Enforcing Licenses - Print Profiles

I’m adding this to my model (Exclusive):

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Thank you to everyone who has added pictures and print profiles!
Before things get too cluttered, I’d like to remind everyone about the licensing terms and MakerWorld’s rules:

For current and future print profiles, I’d greatly appreciate the following:

Only include modifications that involve coloring, rearranging original parts, or slicer settings. Anything beyond that is considered a remix and, according to MakerWorld’s guidelines, should not be posted here.
Additionally, any scaling will affect the model, even if only part of it is scaled. This leads to two major issues:

It violates the licensing terms.
It makes it nearly impossible to help users who encounter problems because parts may not align properly (and there may be official add-ons in the future…).
I really don’t want to be “that guy,” but adhering to licenses is just part of being an engineer and designer. I also think it’s a good practice, and hopefully, it helps MakerWorld stand out from the rest.

Thank you for understanding!
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Thoughts? My concern is that if we’re too lenient for too long, we might end up in a Boaty-esque situation.

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While the intention is admirable, I doubt it will make a significant impact. People often tend to overlook descriptions.

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It’s well worded and to the point but I think it will be one of those “locks only keep out honest people” type things. There are a LOT of people on MW who have figured out it’s easy to just search for the most popular models and add print profiles, then sit back and wait for the points to roll in.

If you look at most of the top models they have several leech profiles on them that are the same profile the creator uploaded but it’s scaled 5% or something similar just to make the print time appear lower. There’s been several threads here about it but MW hasn’t acted on it.

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makeronline at least made that right, you can delete profiles from your designs, independently of who uploaded them, something makerworld should definitely also implement

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Luckily, for now, nothing sinister in my case—quite the opposite, actually. But I can already see the shadows of future ‘model is garbage, thing broke’ complaints, as we’ve all seen before. Honestly, I didn’t even know you could upload a completely different model!

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Hi, I always have problems with pre-made print profiles, so I no longer use them and will ignore them in the future. I believe that anyone who owns a 3D printer should take the time to learn about it and be able to adjust the slicer settings themselves. It’s simply part of the process. And if someone isn’t willing to do that, they don’t need a 3D printer.

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I don’t really think you’re the target audience for Bambu’s Makerworld, then? That is the opposite of the goal of Makerworld and you’re commenting on a Makerworld forum post.

I believe anybody who owns a car should take a time to learn about it and be able to fix it themselves! It’s simply part of the process. And if someone would rather go to car mechanic they don’t need a car.

How deep into “it’s simply part of the process” do you want to go? “Build your own 3D printer from components purchased from local electronic and hardware shops” or “learn 2 forge your own ball bearings”?

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You’re comparing apples to oranges here. To drive a car, you need a driver’s license, which requires a certain level of basic intelligence, and I don’t think it’s a problem to expect that. After all, it’s voluntary—no one is forced to 3D print.

You also had to learn how to ride a bike at some point; you couldn’t just press a button and have it work. People also learn how to use a smartphone.

I simply don’t see the need for fully automated printing because if you want to use a 3D printer effectively, you’ll eventually have to learn to design something yourself, as there aren’t pre-made templates for everything.

But in the end, it’s everyone’s own choice.

No, I’m just making a point that your stance is silly.

Introducing: electric scooter! a 2-wheel locomotion machine that works at the press of a button!

That’s a bold statement, seeing as 3y olds are capapble of using a smartphone straight out the box…

Bambu sales prove you wrong.

Also… freaking inkjet/laser printers: press [print] out comes document. Why 3d printers need to be different?

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I simply don’t see the need for premade filaments, anyone who wants to use the materials effectively will eventually have to learn how to mix pigments and plastic pellets, process/cure the material correctly, and extrude it accurately if they actually want to get the right colors for their items the way they SHOULD be.

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People don’t read.

I often get “I didn’t know this one worked that way”.

It is written clearly in the second image of every model and twice in the description.

Plus, those adding profiles contrary to your notes and against the rules don’t care what you want, they want the points.

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Fair point, but different people have different skills.
eg, A designer designs a nice vase that takes 8 hrs to print, and a more technical focus 3DP enthusiast made a single wall vase profile that takes 2.5 hrs to print. It’s only together that they make the profile I as a consumer want to print.

MakerWorld rewards both the print profile editor and the designer. If you are good at both, and you know your audience, you get points for both Model downloads and Profile downloads (MakerWorld’s point scheme leans in favour of the designer), each is rewarded according to the point distribution algorithm. As a layperson, the points look more generous than other platforms.

Original Designs, and Remixes are rewarded at different rates too, favouring original creators. Originality, and related copyright, is easy to enforce on MakerWorld, given the different reward screams, and legal violations are just as easy to enforce if they are worth it, (There again there is a threshold for legal enforcement.)

MakerWorld’s point distribution algorithm looks fair to me, so why call them “leaches”, what am I missing? I look at them as contributors.

I do see one problem, as a new user I got points for uploading a random print profile when I had no idea what I was doing, I think users should only be able to upload a print profile to another design once they’ve reached level 7 (aka have a bit of print experience) as a result I tend to favour the designers print profile. The exception is say an RND type endeavour where someone has played around with ABS or some technical material and made a dedicated print profile.

I think the issue a lot of people have is with the accounts that only post a sub-par profile with a minor change, simply for point farming, and it reflects poorly on the design when a mobile app user sees that one profile has a 3 hour print time and the other is 6 hours and they print the one that likely won’t work.

like this one that popped up on my item:

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What you’re missing is we’re talking about two different things. The people I call “leeches” are the people who don’t create models and they don’t create print profiles. They find a model that is very popular, then they reupload the creators print profile (or one of the 3rd party profiles) and they use one of the creators pictures or take a picture from one of the comments/reviews. If they are really creative they photoshop a fake background on the picture they stole or they flip it vertically or horizontally. There are a few tricks you can do to make the print time show as less. Some of them start the name of the profile with “Fastest”, “Official” or “Best” to try to trick people in to using their profile.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear in my post but I (and the OP, I think) weren’t talking about legitimate print profiles.

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Luckily you can report that one because it uses the forbidden word

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I genuinely appreciate the creativity and effort everyone has put into the profiles. I really don’t want to spam here—it’s just to show that I couldn’t possibly create all of these on my own. Variations of coloring on my model:


I made a “blank canvas,” and as I’d hoped, others joined in by adding coloring and layouts for printers I don’t have. Awesome!

What if: Option to invite a few people to create high-quality profiles and then lock it down? Naturally, this would include a fair distribution of points. Designer constraints would be met etc. Possible right now by having it private before going public? Sometimes, the devil is in the details, and the designer likely knows them best.

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Ok, got it. Yes, I’ve seen such people.

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OMG, such blatant laziness, I get it. Thanks

Interesting points! I clearly haven’t read/understood the difference between a remix and print profile. I just uploaded a print profile to someone’s project (a dishwasher sign) and all I did was add magnet holes, so I wasn’t sure that was significant enough to be considered a remix.

Granted, the license for this is CCA, but I’m still fairly new and wanted to do the right thing/not step on any toes