Change the Scratch Domain

Steve0Greatness

This suggestion originally used to be about many more domains than just Scratch.org. As such, many of the replies likely don't relate to this suggestion anymore. Replies that relate to this current OP start after #266.

Anyway, this suggestion concerns changing the Scratch domain from scratch.mit.edu to scratch.org.

FAQ & common counter-points

Q: Would Scratch Team need to spend any money?

No. Scratch Team already owns scratch.org. Try going there now, it will bring you to www.scratchfoundation.org.

Q: Wouldn't this break most links to Scratch?

No. Assuming that MIT continues to allow the Scratch Team to use this domain (scratch.mit.edu) as a redirect, then all that would be needed is a redirect that takes, depending on your skill level, about half an hour to make–something like this.

Q: Wouldn't schools end up blocking Scratch if it changed from an edu domain?

Probably not. I don't know how all schools set up their blockers, however to my knowledge they don't block all .org and .com domains by default.

Q: Isn't Scratch developed by MIT?

Not anymore. Scratch was initially designed by the LLK group at MIT, however, Scratch is currently being developed and maintained by the independent organization, Scratch Foundation. This can easily be seen by how Scratch's code repositories moved from LLK's GitHub to Scratch Foundation's GitHub. Additionally, you can see Scratch Foundation's Careers page.

Careers -- Scratch Foundation wrote:
After being developed and supported at MIT for more than 15 years, Scratch spun out of MIT and into the Scratch Foundation in late 2019.

Q: What about stored passwords?

This depends on your password manager. Some password managers are able to change the site the password applies to to a different site, while others can't. In any case, you can always open your password manager to search for the passwords manually.

Q: Why not Scratch.edu?

Unless Scratch starts a school or university, they cannot buy Scratch.edu.

Q: Isn't edu for educational websites?

Nope! Just educational institutions, like universities.

Q: What is an educational institution?

According to Cornel Law School

Cornel Law School wrote:
Educational institution means a school (including a technical, trade, or vocational school), junior college, college or university that is: operated or directly supported by the United States; operated or directly supported by any State or local government or by a political subdivision of any State or local government; or approved by a State agency or subdivision of the State, or accredited by a State-recognized or nationally recognized accrediting body.

Counter: “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

I dislike this kind of counter argument, especially when something is broken: Scratch being under mit.edu makes it look like it's developed by MIT, which it isn't. Additionally, this kind of mindset leads to things never changing because people don't think they're “broken.” Make better counter arguments.

Counter: Scratch still has ties to MIT.

Scratch also has ties to Google, LEGO, and Amazon, but nobody's saying that Scratch should move under scratch.google.com. Why? Because it makes zero sense for organizations with ties to each other to just be a subdomain of another's website.

Also, yes, I know that MIT still does host some amount of Scratch's infrastructure. However, if Bob is hosting my website, I don't think Bob would mind or care if I started using my own domain for my website, rather than being a subdomain of his (in fact, I think Bob would actually prefer if I do use my own domain).

Q: Isn't Scratch.org for Scratch Foundation, now?

This seemingly was the plan awhile back, but it's unclear if that's still the plan (I'd actually appreciate if Scratch Team could clarify this). The announcement about Scratch.org said that some changes would be happening “over the next few days,” but unless that meant “over the following months,” I don't think this is still the plan. Additionally, Scratch.org is now redirecting to Scratchfoundation.org rather than being an actual website.
They also didn't ever close this discussion, so I don't really know.

Last edited by Steve0Greatness (Feb. 15, 2025 21:45:34)

Ihatr

One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.

NanoPIex

No support. It's made by students at MIT. I think they want the credit.

fdreerf

Scratch still has links to MIT though, as I believe Scratch is hosted in MIT server rooms. Plus, that URL is too long and cumbersome. if Scratch were to change domains it'd most likely go to scratch.org, which Scratch fought a legal battle for ownership over it.

NanoPIex wrote:
No support. It's made by students at MIT. I think they want the credit.

It's not made by students at MIT.

Also, yay, we finally get to see the 2019 financial report!!

Last edited by fdreerf (Dec. 15, 2020 23:06:19)

johnelr

Ihatr wrote:
One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.

