Six Months I am a humble Scratcher. Again, I am a humble Scratcher. I do not like to comment, add any projects to studios, or even to follow a lot of people. The reason for this is probably because of my experience offline. When I first started Scratch, I never knew about online Scratch. I spent almost two years offline. This is what makes me value hard work, effort, theme, and coding for fun. During this solitary almost two years, I only had one person to help me, (person 1). He guided me through this journey. Almost everything I had to figure out myself. Every bug, what each block does, and how to use it, that was all done alone. My coding journey started with a spark, the spark was lit when I saw (person 2) coding, with the forward, turn, and repeat blocks, fairly simple, but it is the base. Then he moved on to Scratch... offline, and did that for a year. That was when I started with the forward, turn, and repeat blocks, also when the spark grew to a small flame. Then he went on to actual code and I started Scratch offline. Now, (person 2) often uses AI and doesn’t code a lot, he doesn’t seem to find the joy in coding like I do. I did that for almost two years, that's what made me so independent, the fire grew brighter. Then I searched up Scratch, and the small fire started to grow. I was exposed to a whole new world. After half a year of that, now, I have journeyed to a mature campfire. It was during my first month on Scratch that I showed it to my friend. She seemed to love the idea of a free coding platform, and started too. She introduced it to two of her friends and these were my first followers and follows. Sadly, because she joined without the experience of independency, she is more of a mass producer, although she does put a lot of effort and thought into her art and projects. Of course, you can never forget (person 1). The first time I saw code was when he was on his computer working. He is the person with the matches. He guided me through this journey. I have realized that many people are so obsessed with followers that they don't realize they're people out there that don't follow them. You can't only look at people who appreciate you, nor can you only look at people who don't appreciate you, you have to look at both. For example, there could be 2 people, “A” and “B.” A could have 10 followers and B could have 100 followers. But what if only 20 people have seen person A and 1,000 people have seen person B? This would mean only a tenth of the people who see B follows him (about), while half the people who see A follow him. This would mean person A is more appreciated although he has less followers. My idea is that next to follower count, Scratch Team could have the number of people that have seen this profile and what percent followed them. Here I described that followers don't define your appreciation on Scratch, it's really not number, more ratio. If a person has seen your account and at least one of your projects, they will be counted in the ratio. If ten people have seen your account and a few of your projects, and five of them followed you, you would have a ratio of 1:2 or 50%. To me, followers are supporters and to motivate me, not a prize or reward. I understand my friend’s intentions, and she absolutely isn't bad. I mean, she has been my friend since she was born. She posts art straight from her heart. Her projects, although made in fast time, definitely has effort and hard work put into it. She is seeking attention, she comments a lot, and this is what I did when I first joined. Then, I took different paths. I am always trying to help her, trying to help her improve her coding, and she’s done a great job so far! I hope she grows up to be a great artist and will also learn how to code more complex projects later. I absolutely understand that she isn’t as good at coding as I am. I have had more than two years of practice and she really has only started coding for less than half a year. She is an understanding person and understands what I have said to her about this. She knows what I am talking about but she is a different kind of person than me, she likes to make a project and slowly polish them over time. I have seven pages of loved projects in just six months, this may seem like I am just hearting every project I see, but no. I go and find the many amazing projects and heart and star them. Then I check the profile, their loves, and so on. I didn’t follow because, quoting my friend,”I don’t like his style.” This is an opinion and he absolutely is a great coder. I just don’t like his style though. When I see a project, I will love it if it is inspiring, has effort, has a great theme, or has a great vibe. If it is extremely fun, I may just heart and star for that reason. Also, I am only a fifth grader, and I rarely ever love front paged things. When I solve a bug, I am extremely happy about the game working, most people would be happy, but for different reasons.
***Scroll to the bottom if you do not want to read the whole thing. When I see myself with little numbers, I say, “There is stuff happening behind the scenes, and it just takes time.” I like to keep the people I follow half the amount of my followers, this helps me keep balance. As you can see, it’s not raw numbers that matter, it’s ratio. Even if you don’t get a notification, someone may be viewing your project. Over time, they will come and follow you. Don’t chase people, let them catch you. I hope, one day, you will learn that raw numbers are only what can be seen. A lot of other stuff is happening behind your back. Views may be your key to success, perhaps it isn’t follows. If someone doesn’t follow you, they may propose a project of yours to be featured. If someone doesn’t follow you, it doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate you. If someone doesn’t follow you, you don’t need to search for other followers. If someone doesn’t follow you, don’t be upset. ========================================== The (person 1) and (person 2) in the story are people close to me, but because of privacy, I am not sharing details. The friend is @dragonara360 ========================================== Check out the version I wrote this year: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1369518879/ I know the music doesn't fit well, but I was feeling nostalgic for my Space Fighter, so I used the music I used for it. Thanks a lot to these people. I will never forget how they played a part in my journey. (•◡•) @Owaiso - Nice person and helped me see what makes a game interesting. @ReinGear - Helped me think in another way and helped me understand how the community works. @PepsiKrystal - My first follower other than my friend, which made me more optimistic. @-Adjust- - Really nice, hosted my first contest, and loves making games, just different kinds. @Birdsaresocute - Helped me, even though she never interacted with me. Helped me understand different types of projects.
