[transcribed 2021-04-04] [ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/152633913/ ] [1] scratch as a social discussion place (and also other sites) [2] scratch can be used as a place to talk about things through comments. since this is a very formal document, here is a diagram of a comment: @_nix Maybe it would be better if you had a separate block used for controlling controlling music transitions? [3] so comments are /pretty/ good. considering what they're made for -- commenting -- they work well! actually let's review why they work so well for commenting: - comments are used for expressing a response to something someone made or said. - comments usually only need to be, at most, a few sentences long. the 500 character limit is large enough to fit these comments, and very long remarks may be split into multiple physical comments to workaround the 500 limit. [4] let's talk about talking [5] what about using comments for normal discussions about things? (that is, discussions not focused on a scratch project) well, comments mostly already work for those. the 500 character limit is still generous enough for sure, and talking about things together kind of fits perfectly into the point of comments. [6] the problem is notifications. that is, if you want to start a discussion about something, where do you put it? on somebody else's profile is on way to do it. after all, they'll likely see your comment and then hopefully talk about whatever the topic is with you. but the thing is, then you're only talking with them, AND you have to pick somebody specific to talk to. [7] so maybe on your own profile page? that works kind of like a twitter feed, or a facebook wall. the comments that you tried to start a discussion in will show up on your page since that's where you made them, and if people see those comments, they might have a discussion. the thing is, most people don't see those comments. on scratch you can follow people; this will make scratch update the homepage dynamically whenever somebody makes a project or loves or faves something or whatever. but it won't notify you about comments, at all. [8] essentially theo nly way to see the new profile- comments of somebody you're following is to check their profile page. it's like stalking but in promotion of discussion :) (/sarcasm.) if you make a comment on your profile page hoping to start a discussion, there's a fair chance nobody will see it. certainly most people won't see it; and that likely includes the people that could discuss it well! [9] if anybody remembers, TheHockeyist had an interesting way of dealing with this: - share a project just like this one - notify people of the project in the way that projects being shared do -- i.e., the homepage would update for people following you, and it would present your new project to them. - wait for people to discuss the topic further. you'll conveniently get a notification when they comment on the project. [10] it's actually kind of like youtube vlogs. somebody shares a video of them talking about a topic, their subscribers get notified of the video, and those subscribers then comment on the video (if they want to). this works pretty well! especially if you've already got people following (or subscribed to) you. if you look at TheHockeyist's projects, they do each have a fair amount of discussion in the comments. you could use vlogbrothers as your youtube reference, and if you know their channel, you'll know well the amount of discussion in the comments there! it's nice. [11] this isn't perfect, though. (but i'm not sure the reasons against it are big enough to be a reason to go for something other than projects..? hmm) the problem here, again, is notifying people. there's a section on the homepage dedicated to the people you follow. it's called the "What's Happening?" section, and it's positioned to the very left of the homepage. when somebody you're following shares a project, you'll get a little notice that they did added to that section (you'd see something similar to "_nix shared the project Boring Project"). [12] ..and when you check the homepage, you'll get to see that notice. then you can click on the project link and see their project. the problem is that news feed will also get filled with other things - like whenever somebody you're following loves or stars/favorites a project, it'll also be added to the section's list. and it can only contain five items at once (old ones are removed). it's certainly better than nothing, but it's relatively easy to miss new projects! [13] there's also another section on the homepage, actually - a row of projects, like the "Featured Projects" row. it contains projects that people you're following have shared recently. it's handy for catching up on projects you missed from the "What's Happening?" feed. but.. well, i don't look at that row enough for it to be effective. maybe because it involves scrolling down half-way across the homepage, but that might just be my problem. [14] and so the wonderful alternative/compliment is studios [15] studios are basically collections of projects all stored in one webpage. the useful part about them is that anybody can /follow/ a studio - they'll be notified, once per day, when there is new activity in the studio. "activity" means sharing a project. "notified" means A REAL NOTIFICATION that shows up in the same place as comment notifications! (i.e., the messages page) (there's also a row on the homepage for "Projects in Studios I'm Following", but i don't think anybody looks at that. ever. it's basically got the same problem as the "Projects by Scratchers I'm Following" section - it's too far down on the homepage to be convenient!) [16] studios also have comment sections just like projects and profile pages, but in this case those aren't useful, since they'll force a notification to be sent to everybody following the studio at the end of the day. thankfully you can disable studio comments, so you probably want to do that. that way people just comment on the projects, and only get notified about the projects added to the studio. [17] hold on, that's kinda interesting. studios have comment sections. when you post a comment in a studio, a message will be sent to everybody following that studio, at the end of the day. could studio comment sections be used as a "hub" for discussion? like we were trying to do with our profile page, except that this time, people will be notified when there's new comments. [18] the answer is, indeed, yes. the old Coding Community studio was a studio dedicated to talking about programming and technology and such with familiar people - hence, coding community. that studio worked well. it survived for a good month or two - or whatever; i can't tell time. eventually it just died off like most studios, forum posts, games, online games, etc, of course (you know - people become less interested and just stop posting in the studio). but that was okay, and it /was/ good while it lasted. [19] so. there are some ways to use scratch as a discussion place. now.. why bring this up, anyways? (this would usually go at the start but i didn't structure this well. oops.) the simple reason is.. i want to be able to have discussions with people about things we find interesting with scratchers i know. [20] here's some quick alternatives: - twitter: this is nice because i already have a twitter account, but its messages are kinda really limited in length.. - email: talking to people through email is great! but it's private. and while i'm sure it's possible to have group email discussions, i really don't know how. - chat services (gitter, discord): these are okay but they don't seem very suitable for, like, very complicated discussions. [21] ..and /all/ of those have another relatively large problem - there's already a bit of a community, to some extent, here on scratch; not anywhere else. moving everyone to another site we've dedicated to discussions is hard! that means it's another site to constantly check, aaaaand a bunch of people refuse to move to a different site at all (for their own good individual reasons). (citation: advanced tropics, advanced offtopics, etc.. does anybody remember those?) [22] so. in the hopes that somebody sees this project, what are your opinions on the best way to simply talk about things on scratch? [in extremely tiny text] the real question is how many people will get mad at me for writing SO IMPROPERLY LOL. [23] this is the last slide protip: you can get back to the start by pressing forwards from here. [Instructions] Left/right arrows to go backwards and forwards through the slides; space also works for going to the next slide. There's like 20 slides and its' kinda rambling-ish, so it might not be the most interesting thing to read. [Notes and Credits] hmm, there was somebody who wrote big long blog posts with proper grammar, and then comments and smaller direct discussion and stuff with this stupid i don't care grammar. objectively the best option is probably to simply write using proper capitalization and such, but like, i don't really care about that much right now. dunno