Eng:Contact Us

The Contact Us page is a form that allows Scratchers to contact the Scratch Team via email for more serious or private concerns. A link is found at the bottom of each page of the Scratch Website. It asks for your email, a subject, and the message, along with an optional category. The Scratch Team receives many messages each day and may not always respond quickly.

Structure
The Contact Us page is very short and to-the-point. It consists of a small description noting that the Scratch Team only has a small team to answer so many questions on time. It then contains a search bar for searching the forums prior to asking a question. This is so the ST is not contacted for a question already previously answered on the forums. The page provides links to forums where help can also be asked instead of the private contact.

Near the lower portion is a drop-down menu for selecting a topic on why the contacting is occurring. It contains the following options:
 * Report something inappropriate
 * Report a problem with the website
 * Other

After an option is selected, other prompting boxes appear below on the Webpage. This consists of a text box for:
 * The user's email address
 * The subject of the message
 * The message

The message already consists of metadata at the bottom so the Scratch Team can be aware of who is contacting them and user's computer specifications. This helps the Scratch Team conclude a possible solution to any problem the user may have. When the information is properly entered and checked over, hitting "Send" will deliver the message to the Scratch Team; a response will be given at the user's email address.

Uses
You should contact the Scratch Team if:
 * You lost your password or had it stolen
 * You need to report extreme inappropriate behavior that has not been handled (see also: reporting)
 * You have questions (e.g. Can I sell my Scratch projects?) that cannot be answered on the forums
 * Any other communication that needs to be private between you and the Scratch team (e.g. I'd like to visit the media lab on my next trip to Massachusetts)

When not to Use It
Any communication which does not exclusively need the Scratch Team's opinions should be posted on the forums. Communication that needs the attention of a Scratch Team member but is not necessarily private (e.g. there is a typo on page 15 of the manual) could be posted as a comment on a Scratch Team member's profile. Alternatively, post on the forums, and report the post with an explanation like "Could an ST member look at this please?".

Bans
The ban page shows a special contact page, used for requesting to be unbanned. It is preferable to use this page than the ordinary contact page for appealing bans because the message is sent to a different email address of the Scratch Team. When you are banned, you can send an email to appeals@scratch.mit.edu.