Advertising and Follow-for-Follow

Modified on Thu, 16 Apr at 2:48 PM

Scratch is a big community and it is important that everyone follow the Community Guidelines, including being respectful and friendly. There are several topics that we would like to address to continue to keep the site friendly.

Advertising

We understand that you want other people to see your projects. However, misplaced advertising or spamming links is not friendly or respectful to other users.

Where is it okay to advertise?

There are many ways that you can share your projects with others that we don’t consider to violate the Community Guidelines, including:

The ‘About Me’ and ‘What I'm Working’ on fields of your profile
Changing the Featured Project on your profile
Leaving a comment on your own profile
Your forum signature in the Discussion Forums
In the Show and Tell area of the Discussion Forums (make a new topic for your project)
In Studios that are designed for advertising
In Studios that have a theme similar to your project (to ask that your project be added to the Studio)

Where is it not okay to advertise?

Any place where your ad would be considered “off-topic”, such as:

Comments on someone else's project
Comments on someone else's profile (possible exception - maybe your followers profiles would be okay - but you might want to check with them first)
On areas of the Discussion Forums other than Show and Tell
In Studios that are not relevant to the project you are advertising

Note that “asking for feedback” (with no specifics) for one of your projects could still be considered advertising. However, inviting somebody to enjoy one of your projects that is similar to one of theirs might be considered okay, since you are sharing an interest. We ask that you do not post more than one such comment, and avoid doing this at all on projects which are featured on the Scratch homepage.

Follow-for-Follow (f4f)

Follow-for-Follow, also called f4f, is when a Scratcher invites another Scratcher to become a follower by promising to do the same for them. It is allowed on Scratch. However, it can also be considered spamming or misplaced advertising if you repeatedly post this type of request. We ask that you be respectful of other Scratchers and do not spam Follow-for-follow (f4f) comments.

Following is intended to make it easy to see what another Scratcher is doing. It's a great way to build friendships through shared interests. Just getting more followers should not be your goal - what's important is building strong relationships with other Scratchers and having fun through sharing with them.

That being said, there is no denying that more followers often leads to more views for projects and perhaps more incentive to continue making projects. So it's understandable that some Scratchers try to increase the number of followers they have by offering f4f. However, choosing to follow someone is always a voluntary choice. If you are not interested in following somebody when they ask you (whether it's through an f4f request or any kind of request), just politely decline.

Summary

Be kind and respectful when sharing your projects. Only advertise in the right places, like your profile or studios that invite sharing. Posting excessively or in unrelated places can be considered spam. Follow-for-follow requests are allowed, but sending too many can also be seen as spam. Always respect others’ choices if they don’t want to follow or engage.