This is going to be a mouthful, so if you read the entire thing you're a champ ;) To start... As middle school gradually draws to an end and finals are coming up, I feel myself getting more social and closer to friends than ever before (especially since I'm transitioning to high school) and trying to stay more focused on my grades and personal life. I love having an online community like this where I can post art and share my feelings in color and cats! :D but I feel like lately using Scratch has been taking away my focus from school and reality. It feels like I'm on here all the time in my free time instead of being outside in the real world that God has created for me. Another reason I feel this way is how the people on Scratch can't take jokes seriously. I know this site is aiming for kids for 8-16, but as a teen I feel like I need real people to talk and joke with. And when we teens on here actually try to joke and have fun on this website, it usually ends up in comment blocks and banned projects. Additionally to the age thing, I am feeling more and more like this platform has become so oriented in users having more followers than everyone else than actual creative content. Almost every week I have at least one person saying something like "If you look at this game you have to follow me". I understand the want for popularity, as I am not so popular myself, but a bunch of 11 year-olds telling me to follow them almost every day is SO. DAMN. ANNOYING. Also, I cannot even BEGIN to explain how often art is being traced/copied on here. I'm not going to point out names, but people have been "heavily referencing" other people's art with no consent of the owner. While, I admit, I do reference other people's art styles myself, I am not downright copying someone's creations that took years to get right. There is a lot more I could say about this, but It'd take too long. As for the ai thing, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I guess I’ll just have to see for myself when it happens. With all of that, I may end up leaving the site for awhile in the near future, and possibly coming back when this has calmed down (if it ever will). All things to say, I AM NOT LEAVING THE PLATFORM (YET?) and I will still be posting art occasionally (don't cancel any of my map parts, map hosts!) but am fairly unhappy with what is going on right now. I need to get out into reality and live a whole life if it means stepping away from this website. Thanks for reading. I hope there are some people who understand what I am trying to say, even if it might be confusing for some. Also, thanks for my online friends on here for supporting me. It means a lot :)
