Hey Scratchers! Let's take a look back. Over two and a half years ago, I created @The-Scatcher. An accidental typo in what was supposed to be @The-Scratcher led to my iconic name (lol). I created this account when I knew almost nothing about Scratch, having only used it once for a homeschool project where you made a game or art or something out of the Google logo, basically making a new Google Doodle. (I found it again: https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/create-your-own-google-logo/create-your-own-google-logo/create-your-own-google-logo.html) I knew only the basics of what certain blocks did. I didn't know how to layer sprites, or make smooth animations, or make art that didn't look like it was made by a toddler; I was proud of myself, however. I enjoyed doing it. I wanted to keep coding. Scratch had a wonderful community, and I made multiple friends. Fast-forward to a year later. Scratch had kind of been my "phase" for the last year - I was almost constantly making things. However, you can do too much of a good thing. After a year or so, I was ready to take a break. Not quit, but take a break. I learned the hard way that you can't spend your whole life behind a computer screen connecting virtual blocks together; you have to rest sometimes. Additionally, I had over 300 followers by then, and the pressure was starting to get to me. So I did take a break. For a few days. Then a week. Then a couple weeks. As I found more and more thinks besides Scratch I enjoyed, Scratch slipped further and further down in my priorities. I don't remember exactly how long my hiatus lasted, but it was way, way longer then I anticipated or wanted. My message count reached into the literal thousands as I neglected it. At some point, I logged back on, only to be overwhelmed with new developments and information. Several of my Scratch friends had left or just stopped making things; my remaining ones were asking me about my leave, and as I mentioned before my mail was quite full. It was quite overwhelming, especially since I had just came back from a multi-week hiatus. Additionally, a dozen or two people had unfollowed me because of my break. I was not ready for this quite yet; I didn't know how to rebuild. And to be honest, I just didn't have the energy. I didn't have the motivation to rebuild my Scratch identity; I didn't feel the need to bring back my followers. So I just kind of left again. I would occasionally check in, reply to a comment or two, perhaps even post a 2-year anniversary; but I was nowhere near as active as I was. I was not pumping out a (somewhat trashy) project every couple days like before; the most frequently I posted any project at all was every couple months. The momentum of popularity and attention I had created for myself earlier had almost completely slowed to a neutral state. Then it went past that, and I started losing popularity. Around that time was a significant turning point. For the past few weeks, I had actually started getting back into Scratch; I had found my creative energy again, so to speak. So I started a new account: . I pretended to be new to Scratch, because my original plan was to create an entirely new identity. I posted a couple intentionally low-quality projects just to try to sell the illusion. A little while later, I decided I didn't want to lie to these people; so I didn't publicly announce it, but I did put it on 's profile about a new account. I stayed on for a while, and I still am and will for the foreseeable future. I got into a collab with . However, for the past almost 2 years, I've been in a sort of creative block, fueled in part by a severe lack of motivation - if it hadn't been for the collab, I might've just quit on that account too. But I won't. I am going to revive and start making some more stuff. If you want to see some new things, please head over there and follow ! (also, may I just say I've gotten a lot better at Scratch XD) Now what about this account? Well, I hate to let it go. It holds a lot of memories as my first Scratch account and the friends I made. However, sitting at a roughly equal height on the scale, I don't have the energy or motivation to rebuild it. So for right now is going to go into a sort of hiatus. Not entirely abandoned, but not active either. I might check in now and then, reply to a couple comments, but I will not be very active. All my creative energy will go into . I may at some point revive this account and start making things on it again, but for right now, if you want more content, please do go follow my new(ish) account. And... Scratch On!
