Ayo! I believe this is the first vent I've ever done here, so,,, buckle your seatbelts kiddos. I'm gonna start on the layout itself. I know some people appreciate it, and even I have been slowly getting used to it, but multiple scratchers have expressed experiencing sensory overload from this new layout. For those of you who may not know (and it's totally fine if you don't!) what sensory overload is, it's a situation where one or more of your senses are overstimulated, and it causes feelings of panic and anxiety. For example, a loud, crowded city can trigger sensory overload for some, or an unexpected, brightly colored layout in the new scratch studios. Sensory overload can get to anyone, but it primarily affects people with PTSD, Autism, ADHD, or anxiety. So yeah. The studios, as far as I can tell, were updated to bring people together, and to make scratch a more welcoming place for everyone. How can that be accomplished if the very look of it harms our neurodivergent users? In addition to the new layout, there're also a bunch of other faults I find for the new layout. We can no longer invite followers (yay for an ungodly amount of typing! /s), give managers any power, or have reply chains of a certain length. The reply chains is really what bothers me the most, with the managers as a close second. I'm part of a lot of studios where it's crucial for there to be multiple managers, and now, all that has gone to ruin. For the reply chains, the limit is 25. 25 replies before you have to start a new thread. The longest roleplay thread I've ever done was at least 2000 replies, and my math might be rusty, but I'm pretty sure that's a little more than 25. So now, let's take another tally of who this update is hurting: Neurodivergent users, roleplayers, and people who use collab studios. And then, for a comparison, who it's helping: Hm. There doesn't seem to be anyone. This is not an update that we asked for, and it's one that has made many people upset. Scratch used to be one of my favorite places, but now, it just seems to be trying to get rid of its users. I understand that the update is really new, and it may be changed over time once everyone's resistance reaches the developers, but at the same time, did we really need it to happen in the first place? Scratch Team, I respect you, and I understand that you're working hard, but this update was not what we needed here. Scratch is supposed to be a place where everyone can be happy, and this update directly harms a huge demographic of users.
Y'all, for listening to my angry word-vomit XD
