scratch was wayyyyyy better a long time ago because people didn't actually care about loves and favorites, they just wanted to make good, high quality projects that people enjoyed and could learn coding skills from. now every project asks for loves and favorites and some even have a love and favorite detector in-game that unlocks some features. loves and favorites should not show how many scratchers wanted an exclusive skin or the ability to fly, they should show how many scratchers actually liked the project. the same is with followers. a lot of scratchers ask you to follow them, and they will only release projects when they reach a certain follower count. following isn't supposed to show how many people wanted to see your next game, it should show that you liked that person's activity and wanted to be notified about it. also the general quality of projects has deteriorated a lot because people are always trying to imitate a project that got a lot of loves and favorites so they just use the same sprite and the same code. there are almost always at least 8 platformers with a sprite with one eye in the middle on the trending page, and this has been going on for years now. i think that if we remove public love and favorite counts, scratchers will be more motivated to make higher quality projects.

scratch was wayyyyyy better a long time ago because people didn't actually care about loves and favorites, they just wanted to make good, high quality projects that people enjoyed and could learn coding skills from.

You know, I've been on Scratch for over nine years now on various accounts, but I can't quite remember such a time. In fact, I don't think anyone does. Could you please enlighten us all of when this magic, utopic period of Scratch nobody remembers yet everyone talks about was?

12/4/23 EDIT: POST ID 6666666. CHECK'EM

scratch was wayyyyyy better a long time ago because people didn't actually care about loves and favorites, they just wanted to make good, high quality projects that people enjoyed and could learn coding skills from

Account age: 3 years, 10 months.

I concur with SaveTheAtlantic; I have been on Scratch for almost a decade and this has always been a thing.

now every project asks for loves and favorites and some even have a love and favorite detector in-game that unlocks some features.

To my knowledge this is literally impossible without access to APIs that users traditionally do not have access to. Got any sources?

loves and favorites should not show how many scratchers wanted an exclusive skin or the ability to fly, they should show how many scratchers actually liked the project

They do. Loves and favorites have always been visible. Whether or not someone asks for them is another issue, but asking for loves and favorites is harmless. You can just not click the button.

the same is with followers. a lot of scratchers ask you to follow them, and they will only release projects when they reach a certain follower count. following isn't supposed to show how many people wanted to see your next game, it should show that you liked that person's activity and wanted to be notified about it.

This and loves and favorites are going to be a thing on literally any platform that has social media features. If you don't want these people to be rewarded for this behavior, do not follow them or interact with their content.

also the general quality of projects has deteriorated a lot because people are always trying to imitate a project that got a lot of loves and favorites so they just use the same sprite and the same code

This is totally subjective, though I would like to see an end to the generic front page platformer.

Removing public love and favorite counts is not the answer to any of these problems. You would be punishing people who are rewarded with both for making a popular or cool project. Same deal with the follow count being public. Both also serve to show you the quality of a project and how popular the user in question is.

Also, once again I would like to ask the people of Suggestions to learn how to format their posts. Please.

SavetheAtlantic wrote:

scratch was wayyyyyy better a long time ago because people didn't actually care about loves and favorites, they just wanted to make good, high quality projects that people enjoyed and could learn coding skills from.

You know, I've been on Scratch for over nine years now on various accounts, but I can't quite remember such a time. In fact, I don't think anyone does. Could you please enlighten us all of when this magic, utopic period of Scratch nobody remembers yet everyone talks about was?

I would say the closest i've seen (which isn't really close, but i also havn't been on scratch for that long) is right before the surge of generic platformers.
but that has nothing to do with likes and favorites but rather more about the huge surge of users that joined and then left during the pandemic

i think that if we remove public love and favorite counts, scratchers will be more motivated to make higher quality projects

While there would be less “generic” projects (platformers….), a lot of people are being encouraged because of the possibility of fame.

NanoRook wrote:

To my knowledge this is literally impossible without access to APIs that users traditionally do not have access to. Got any sources?

While I don't support the OP, this is possible - just search up love/fave detector and see inside; you'll see how it works.

-Qlec- wrote:

NanoRook wrote:

To my knowledge this is literally impossible without access to APIs that users traditionally do not have access to. Got any sources?

While I don't support the OP, this is possible - just search up love/fave detector and see inside; you'll see how it works.

Afaik, you only have to hover over the buttons to make this work (for most detectors at least).

Bump

this topic is home to the devil's post

85792 wrote:

scratch was wayyyyyy better a long time ago because people didn't actually care about loves and favorites, they just wanted to make good, high quality projects that people enjoyed and could learn coding skills from. now every project asks for loves and favorites and some even have a love and favorite detector in-game that unlocks some features.

yeah but i dont remember this. Aso loves an favrites are good because they motivate people to do better so they get more.