Note: This suggestion was inspired by another suggestion I saw which suggested an advertising system where you paste your project URL into the system and it will randomly pick 30 projects. I believe that suggestion is closed now, but if anyone has the link, please send it to me, because I would like to credit it.

This may sound different to what it actually is in the first few lines - please read the whole post before responding!

Getting projects seen has been a huge problem on Scratch for years, but I think I've come up with a solution: the ‘Community Picks’ category.

This would be a special category under Explore (alongside trending, popular etc.) with a special feature: a URL-adding bar like the ones used to add projects to studios. Scratchers can paste project URLs into the bar under Animations, Art, Games, Music, Stories or Tutorials (i.e. the existing categories excluding all), and if the project meets certain criteria, it will be displayed on the page using a certain algorithm.
There will also be a front-row page featuring random projects from the category.

Specs (open to suggestions and change):

In order for a project to be eligible to be added, it must:
- have at least 15 loves (this is necessary to ensure it passes through some sort of moderation opportunity before it is displayed)
- have less than 100 loves
- not currently be in the system
If an inputted project does not meet these specs, it will be rejected.
There will be a 2 hour cooldown for adding projects to prevent spam. New Scratchers will have a 12-hour cooldown.
It will be removed from display once:
- it passes 200 loves
- it passes 1500 views
- it is displayed for over 3 months
- it is marked NFE
(these specs are vague, please suggest new ones)

How the selection algorithm works:

Projects will be displayed in order of their age-appearance-view ratio. Projects will be grouped into categories (specifics unclear). Similar to the SDS, 16 random projects will be selected from each category (as you might guess this is 1 page of projects) and will be displayed on a per-user basis (so each user gets a different set of projects).
Order of category appearance:
- High age - low appearances - low views
- High age - medium appearances - low views
- High age - high appearances - low views
- Medium age - low appearances - low views
- Medium age - med appearances - low views
- Med age - high appearances - low views
- High age - low appearances - med views
- High age - med appearances - med views
- High age - high appearances - med views
- Med age - low appearances - med views
- Med age - med appearances - med views
- Med age - high appearances - med views
and so on and so forth
Projects by banned users will be the last ones selected, even if they fall into some of these categories.

It'll be just like trending, except with unnoticed projects!

Points to discuss:
- Which name sounds better, ‘Chosen by Scratch’, ‘Community Picks’ or another name?
- Should a Scratcher be able to add their own projects?

Epik mockups by @musicROCKS013


Exactly like this, except I'm still debating whether you should be able to add projects in the ‘All’ category.
Please tell me what you think of this idea and point out any flaws you notice. I hope you like this suggestion!

Are you referring to this suggestion?
If so, then yes, it's closed.

Anyway, I like this idea! This would be a good solution for recently shared/unnoticed projects. How? Well, it's simple.

This would fix the moderation issues that other suggestions have had.

However, a problem would yet again be the toxic comments that these projects would get.

I might make a mock-up soon.

Else, if someone does make the mock-up, I could host it on Assets if it's being hosted originally via CubeUpload.

k0d3rrr wrote:

Are you referring to this suggestion?
If so, then yes, it's closed.

Anyway, I like this idea! This would be a good solution for recently shared/unnoticed projects. How? Well, it's simple.

This would fix the moderation issues that other suggestions have had.

However, a problem would yet again be the toxic comments that these projects would get.

I might make a mock-up soon.

Else, if someone does make the mock-up, I could host it on Assets if it's being hosted originally via CubeUpload.

Thanks! This wasn't the suggestion I saw, but thanks anyway
I think the toxic comments could probably be mitigated by the fact that it's randomly generated for every user (like the SDS), but I guess it's difficult to avoid.

I'm going to comment on the 1000 loves limit — I wonder if that's too high. If this suggestion were implemented, I would expect to see a lot of projects with 500-800 loves (since they're on the Chosen by Scratch page) — and, subsequently, a lot of complaints that “Only popular projects are getting placed into the Chosen by Scratch page.” To many Scratchers, 500 loves is wildly popular. Maybe the limit should be lower — perhaps once the project reaches 100–200 loves, it gets removed from Chosen by Scratch? Then perhaps it is eligible for the usual Trending page at that point.

Za-Chary wrote:

I'm going to comment on the 1000 loves limit — I wonder if that's too high. If this suggestion were implemented, I would expect to see a lot of projects with 500-800 loves (since they're on the Chosen by Scratch page) — and, subsequently, a lot of complaints that “Only popular projects are getting placed into the Chosen by Scratch page.” To many Scratchers, 500 loves is wildly popular. Maybe the limit should be lower — perhaps once the project reaches 100–200 loves, it gets removed from Chosen by Scratch? Then perhaps it is eligible for the usual Trending page at that point.

I support this change, I think that if most scratchers got 200 loves they would be overjoyed.

Honestly, isn’t this just like a featured page but with more ambiguity about what types of projects are allowed and more restrictions regarding the popularity of the project? Also, I’m sure a project will reach 1500 views before it reaches 1000 loves, so the loves restriction probably isn’t needed. I agree with what Za-chary said about this, but since there are only 1500 views allowed I don’t think there would be that many loves I comparison.

I think this is an interesting idea though, and I think it could definitely work with a bit of polishing.

