This is mainly a solution to the problem with attempting URL milestones, which is that they create too many excess projects with no content which wastes storage space. So I have a solution to this. Projects that contain nothing but a Scratch Cat located at (0,0) with the “Sprite1” sprite name, the “costume1” and “costume2” costume names with the right costume contents, no scripts, a blank background, and nothing in the instructions or N&C (the title doesn’t matter) can be permanently deleted from Scratch’s servers if they are in the “trash” folder. But to avoid recycling project IDs, a list of which projects have been deleted this way will be kept in the servers. There should also be an option in Account Settings to autodelete them after some amount of time.

I believe this would cause a problem with projects that people have created but not yet edited.
If you create a new project, save, leave the page, and come back later after this wipe, would it be gone?

EDIT: Also, occasionally people will edit costumes but not costume names when they are beginning to create art or are editing the Scratch Cat sprite.

Minecraft_Master3964 wrote:

I believe this would cause a problem with projects that people have created but not yet edited.
If you create a new project, save, leave the page, and come back later after this wipe, would it be gone?

My intent is that it will be permanently deleted only if it’s in trash.

hotcrystal wrote:

Minecraft_Master3964 wrote:

I believe this would cause a problem with projects that people have created but not yet edited.
If you create a new project, save, leave the page, and come back later after this wipe, would it be gone?

My intent is that it will be permanently deleted only if it’s in trash.

That makes more sense, but it still seems a bit iffy because it's performing unsanctioned deletions on behalf of the user…

Is it doing it for every user automatically, or when every user tells it to?

Minecraft_Master3964 wrote:

Is it doing it for every user automatically, or when every user tells it to?

When a user tells it to, or automatically if the users turns that setting on.

I feel like this should be a button in the My Stuff page, as I have around 500 empty projects that I accidentally created ans want to get rid of.

minniesworld wrote:

I feel like this should be a button in the My Stuff page, as I have around 500 empty projects that I accidentally created ans want to get rid of.

what the heck 500

anyway you can still purge all of them in one go

minniesworld wrote:

I feel like this should be a button in the My Stuff page, as I have around 500 empty projects that I accidentally created ans want to get rid of.

how in the name of nutty putty cave do you accidentally create 500 projects

Permanently deleting a project actually doesn't delete anything- it just removes all links to it and makes it impossible to see for anyone but the ST and the project creator, and nobody can re-share it outside of the ST.

Anyways, these blank projects also don't actually take up that much space. All assets are referred to by md5 hash, so if you have two identical assets, they're not actually stored twice, even if they're in different projects- they're stored once. So, there is exactly one copy of the default Scratch Cat on the entire website, and exactly one copy of the meow and pop sounds- they're just reused in different projects.

As for the project.json, the project's API json (not the same thing) could store a value that tells the website if it's a copy of the default project, and if it is, it similarly only uses one copy of it.

BigNate469 wrote:

Permanently deleting a project actually doesn't delete anything- it just removes all links to it and makes it impossible to see for anyone but the ST and the project creator, and nobody can re-share it outside of the ST.

Anyways, these blank projects also don't actually take up that much space. All assets are referred to by md5 hash, so if you have two identical assets, they're not actually stored twice, even if they're in different projects- they're stored once. So, there is exactly one copy of the default Scratch Cat on the entire website, and exactly one copy of the meow and pop sounds- they're just reused in different projects.

As for the project.json, the project's API json (not the same thing) could store a value that tells the website if it's a copy of the default project, and if it is, it similarly only uses one copy of it.

Yes, but are there any other ways of solving the problem that milestone attempts create too many spam/no content projects?

Bump because I mentioned this.

Libbyty2 wrote:

minniesworld wrote:

I feel like this should be a button in the My Stuff page, as I have around 500 empty projects that I accidentally created ans want to get rid of.

how in the name of nutty putty cave do you accidentally create 500 projects

It can build up over time, though it could be accidentally clicking “Create”

Minecraft_Master3964 wrote:

hotcrystal wrote:

Minecraft_Master3964 wrote:

I believe this would cause a problem with projects that people have created but not yet edited.
If you create a new project, save, leave the page, and come back later after this wipe, would it be gone?

My intent is that it will be permanently deleted only if it’s in trash.

That makes more sense, but it still seems a bit iffy because it's performing unsanctioned deletions on behalf of the user…

Is it doing it for every user automatically, or when every user tells it to?

Also I feel like these people could just do workarounds to this, or just not delete the projects, and I have some deleted projects that are actually important to me but are “blank” (in terms of what the original poster said)

It wouldn't really combat the issue of URL milestone attempt spam; users would just not put their unedited project in their rubbish folder, then it wouldn't be deleted. And anyways, the people that spam projects for URL milestones will still have done what they wanted since the URL is not deleted. Permanently deleting a project doesn't mean that the URL is now free for a new project to take

medians wrote:

Also I feel like these people could just do workarounds to this, or just not delete the projects, and I have some deleted projects that are actually important to me but are “blank” (in terms of what the original poster said)

Yep, they're not all URL milestone attempts. Some of those blank projects have things written in the description that they want to share or keep, like a future ideas list, a written account of their time on Scratch, a note stating their hiatus, an April Fools' Project, or other.

iiucandyfloss wrote:

Yep, they're not all URL milestone attempts. Some of those blank projects have things written in the description that they want to share or keep, like a future ideas list, a written account of their time on Scratch, a note stating their hiatus, an April Fools' Project, or other.

If there’s anything in the description, then it wouldn’t be permanently deleted.

hotcrystal wrote:

iiucandyfloss wrote:

-snip- Some of those blank projects have things written in the description

If there’s anything in the description, then it wouldn’t be permanently deleted.

What about the title? Imagine if someone makes a project called ‘Leaving Scratch’, keeps everything else empty, then writes in the comment section when it's shared, ‘APRIL FOOLS hehe ’, then it would get deleted for not changing anything.

My other point is on #13 post

iiucandyfloss wrote:

What about the title? Imagine if someone makes a project called ‘Leaving Scratch’, keeps everything else empty, then writes in the comment section when it's shared, ‘APRIL FOOLS hehe ’, then it would get deleted for not changing anything.

My other point is on #13 post

Well, since it’s shared, it wouldn’t be deleted. This only deletes projects in the “trash” folder.

semi-support, cause what if i have a blank project that i might want to edit later

AvidOsirianGuy wrote:

semi-support, cause what if i have a blank project that i might want to edit later

It can only be deleted this way or be autodeleted if it’s in the trash folder.

hotcrystal wrote:

AvidOsirianGuy wrote:

semi-support, cause what if i have a blank project that i might want to edit later

It can only be deleted this way or be autodeleted if it’s in the trash folder.

ah ok