Once upon a time, I was a 2nd grader. I was doing an online computer science class in a hotel in a big city. My teacher showed us how to sign up for a cool toy thing called "Scratch". Of course, my parents checked out the website first before signing me up, because I was only 7 years old at the time. They found nothing wrong with Scratch, so they signed me up. They gave me a weird username that I grew out of eventually when I was about 9 because I was a "big girl now". But I didn't switch over to @Granola_Granger until I was a lot older. Once upon a time, code scripting was done on the right side of the screen. Once upon a time, Scratch's main color was blue. Once upon a time all the green flag blocks had cat ears. And, once upon a time, Scratch was a safe, happy place for kids to be creative and have FUN. Once upon a time, I would comment on other peoples profiles and make friends with other Scratchers. Once upon a time, I would have fun with the EXTREMLY basic coding knowledge I had. But then.... I got my first negative comment. Some weirdo found one of my unpopular projects and said something, well, not that MEAN, but sarcastic and snide. But I was only 8. How do you expect an 8 year old to understand what a mean comment is? I just stared at the comment for a full 5 minutes and considered going to my mom. But I replied: "are you being sarcsatic!" because I couldn't spell sarcastic and I had no punctuation. At all. I turned off my comments and then focused on the project I was making. I don't know when I realized what Scratch has become. Its been 6+ years since I joined yet...it's only recently Scratch has become this...evil shadow of what it used to be. No, evil is a strong word, I mean: -Rude -Mean -Full of bullies and people who are emotionally insecure and don't know how to fix their issues, so they take it out on 5 year olds. I get that you might have had a bad day, I get that you might think life is horrible, and I GET that you don't have any outlets. But please, please, PLEASE, don't take it out on 6 year olds. Please. For some reason, no one seems to be able to keep their negative opinions to themselves, having no remorse or guilt for the person on the other side of the screen. Well guess what? That Scratcher whose project you said sucked? She spent hundreds of hours planning and finishing the project. That user whose art you said was boring? They spent days finishing that piece. All they wanted was to show the world their talents and have fun and enjoy. What they got instead was a snarky comment from a person who doesn't know how to process their emotions. I know you might think the art or the project is boring. But think before you type, because you have the risk of damaging someones emotions, and it may make them stop doing what they love and enjoy. Speaking of stopping what they love, haven't you guys seen how many people have left Scratch because of bullying? So. Many. Scratchers. So many amazing people, so many of the few kind people left on here, so many wonderful and amazing coders and artists. Scratch is like a well thats run out of kind people. Go find some random Scratcher thats still active. Go to the first few people they followed/followed them. They're gone. Either they vanished without a trace or they've been bullied off and left a project titled "Announcement" or "I'm Leaving". Because of the rude people who don't care about emotions.
@Granola_Granger is right. If you're here, please remix and try to make this popular.
