portalpower wrote:

Sorry, but scratch team has already discussed this idea and decided to reject it. See 8.6 of The official list of rejected suggestions.

We are aware of that, we want them to reconsider.

Honestly, the scratch team needs to admit that the website is very flawed. I get it- they need to advertise. But frankly? If the reason this is not being added is because the report system is great and no one is kind, that's lying. To get the glowing, friendly website you want you need to step up and solve to problems. At this point, the only problems being solved are ones the ST made up, like the parental permissions one. We need change if we want the website to be safe.
EDIT: Look how many people are supporting this. This is barely even controversial, practically everyone agrees and have had similar experiences.

portalpower wrote:

Sorry, but scratch team has already discussed this idea and decided to reject it. See 8.6 of The official list of rejected suggestions.

Also see that it says they will not reconsider rejections.

They do reconsider rejections if there are solutions.

StormAfton wrote:

A block feature would be incredibly helpful, for all the reasons the other users on this thread have stated as well as more. As stated earlier, so much needless drama and bullying could be prevented. I know many users who have been cyberbullied on Scratch, and a blocking feature would absolutely help with this problem. Please take this into consideration. The community guidelines talk all about respect and kindness - But let’s face it, there’s more disrespect and harassment on this platform these days.

Yeah, as someone who has been a victim to rude comments (though I couldn't care less as these people are trolls and do it for attention) I use the report button, but more often than not, it doesn't often work. It is already INCREDIBLY hard to get someone to stop harassing you in real life, and it is even harder (in my personal opinion) to get someone to stop online! If you close your comments, they can comment on your projects, if you close both your comments and your projects comments, they can reply to a comment you make somewhere else, and the only way to actually prevent the comments, is to stop commenting all together!!! A block button could easily resolve this! Excuse me if my point isn't said well enough, I'm a bit angry.

In terms of it being “previously rejected,” let's not forget that za-chary also said “However, a system to block users while simultaneously reporting them is NOT rejected. You can discuss it on this topic,” and linked https://scratch-mit-edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/discuss/topic/324190/.

Hi ST,
Blocking would be a very helpful feature to add that would reduce drama and a lot of other issues on scratch. I have seen many incidents where children have gotten bullied and trolled/harassed, and a block feature would be amazing to have. This matters because if the feature was implemented, we would all have the ability to block trolls and harassers, therefore making scratch a safer and kinder community with less drama.

ZaChary
the Scratch Team found that it buried any problems rather than solving them. Even if you block a user, that does not stop them from harassing other Scratchers.

Surely if this is so, couldn't the other people just block them in turn? That doesn't really make sense.

quill-of-quotes wrote:

ZaChary
the Scratch Team found that it buried any problems rather than solving them. Even if you block a user, that does not stop them from harassing other Scratchers.

Surely if this is so, couldn't the other people just block them in turn? That doesn't really make sense.

While that is doable, moderators want to be in a position to prevent the troll from finding a new victim. That's not doable with a self-block system.

The problem also goes much deeper than that:
- We found the other people would just go make new accounts and/or ask their friends to pester the user who blocked them.
- We also found that the person who put on the block would fail to report the bad cases; needless to say, of course the moderators would not be aware of what was going on, preventing the troll from being kicked off faster
- We also found that users were blocking people for nonsensical reasons (e.g. a user was blocking a person for prejudicial reasons, such as how one identifies themselves or because of what character they like).

Any new consideration of a block feature would have to be tied into the reporting system and show proof that it will not bring up the issues we saw so much before during the 1.x days. As of now, we haven't found a system yet that successfully does this, so a block feature is rejected on the grounds that there is past evidence that it is going to cause more problems than prevent them.

In any case, this topic feels like more of a rant (i.e. saying to “fix” stuff) instead of providing a concrete suggestion (such as a feature on how to improve the moderation system). And overall, I think the real complain here is that people want moderators to work faster without taking into consideration their own personal behavior that may be contributing to the problem.

That can be done in three ways:
- You ask those in a position to donate more money to the Scratch Foundation. Moderation is not cheap - it takes a lot people to handle the reports and even more to maintain a report system.
- You report instead of engaging with trolls. Moderators are kind of like most law enforcement around the world - it usually all falls apart if users fail to report things of choose to engage where they are not in the position/authority to do so.
- You be cognizant of the content you post online and ensure what you're positing is positive/constructive instead of negative/critical. You'd be surprised how many people don't realize how much unintentional trolling they do when they say they have a right to their opinion to hate something in a space where others might like something.

Not many people would be in a capability to find ways to donate financially, but everyone is in a position to report and be cognizant of the content they post online. And this is true whether a self-block system is in place or not.