Scratch Community Values Statement
Who this app is for
Scratch is for every plural system. Full stop. You're welcome here.
We won't design features, rules, or messaging that treat any one origin as the "real" plurality and any other as an afterthought. Gatekeeping in either direction isn't something we're interested in, and it never will be.
Quick note: we're a traumagenic system, so some features will naturally start from what helps us, along with what the community wants. That doesn't mean Scratch is only for systems like ours, not even close. If something feels like it wasn't built with your kind of system in mind, please tell us. We genuinely want to hear it, and we want to fix it.
Money
The core of Scratch is free. Not "free for now," not free with some catch buried in the terms. Just free, because that's how it should be for something like this.
Nothing you actually need to use the app will ever sit behind a paywall. There might be a small handful of nice-to-have extras for anyone who wants to support the project, but those will never be required to use Scratch fully. And once something is free, it stays free, we're not going to build up your trust and then quietly take away features people already rely on. That's not who we want to be.
If Scratch ever turns a profit, here's exactly what happens with that money:
- None of it goes into our pockets. 0%. Not a cent. This isn't a business we're running to make money off a marginalized community, and it never will be.
- All of it goes back into Scratch itself. Servers, the domain, storage, whatever it actually costs to keep the app alive and running well for you.
- You help decide where the rest goes. If there's ever more money coming in than the app needs, we're not going to sit on it or quietly decide what to do with it ourselves. We'll ask the people who supported us what they'd want done with it, including where they'd want it donated.
Staying up, and what happens if we can't
We're going to keep Scratch running for as long as we're humanly able to. This app exists because the community needs something like it, and we love this community. We don't take that lightly.
If a shutdown ever becomes unavoidable, there will be no surprise shutdowns. None, ever. We're committing to:
- Telling the community as early as we possibly can, rather than dropping it on people at the last minute.
- Working directly with users on what comes next, whether that's a data export, a transition plan, a handoff to someone else, or an idea from the community we haven't even thought of.
- Being upfront and honest about why it's happening instead of just disappearing on you.
This app is being built for you, and as much as we're able to manage it, alongside you too.
Thank you
Thank you, truly, for being here and for trusting us with something this personal. Stay amazing, stay safe, and know that if there's ever anything we can do for you, we mean it when we say please let us know.
--The EightBall System