I made mockups!





Sorry if CubeUpload is down or blocked for you.

Actually I really love this idea it helps underrated scratchers rise without sheer luck, Full support!

Za-Chary wrote:

I'm going to comment on the 1000 loves limit — I wonder if that's too high. If this suggestion were implemented, I would expect to see a lot of projects with 500-800 loves (since they're on the Chosen by Scratch page) — and, subsequently, a lot of complaints that “Only popular projects are getting placed into the Chosen by Scratch page.” To many Scratchers, 500 loves is wildly popular. Maybe the limit should be lower — perhaps once the project reaches 100–200 loves, it gets removed from Chosen by Scratch? Then perhaps it is eligible for the usual Trending page at that point.

That's a good point, I'll change the limit to 200 loves.

I think this is a good idea. Some scratchers make really awesome projects, but no one finds them because their so obsessed with really famous scratchers like Griffpatch. Not like I don't like Griffpatch, but there are some really good underated scratchers too\

BUMPITY bump

musicROCKS013 wrote:

I made mockups!
snip

Thanks a lot, these are pretty much exactly what I was imagining!

k0d3rrr wrote:

Eagle138 wrote:

BUMPITY bump

Aww man, I was going to bump this topic.

But as they say, the early bird catches the worm. [/irony]

*randomly starts laughing* my brain as i was typing this: do birds laugh? me: *asks google* yes apparently bald eagles do make a laugh-like sound, but not wedge-tailed eagles, which are so much cooler. dang. the back of my mind: why the heck are you writing this? nobody needs to know. my brain: BECAUSE IT'S SCIENCE[ me: ok imma just leave you two alone now and go off to debate whether to put that in my siggy.

im weird. do you think im weird?

Eagle138 wrote:

BUMPITY bump

Aww man, I was going to bump this topic.

But as they say, the early bird catches the worm. [/irony]

Edit: How the heck is this comment in the comment before this one, even though this comment was way before the previous comment?

bump

The OP wrote:

- have at least 15 loves (this is necessary to ensure it passes through some sort of moderation opportunity before it is displayed)

Pleace remove that because of this:

The OP wrote:

- be marked as FE (for everyone)

scratchgodo wrote:

The OP wrote:

- have at least 15 loves (this is necessary to ensure it passes through some sort of moderation opportunity before it is displayed)

Pleace remove that because of this:

The OP wrote:

- be marked as FE (for everyone)

But aren't all projects automatically marked as FE when they are shared? Also I don't think I'll remove that because it provides an additional layer of protection. I can lower it to 10 though, if that's more reasonable.

Eagle138 wrote:

scratchgodo wrote:

The OP wrote:

- have at least 15 loves (this is necessary to ensure it passes through some sort of moderation opportunity before it is displayed)

Pleace remove that because of this:

The OP wrote:

- be marked as FE (for everyone)

But aren't all projects automatically marked as FE when they are shared? Also I don't think I'll remove that because it provides an additional layer of protection. I can lower it to 10 though, if that's more reasonable.

No there not see this.

scratchgodo wrote:

Eagle138 wrote:

But aren't all projects automatically marked as FE when they are shared? Also I don't think I'll remove that because it provides an additional layer of protection. I can lower it to 10 though, if that's more reasonable.

No there not see this.

I wanted to talk about that earlier, but I didn't want to be the first one to bring it up.

Now that I know that “The majority of projects are unreviewed” is explicitly written on the Scratch Wiki, I can say this. If being FE was a requirement, most projects wouldn't be eligible for the Chosen by Scratch section. Thus I actually think “15 loves” is a better requirement than “marked FE,” because there's likely a bigger chance of a project having 15 loves than being marked FE. So, I would suggest removing the “marked FE” requirement, but keeping the “15 loves” requirement.

Support. Many people have awesome projects, but no one sees them.
(Maybe the 15 loves restriction should 10 loves, 5 or 10 favorites)

Support.
This is a great idea because it allows the people whose projects may be underrated to actually be seen. The restrictions also make spam or inappropriate projects far less likely on the page.
As for your questioned specs / restrictions, it would be smart to not allow Scratchers to suggest their own projects, to avoid potential spam and inappropriate content. New Scratchers should not be able to suggest their own projects, for the same reason.
I also agree with Za-Chary's statement saying that the “Marked FE” restriction should be removed. If the project has 10 or 15 loves, it probably has little, if any, inappropriate content.

Za-Chary wrote:

scratchgodo wrote:

Eagle138 wrote:

But aren't all projects automatically marked as FE when they are shared? Also I don't think I'll remove that because it provides an additional layer of protection. I can lower it to 10 though, if that's more reasonable.

No there not see this.

I wanted to talk about that earlier, but I didn't want to be the first one to bring it up.

Now that I know that “The majority of projects are unreviewed” is explicitly written on the Scratch Wiki, I can say this. If being FE was a requirement, most projects wouldn't be eligible for the Chosen by Scratch section. Thus I actually think “15 loves” is a better requirement than “marked FE,” because there's likely a bigger chance of a project having 15 loves than being marked FE. So, I would suggest removing the “marked FE” requirement, but keeping the “15 loves” requirement.

Thanks for this! I'll remove the FE restriction.