OG POSTING DATE: 3/17/24 /!\ click green flag before proceeding !! "truth hurts, but so do problems going unnoticed." (addressing the 2024 aesthetic community's main faults and issues ! ) ⟡ date ﹒ ⊹ march ﹒ 17﹒ ⟡ 2024﹒ ⊹ Introduction . The aesthetic community may seem like it's pretty nice, accepting, and understanding, and most of the time, it is. However, there are many underlying issues in the community that go unnoticed or aren't taken care of that can make the community feel pretty toxic and problematic. This explains the abundance of drama that you may often hear about in the comm. This is why me (@lacesquere) and a few other users have decided to share this project to spread awareness about all of these issues that are spreading throughout our beloved community. This also cover topics that can be applied universally to ALL scratchers, whether aesthetic, artists, game makers, etc. [though this is targeted toward aes ppl] DRAMA . It's clear that drama in the aesthetic community is quite frequent and gets out of hand. According to scratch's community guidelines, scratchers need to be and are expected to be kind, respectful and welcoming towards everyone, but the aesthetic community frequently does not obey these rules. We all know how big of an issue this is, not just in the aes comm, but in the general areas of scratch too. Impersonation . Impersonators are inevitable, especially when it comes to the more popular scratchers. People tend to be disheartened by this; however, if we continue to react so strongly about these impersonators, we're only making the problem worse by feeding their desires. Impersonators may be annoying, but leaving comments on their profile, calling them out, or telling people to report them isn't helping at all. In fact, Scratch Team member @Paddle2See had commented on the forums saying that it was advised to report silently. Staying silent, instead of getting upset or ranting about it, will have the impersonator's popularity and attention die out. [but not disappear entirely.] At the end of the day, all they're really trying to do is steal things for attention, and to try and make people leave by making them upset enough. This is almost like an impersonator's "trap." (Them being purposely rude, mean, stealing your projects, thumbs, and more to try to almost "bait" you into leaving or giving up on scratch.) If someone is impersonating you or your friends and decides to be rude, or uncivil, please ignore them. Reacting to the situation in any form [ besides reporting, of course, ] can cause the situation to escalate, which may get you banned. Many impersonators will be rude to you, making you want to leave. this is just a good example of what can happen when you give into an impersonator's 'trap'. Even if you're upset, don't talk about it unless you're speaking to someone in private. Hate & Harassment . When someone is trolling or arguing with another scratcher, people tend to be pretty public about it. They'll provide links to where the drama is happening; this, however, only causes further harm, because as you know, drama occurs in the community a lot. There have been multiple examples of people in the community getting other fellow members to mass report, attack, or gang up on a user/group of users. A result of this is that people will be hurt, arguments will start, and all hell breaks loose, whether the story relayed to others was true or not. Conflict causes stress and can make you feel negative, so involving more people isn't the best idea. The constant harassment can get overwhelming and can affect the user behind the screen. Remember, there is a person behind every scratch account and every person has feelings. Instead of going ahead and telling people to report a certain user, do it yourself; 1-2 reports is enough. If this doesn't work, then simply ignore them. No matter what, Simply, report and move on. If the situation is severe enough, consider directly contacting the scratch team by scrolling down and clicking "contact us" at the bottom of the website, or use this email: help.mit.edu. It's important to be lenient ; do keep in mind that people can change, but they won't if all they get is cold hearted backlash. Reporting . Many people in the aesthetic community get reported for various reasons. Sometimes, people are unhappy with their content, or something they said, and resort to reporting them. This can get an innocent person banned. False reporting is never the answer to a situation like this. In fact, if the scratch team finds out, they can get you banned; it's against the guidelines. Of course, there are comments that do end up violating the guidelines of scratch. As stated before, silently reporting comments that DO break these guidelines will eventually reduce the amount of inappropriate comments AND projects posted. Replying to a comment like this will give the user attention and won't solve anything.
Conflict resolution . While drama in large communities is inevitable, this is way too frequent. Fortunately, If you're involved in a conflict or fight, you can resolve your situation! PLEASE don't provide direct links to drama in the community, or get random people, because it could potentially worsen the situation. To add onto this, if the user responds, screenshots, or links it to share to other scratchers, it could lead to a bigger rift between a larger group of people. The safest and best way to deal with drama on scratch is to ignore it. Don't comment, gossip, or react to any drama you're seeing in the community or just generally throughout scratch. It can make the situation escalate. CONTENT/COMMENTS . Keeping the community guidelines in mind : The Scratch Guidelines are important. Many people have gotten reported for posting content the violate these rules. This contributes to the growing negativity in the community. Though it is inevitably impossible to ensure that everyone follows the guidelines, we can still help out. For the new scratchers, they should definitely read the community guidelines at the bottom of the website before making themselves public on the website. This will ensure the fact that mostly everything is appropriate. Remember, Scratch is for young children, and exposing them to harmful content only bites back at us eventually. Scratch's official community guidelines: https://scratch.mit.edu/community_guidelines Read them and consider them before interacting on scratch. TRENDS AND CULTURES . A lot of people in the aesthetic community say things about Korean culture that glorify it. People seem to enjoy East Asian customs, which is fine, but sometimes it's going too far. Instead of appreciating it for what it is, people seem to be using it in a way that seems more like an aesthetic rather than a culture. Obsession . When a culture is uplifted above others, it causes that culture to overshadow others and in turn makes people feel the need "fit in" due to peer pressure. This also means many users commonly disregard the history of these cultures and countries while shallowing them down to an "aesthetic". It's okay to enjoy K-pop, but there is a limit. East Asian culture is consistently disproportionately represented throughout the aesthetic community, namely in banners and pfps. It's fine to do this, but because of it, people may feel the need to get into K-pop, Korean culture, and sometimes, unfortunately go so far as to Asian-fish. (Asian fishing is the term that describes when a person pretends to be/act/dress like a stereotypical version of an Asian country's culture.) Non East-asian people in the community will even often say things in an East Asian language to make their content seem "aesthetically pleasing." When people do this, they're shallowing down the country's language and may be unintentionally saying something offensive or nonsensical in the process. This can lead to racism and stereotypes that may offend people who are members of these cultures. It's okay to use these idols in your banners, thumbs, or pfps but what's NOT okay is to make it a part of your personality and encourage others to do the same. AWARENESS OF AGE GROUPS . Scratch is a kind and inclusive coding community for kids as young as eight. The official Scratch Community Guidelines are listed as "Scratch is a friendly and welcoming community for everyone, where people create, share, and learn together. We welcome people of all ages ..." They're here for a reason. Who sees your posts/content & comments : The answer is: everyone. Everyone can see your posts, even if you don't want them to. Everyone can access your studios, projects, and comment threads. There's absolutely nothing you can do to stop them from doing so, as long as they're not breaking the community guidelines, and in most cases, these people aren't. This is why me [@lacesquere] and multiple others dislike the idea of "restricted" studios. Even if you don't want certain people viewing your studios, it is impossible to stop them from doing so. Comment stalking, too, is inevitable, and while it is odd to read through profile, studio, or project comments, they technically aren't doing anything wrong. Making studios designated to inappropriate content, hate, or anything along those lines is against the guidelines and could potentially hurt peoples' feelings. There have been many examples, and while i'm not going to provide examples, you probably have already seen this all over the community. This, however, is a growing issue and must be solved. Be considerate towards the vast age range of scratch and the variety of people. Sometimes, projects get taken down for no reason, but some projects that get taken down are for the best. While there are always mistakes that're annoying or that don't make sense, it's important to know that projects are visible to all. ty for reading!! <3