More genius idea: scrat.ch
It's just Scratch but with a genius domain at the end. Not sure if the ch exists tho

fdreerf

johnelr wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.
More genius idea: scrat.ch
It's just Scratch but with a genius domain at the end. Not sure if the ch exists tho

.ch exists, it is the top-level domain for Switzerland. Scratch is not Swiss, so it doesn't really make sense for an American educational organization to use it.

johnelr

fdreerf wrote:
johnelr wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.
More genius idea: scrat.ch
It's just Scratch but with a genius domain at the end. Not sure if the ch exists tho
.ch exists, it is the top-level domain for Switzerland. Scratch is not Swiss, so it doesn't really make sense for an American educational organization to use it.

Well people in the US use the .io domain, which apperently is from the UK.

ScratchCatHELLO

johnelr wrote:
fdreerf wrote:
johnelr wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.
More genius idea: scrat.ch
It's just Scratch but with a genius domain at the end. Not sure if the ch exists tho
.ch exists, it is the top-level domain for Switzerland. Scratch is not Swiss, so it doesn't really make sense for an American educational organization to use it.
Well people in the US use the .io domain, which apperently is from the UK.

It's for the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. From what I know it's kinda technically part of the UK with a few dozen asterisks.

Anyway, I think scrat.ch would be cool, but I don't know if Switzerland gives away it's domain as freely as the British Indian Ocean Territory.

If not, scratch.org would be quite a bit better than scratch.scratchfoundation.org.

Last edited by ScratchCatHELLO (Dec. 15, 2020 23:32:25)

NanoPIex

fdreerf wrote:
Scratch still has links to MIT though, as I believe Scratch is hosted in MIT server rooms. Plus, that URL is too long and cumbersome. if Scratch were to change domains it'd most likely go to scratch.org, which Scratch fought a legal battle for ownership over it.
NanoPIex wrote:
No support. It's made by students at MIT. I think they want the credit.
It's not made by students at MIT.

Also, yay, we finally get to see the 2019 financial report!!

Then who's it made by?

Ihatr

NanoPIex wrote:
fdreerf wrote:
Scratch still has links to MIT though, as I believe Scratch is hosted in MIT server rooms. Plus, that URL is too long and cumbersome. if Scratch were to change domains it'd most likely go to scratch.org, which Scratch fought a legal battle for ownership over it.
NanoPIex wrote:
No support. It's made by students at MIT. I think they want the credit.
It's not made by students at MIT.

Also, yay, we finally get to see the 2019 financial report!!
Then who's it made by?

https://scratch-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/credits

NanoPIex

Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

fdreerf

NanoPIex wrote:
Then who's it made by?

Most of the employees are not affiliated with MIT at all. Most, if not all, of the moderators work from home, and the developers are hired because they can do a programming. Mitchel Resnick, the creator of Scratch, got his Ph.D. in MIT and is the director of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT, so that's why Scratch is associated with MIT – it was created there, but not be any students of MIT.

Ihatr

NanoPIex wrote:
Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

scratch.com is a DJ website, and I don't think Scratch will be getting that anytime soon

Also, a website needs a domain so https://scratch isn't an option

mlcreater

NanoPIex wrote:
Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

Domain names must have a period in them somewhere and can't end in “scratch”
scratch.com is already taken

Steve0Greatness

Ihatr wrote:
One, I don't want this to be the URL. It's way too long.

Two, why not use the scratch.org domain? It's shorter, owned by the Scratch Team, and would better fit this.

I agree

NanoPIex wrote:
Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

johnelr wrote:
Ihatr wrote:
-snip
More genius idea: scrat.ch
It's just Scratch but with a genius domain at the end. Not sure if the ch exists tho

oh yeah, this is big brain time
I added links with pros and cons to the op… tho I still do want to keep the main focus on Scratch.ScratchFoundation.Org
Thanks for giving those domains tho

ScratchCatHELLO

NanoPIex wrote:
Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

scratch.com is taken by a DJ site. You also need something after the website name (like .org, .com, .gov, .edu, etc)

9cjames1

NanoPIex wrote:
Why .org? How about scratch.com or https://scratch or http://scratch?

Scratch.com is owned already.

Mryellowdoggy

I think that scratch.org would be nice for the main domain or maybe scratch.edu. If we got scrat.ch we could use this for redirects and to shorten links.

portalpower

no support, whenever I type s into duckduckgo google bad duckduckgo good it autofinishes to scratch.mit.edu I'm totally not on scratch too much so yeah

Futurebot5

No support for scratch.org, it already directs you to the current domain.

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