I am just getting started with modelling and releasing my models on Makerworld. And I have experience Users rating my models poorly because of print failures that has nothing to do with my model design nor print profiles.
What I have done is to report those ratings and Bambu Lab has been kind enough to remove them. But I am hoping to prevent these users from venting their frustrations on other model designers.
The idea I come up with is to ban these users from downloading models from my collection. Over time as these users get ban from other designers’ collections, hopefully, they would learn not to go around giving unjustified poor ratings.
EDIT: I have been notified that the Blocked/Banned functionality prevents the user from further rating or commenting the models. So yes, that immediately address the issue of users abusing the rating system.
But since I cannot delete this topic, I thought it would be a good discussion point to give Designers the control/feature to ban users from downloading other models from the designer collection. Sort of another feedback mechanism to users abusing the rating system. I do no think it is necessary but be good to hear your thoughts on it.
I think you are suggesting DRM and this is (a) not going to work and (b) will make you very unpopular. Unless you mean preventing users from posting comments on your models, which is a different thing.
EDIT You could put the models behind a paywall, of course; that should prevent unauthorized access.
You can ban users from commenting, rating and DMing you. That makes them able to print your stuff, but not rate it.
Also - Bambu and MakerWorld are user-focused, not designer-focused and from their perspective it’s designer’s taks to make models as printable as possible, that’s why there’s profile rating system in the first place!
Nope. It is not DRM on the model because the model can be share after downloading. The direct effect of banning users is to prevent download of the model via Makerworld and eventually commenting and rating.
The banned user can probably get the model from someone or somewhere else.
The Banned Users system prevent users from contacting you but not interacting with your models.
Reporting Users alone depends on Customer Service reviewing the comments and is not as scalable as Designers directly acting on users, whom are abusing the rating system. Besides, it gives Designers more control and help attract and retain Designers.
Essentially, there is merit to the feature request.
Google shows 12 ads when trying to look for anything and looking for anything about ban on makerworld on google shows reddit spam and some drama, nothing relevant. Care to link actual useful documentation?
Giving designers the tools to ban anyone from giving unfavorable reviews kind of breaks the points of reviews. The level of control you’re talking about can easily be abused to suppress valid criticism and reviews because the designer’s feelings got hurt.
That’s not to say all negative reviews are completely valid. People certainly leave low star reviews for all sorts of dumb reasons that are their own fault. That’s part of the reality of life though and what we all have to deal with. When we try and control everything though, I think it just works to degrade the trust we build.
The trust I have in reviews has degraded over the years because of things like this. I think about that with Amazon; especially on certain products. Where it’s the sort of seller that’ll bribe you with a 20 dollar gift card to change your 2 star review. People are so obsessed with controlling the message that it just erodes trust for everyone.
I think about that on Makerworld here too. So often people work to try and get lower than 4 star reviews removed… and so I don’t know. The star ratings people leave start to become meaningless.
Are you sure that it is not? That statement alone did not specify. Dr_Operator however found a release note that stated that banning someone does prevent further ratings.
i think you are showing how you block someone on the community, if you open a user profile and block there (on the three dots), then they stop being able to comment / rate
Dear Josh-3D, thank you for your thoughtful feedback. It helps to be able to engage in constructive discussions on how to solve problems.
Like you mentioned, reviews are not trustworthy as it can be manipulated. However, I believe there need to be a level of control or feedback to Users abusing the rating system.
Giving Model Designers some level of control would be helpful as the ratings are tied into their earnings. Particular if Makeworld wants to grow the platform where Model Designers can earn their living off it, like Youtube Creators.
My primary objective is to give Model Designers the confidence that their work are respected and that they can rely on the Makerworld Platform.
As to the meaningfulness or trustworthiness of star ratings, that is another discussion.
