My models are quite popular on many of the download sites and makers like to post their makes of my models there. When I joined Makerworld to share my models I see the same level of downloads and interest but very few makes are posted.
Points aside (I am not here for points) I find the discrepancy of posted makes interesting. So, I am simply looking for opinions from other designers on this topic and how we can foster the community to load more pictures of makes.
I think Makerworld should award points for adding photos of makes. There would obviously need to be a weekly/monthly limit but it would be an incentive for people to provide useful feedback.
The easiest way to increase makes being posted would be for MakerWorld to incentivize makes with a small amount of points, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that.
Outside of that, maybe a contest of sorts where users have a set period of time, let’s say a month to upload makes, you choose your favourite ten or so and those users get early access to your next design.
That is a very interesting observation. My speculation is that the discrepancy of “user makes” is because people to the Bambu ecosystem are often relatively new to 3d printing where other sites often have a more experienced (in 3d printing) demographic that is accustomed to leaving pictures of items they have printed.
3d printing was at one time only for nerds who liked to show off that they made to other random people on the internet. Now 3d printing is accessible to the general public who don’t necessarily have that same inclination and would rather show off physical prints to friends and family. This is entirely speculation.
Have you found that including wording in the description asking for people to post pictures makes any difference?
I dislike the way the makes/ratings get mixed into the comments. I think part of the issue is the way they present things. It’s not obvious/easy where to post up makes. I don’t like having to do the review process either. I just wanna post makes. This is something that struck me when I signed up for makerworld. I’ve gone through the process since then and have left reviews and all that, but I still find that all of that is way more accessible on printables and thingiverse.
I like on both Printables and Thingiverse how there’s a “Makes” tab under my profile. I like how when I go check out an object, how I can look at the makes specifically, and don’t have to comb through tons of comments.
I noticed because of the point system too, reviews tend to floooooood in on the start of the month, then trickle in until the end.
(Basically this post was a rambling commentary meant to share why I don’t post as many makes on makerworld, and I’d venture to say that others have felt the same. While makerworld does incentivize leaving reviews/makes, it’s still not as easy of a system to engage as other sites in my opinion)
I do not specifically ask for makes to be posted but I am very active in responding to maker comments and always follow-up with something along the lines of “If you have the time, post your pictures of your makes. You may not realize how important it is for the designers to see makes posted”. It’s a two way street, designer post makes for makers to enjoy. So, feedback is important.
Over time, my followers know that I like to see makes posted and I believe that I do see many more makes than other designers. It was just a small shock starting from scratch here in Makerworld.
That would drastically reduce the number of ratings in general. Most people barely care enough to rate as/is much less when they have to jump through hoops to do it.
We do not need that many fake ratings written by people who start a print and stop it after a second, then leave a 1-3 star rating in order to get 3 points.
Does that happen to you a lot? I’ve had a fairly large number of downloads and I only recall getting one 3 star review from someone that had bed adhesion issues.
I still feel like forcing photos is just an unnecessary roadblock. If the model has merit the highs will cancel out the lows.
Thingiverse has no point system at all but makers there post their makes and add helpful comments quite a bit for my models. The conversation here is focused on points, but maybe if Makerworld just made it more obvious that pictures of makes are welcome and important to designers it may help get more makes posted.
In the main model search, a category of recent makes would help. That would highlight want makers are actually making and proud of their prints.
I am also new here, so maybe I’m missing things as well.
I post good and bad pictures of prints, as designer error is an excuse for bad prints,
of which ive only had one , needed a brim/raft + 2hrs adding to print time for some reason , which the designer acknowledged . i believe it may of been on account of machine swapping , P1s to A1 ,
saving print profiles to upload to a users profile aint for everyone. i only need it once
plus i think some have an issue with that practice.