block script is running (e.g. “key space pressed?” etc.)

• “touching mouse-pointer” isn't sensed by a hidden sprite (maybe it's more likely that the possibility just wasn't even considered…?)

• using non-refresh custom blocks is the same as turbo mode (kinda related to first one, I guess)

• the use of Stage3D in the Scratch source code means Scratch will soon have built-in 3D capability

• “when key - pressed” hat blocks are broken (because they behave so erratically compared to boolean sensor)

• broadcasts only received by the original sprite, not clones (again, probably not even considered, until ‘hit’ by it)

• the layer number is like a ‘depth distance’ (rather than a position in a stack), so going back by 998 layers is different to going back 999

• Floating-Point numbers are exact (e.g. start with value 1, and subtract 0.1 ten times - help! why is answer not zero!?!? Why is cos(90) not zero? Why is tan(90) not infinity? etc.)

• sin, cos, tan functions use radians (mostly a trap for the more experienced coder coming to Scratch!)

I'll probably think of several more over the next few hours - will add later!

djdolphin wrote:

Firedrake969 wrote:

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

I've heard people (actual heard IRL) refer to Scratch as a second YouTube for watching WazzoTV's videos.

I just-
what

As Firedrake969's pointed out, Scratch's successful use as a learning platform is often mistaken for a gaming engine. There was the great PacMan misconception of 2010…
I'm referring to the era of Namco's 50th anniversary of Pacman when they sent a Cease and Desist letter to a young Scratch user over his non-functioning Pacman project because “people could play his version for free.” He panicked and closed his account but the Scratch Team made their stance clear… Scratch is an educational tool and as such projects created in it are covered by Fair Use. If it weren't for Fair Use, no copyrighted materials (books, science supplies, etc) could be used in a classroom environment without consent for every single item.

There is a lot of nfo on this in the old, archived forums, but since they are no longer searchable, good luck with that. ‘Luckily’, this became international news so there is a lot of nfo on the internet about this rather bizarre occasion such as this one… https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100730/17081510430.shtml

djdolphin wrote:

Firedrake969 wrote:

I've noticed people refer to Scratch as a way to make games, which isn't entirely true - it's more than just that.

I've heard people (actual heard IRL) refer to Scratch as a second YouTube for watching WazzoTV's videos.

Wow…

Thank you everyone for the input, especially @TheLogFather for that extensive list. I've added a few of the more notable misconceptions.

Also, happy Thanksgiving! I'm definitely thankful for a kind and helpful Scratch community.

Thankful,

ErnieParke

ErnieParke wrote:

Also, I've heard that some people thought that boolean inputs for custom blocks didn't accept true/false, but accepted the block itself? Is this true?

I used to think it was like that… I even wrote a topic about it. I can't seem to find it, though.

TheBurger82 wrote:

ErnieParke wrote:

Also, I've heard that some people thought that boolean inputs for custom blocks didn't accept true/false, but accepted the block itself? Is this true?

I used to think it was like that… I even wrote a topic about it. I can't seem to find it, though.

Hey there! Please don't necropost. This topic is from 2014 - It's five years old! Thanks.