Eng:Follower

A follower is a Scratcher who has subscribed to another Scratcher's profile. Followers have replaced the friend system from Scratch 1.4. Users see the projects of Scratchers they follow in the "Projects by Scratchers I'm Following" section of the Front Page. Users can also see the activity (liking, favoriting, or sharing projects) of Scratchers they've followed in the What's Happening section of the front page.

Following a Scratcher
To follow a Scratcher, go to the user's profile and click the blue "follow" button. The Scratcher will receive a private notification that they have been followed by you, and your activity feeds will show that you are following them. The blue "Follow" button will then become a gray "Unfollow" button.

Unfollowing a Scratcher
To remove a user from your following list, visit the user's page and click the "unfollow" button on the top right corner of the page. The "unfollow" button will then become a blue "follow" button. A message will also pop up on your screen at the top, confirming you have officially unfollowed the user.

Reasons
Scratchers follow other Scratchers for some of the following reasons: Scratchers unfollow other Scratchers for some of the following reasons:
 * Makes amazing projects.
 * Someone may have given help on a project
 * To see any future projects the Scratcher will make (This is usually found in the What's Happening section of the homepage.)
 * If they know them in real life
 * If they've posted a friendly comment on a project
 * If they join a particular studio
 * Because they consider that user an online friend
 * They like the user or the user has been very famous.
 * They lost interest in the person's projects
 * They were mean to them
 * They have not been on Scratch for a very long time

Followers and Following Rows
On one's Profile Page, two rows related to following will appear. The "Following" row shows Scratchers that one is following. It is shown above the "Followers" row. If one is not following anyone yet, the row reads, "[username] isn't following anyone yet." The "Followers" row shows one's followers. If one does not have any followers, the row does not show up.

Free Follow Accounts
Some users create accounts simply for the goal of following as many Scratchers as possible. They navigate around the website, following every user they encounter. Sometimes people ask to be followed in their profile comments as well. This can amount up to thousands of follows, for the more prolific free follow accounts.

Following Users with the JavaScript Console
It's possible to follow oneself, or any deleted user with the method below.

Right click on any page in the Scratch website, then click on "Inspect Element" then paste the following code into the "Console" section: $.ajax({type: "PUT",url: "https://scratch.mit.edu/site-api/users/followers/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/add/",data: {usernames: Scratch.INIT_DATA.LOGGED_IN_USER.model.username}})

Following oneself with a second account
It's also possible to follow oneself without using the JavaScript console with the method below.

You need another account. Make one if you don't have one. Log into it. Go to "http://scratch.mit.edu/users/username", replacing "username" with the username of the account you wish to follow itself. Click the user menu in the upper-right corner. Right click "Log out" and have it "Open in a new tab". In this new tab it should appear as if you are logged out. Log in again as the account on which you will follow yourself. Go back to the first tab and click "Follow". This "confuses" the web site, by bringing up your profile on a different account, which makes the "Follow" button appear. Then, by logging in to a different account in a different tab/window, you make the cookies say that it is the second account logged in, but the first tab was loaded on the other account, so it displayed the follow button. However, take note that your activity and projects will appear in the What's Happening box, Projects by Scratchers I'm Following, and Projects Loved by Scratchers I'm Following rows on the front page.

Following deleted users
There were several security holes allowing people to follow deleted users. Causing a trend among advanced users in the Advanced Topics (who call themselves ATers) to follow the user Kaj. The trend later spread to other non-AT users who wanted to be considered "advanced". The majority of security holes were later patched by revising the API that allowed the users to do so. However it is still actually possible to follow deleted users with the JavaScript console.

Follow4Follow
A "follow4follow", commonly abbreviated as "f4f", is when a user follows another user in exchange for being followed back. This is a common attempt for fame. Many users disapprove this practice, as it is seen as placing too much emphasis on the number of followers rather than the quality of projects. Some users agree to do follow4follow with another user, only to unfollow them seconds later, simply in order to get more followers. This is not the best practice because it's a form of trickery and isn't the kindest thing to use Scratch for. Many users put notices on their profile mentioning that they won't do f4f.

Follow Bots
Follow bots are applications that attempt to follow a large number of other Scratch members. Follow bots are against the Community Guidelines as they are a form of tricking and spamming the community, and the activity puts a heavy load on the Scratch servers.

Following Studios
Studios can also be followed. To follow a studio, access the studio's page and click the blue "follow" button in the top right corner. Followed studios can be accessed at the "Studios I'm Following" row on one's profile. Studios can also be unfollowed in the same fashion as users. When you are following a studio, you will get messages that read something like "There was new activity in today", then a date. The studio will be a link to its Activity page.

Following Topics
Topics in the discussion forums can also be followed by clicking the "follow discussion" button in the top right of a topic and unfollow by pressing the "unfollow" button, just like with everything else. When one follows a topic, they get notifications whenever a new post is created in that forum topic.