don't impersonate. this is a project explaining why it's wrong and harmful to impersonate others, and the effects that come with it. - - - i myself have been impersonated, and it was a terrible feeling. i was simply defending my friend, and the hater created an account exactly like mine, took my projects and shared some of them. stole my bio. stole my banner. all of it. when i woke up and saw that someone was using MY voice, and MY account and MY power to try to flip my words and act like i was supporting the hater, i cried. it's true. tbf i was p young, but it was still horrible. - - - why people do it: to become 'popular' or get 'fame' by using a popular scratcher's username or claiming they're an alt or smthn. i probably don't even have to explain why this is wrong, shouldn't it be obvious? unfortunately, younger kids clearly don't understand that, and they just *don't want to do the work* of gaining followers for themselves. when you impersonate, you're using other people's hard and earned work for yourself. - - - imagine you just made a scratch account, and you make your first project, design a thumbnail you're incredibly proud of, have a beautiful banner and bio. you go to bed feeling incredibly accomplished and you have amazing feedback in the morning! after a few months. you wake up to see way more messages than usual. most are profile comments. your heart sinks. a user has copied your account completely. you scan their projects bar and you see your own thumbnails. your own bio, used by someone else without a trace of credit. there's no way this can feel good. this is what you're doing to everyone when you impersonate, when you click the button to make the account. - - - what you can take from impersonation :: after you report, tell the impersonator to stop AND maybe tell other people to get backup as well, then you can sit down and reflect on what this truly is. the highest form of flattery. to have someone SO obsessed with you and your content to want to BE you... incredible. then, if you're mature enough, you'll be able to notice that impersonators are IMMATURE enough to express this flattery not in the form of a compliment, but in a toxic and damaging way to use YOUR progress for themselves. - - - tl;dr :: impersonating is wrong, causes drama, and is toxic. if you see an account that you really want to BE, or ADMIRE or that you feel like you 'deserve' their fame, then give. them. a. compliment. don't pretend to be them, dont use their thumbnails for fame. don't use their fame for clout. don't use their clout to be popular, because it doesn't matter. if you want to go ahead and /commit copyright infringement/ to be 'popular' on a children's coding website then i suggest you check your values.
