Heya! My name's GLaDOSPotato, but you can call me Nick. Or Nicolas, if you'd prefer. I used to be really active on this website, but around three years ago, I suddenly left and didn't really say much or give reasoning. Since Scratch helped me through a really weird time in my life, and was honestly a really big stepping stone to who I am today, I thought I owed you all a better explanation than that. That's what I'd like to do with this project, and I hope you enjoy hearing me ramble on about my opinions on the site's state, and how it helped me when I was younger. Although this current account was only started in 2021, I've been using Scratch since I was eight, around Summer 2018. As you can imagine, the website has changed quite a bit since then. I was fortunate enough to begin my journey at what I would personally deem the golden age of Scratch. At that time, the Slatch Saga was just wrapping up, TNTsquirrel was gaining some traction, and Dhilly was making some of his best animations. As previously mentioned, I believe I had quite a few accounts before this one, but my first real project where I actually tried (Although it really doesn't seem like it, watching it back today) was released in May 2021 on this account. Back then, I was a bit of an odd kid. I didn't have many friends at our homeschool co-op, I spent most of my time inside and playing with LEGO sets or something, and I was failing with most of my school classes. Scratch offered me a place where I could connect and engage with other kids my age, all the while learning life skills like programming and vector designing. It was a neat escape, and I loved seeing the creativity of the vast community. Around Summer of that year, I got my first big break and had one of my animations featured on the front page by the FPC program. I was overjoyed. Although watching that animation today, it seems really stupid and nonsensical, I thought it was great at the time, and it inspired me to continue to make projects for the next few years. After that, I tried out a few things like making a continuation of the Scratch Saga (Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different times. All canceled. I had a habit of biting off more than I could chew,) starting my own Scratch newspaper (Big thanks to GAcademy07 for putting up with me and helping with that by the way, he's great,) and creating my own ARG series, Gobomart (Which I still get notifications of people commenting on to this day, that's probably my most famous project surprisingly.) So, why did I leave? Well, simply put, life got in the way. I tried to learn different software and skills that would be more beneficial to a long-term career, I started making and interacting with some real-life friends, and I tried to find what I was passionate about. Scratch had served its purpose in my life and helped me find my place in the world, and I cannot be more grateful for the memories and friends I've made with my time here. As of this project, I'm a 14-year-old Freshman in High School whose studying trial and video editing. I'm hoping to graduate with a degree in law, but I'm not entirely sure yet. In my freetime, I enjoy talking with my amazing friends and beautiful girlfriend, playing old shooter games like Bioshock and Half-Life, golfing, and filmmaking. Regarding my opinion on the site nowadays, I feel like Scratch has sort of lost its charm. The majority of the projects on the front page are either copy-paste slop, or odd Japanese projects (Which I don't really understand why they're plastered all over the explore page, if someone knows the answer please tell me) and I think that a extreme lack of originality is plaguing the website. Not to say that good projects don't exist anymore, they're just very hard to come by. I'm very grateful for my time on Scratch, and I just thought I'd like to make one official 'last' project that actually felt like one. I made a lot of friends here, and if you're one of them, just know that I'm really grateful you personally helped me out at a time in my life when I needed it. That's all folks, Potato.
