As we know, Makerworld is facing the problem of large-scale illegal score brushing. The impact of this is far-reaching. Although Bambu handles reports very quickly, relying solely on player reports cannot fundamentally solve the problem. Do you have any way to solve this problem? Everyone can talk about their own methods. Here are some of my opinions.
Firstly, it is important to understand the reasons behind the large number of people illegally obtaining points. That's right, it's the point redemption gift card system, which can earn very lucrative profits. So far, there are mainly two illegal methods, one is to upload garbage models and download them using other accounts or scripts. Another way is to steal high-quality works from others. Therefore, the root of the problem lies in how to prevent script proliferation and how to protect copyright. Protecting copyright is very difficult because it is difficult for us to determine whether it is a theft, unless the model is very well-known. But I have some ways to prevent script flooding.
I think the fundamental reason for the proliferation of scripts is that Makerworld’s account registration mechanism is too simple. It only requires an email to complete registration, without binding a phone number or requiring real name authentication. This provides very convenient conditions for the proliferation of script programs. My friend was maliciously attacked by a script user due to reporting illegal users in the community, causing his model to be downloaded 12K times overnight, resulting in my friend’s account being banned. From my friend’s experience, we can see that the users of these scripts have already registered tens of thousands of makerworld accounts, which is very terrifying. Therefore, I think the best way to prevent scripts is to increase the difficulty of registering a makerworld account, such as using a mobile phone number for registration. If points need to be exchanged for gift cards, an additional KYC process needs to be carried out, and manual review needs to be added for point redemption gift cards. This will curb the proliferation of script programs from the source.
If the value of points is reduced or points redemption is cancelled, it is not conducive to the development and expansion of Makerworld, and it is also unfair for creators who strive to create.
Unlike “download” points, which will only be calculated once, “print” points can be obtained continuously. This bug is used to illegally obtain points. Please face this problem.
Strongly Agree. In the past few days, I have reported several people who use scripts to obtain rewards. One guy got close to 1k downloads in a few hours, and another guy posted 120 of the same model, and while he was farming downloads, his account was wiped out.
These two were the stupider kind - something that would have been easy to spot. But this shows that organizations that provide rewards farming services have already registered a large number of accounts.
Therefore, it is necessary to set up thresholds to deal with these bots/farmers.
Do remember that innocent people can easily get caught in the cross fire. The accounts you mentioned quite possibly are just someone new to 3d printing and were selected as an account to “test/probe” the system with a download script by someone else. Most nefarious people are smart enough to not test on their own account.
Any new account that wants to redeem points should have to be manually verified/approved for the first few times. A lot of these people would get cut at the knees at that point. They are trying to sneak in quick, grab a gift card before they get reported, and get out.
To that extent, I might venture to say that for redeeming points for gift cards, the makerworld account should be linked to the bambu store account directly.
It could help with a few things. People couldn’t just farm 20 accounts for one gift card each, because they wouldn’t be able to combine them in any meaningful manner. It would also create another point of verification. Like the system could look and go, oh, this account is new, no orders on the bambu store, but tons of points being generated on the user account, maybe we should flag this.
I’m going to flush this thought out a little further.
Like I said, any new account that wants to redeem points should have to be manually verified/approved, for let’s say, 2 times! On top of that, I think the review period should be a mandatory 7 days. Meaning that when you submit your first gift point redeem request, Makerworld staff don’t even look at it until 7 days later. That’s 7 days for any shady behavior to be reported by the community. At the end of that 7 days, a Makerworld staff member looks at the account, at the objects that generated the points, and any reports on the account made by the community.
Now, I said 2 times! So if you have enough points saved for 2 gift cards, you’ll have to go through that process two times, fully, before being able to redeem them both, even if you have all the points at the same time.
This process might be a little annoying to some, but in the long term it’s not that big of a deal. Nothing should be so mission critical that one can’t wait the 7-14days it’d take to get fully through that process. Beyond that normal mechanisms would apply, so as long as you’re in good standing you can redeem all you need.
I know it has already been mentioned in the forums and a few sites i use have them as a mandotory form for logging in, Captchas work well against bots.
Anti vpn / proxy site scripts also work very well if the server allows them
These wild ideas are going too far. Implementing such stringent procedures would seriously impact the vast majority of users.
The current model works well as it is. This is what makes MakerWorld attractive to designers.
Let’s stop teaching the moderators how to do their job. This is a high tech company that is fully capable to find the optimal solutions for keeping all of us happy.
They do not need strange and dangerous ideas like the one quoted above.
BL could do whatever they want to stop illegal farming but they should not impact the legit users in any way.
I just uploaded a design that I put some effort into, and within minutes it was buried under dozens of spam uploads and stolen designs on the “New Uploads” page. There are some more complex new designs waiting to be uploaded here - but that won’t happen if nothing changes.
“Attracted” are currently particularly spammers and copyright violaters.
How would it stop legit users, to require a manual review for the first two gift card point redemptions? Anyone can still participate, it’s just that your first two redemptions will need to be approved. These are rewards, not income. There should be no reason that it is a problem to wait a grace period of 7 days for each of those first two transactions. Again, that would ONLY be for the first two transactions, and beyond that, it’d just function as it does now.
I just uploaded a couple of new designs myself. The new uploads are coming in so fast! They are already buried. Feels like the only way to gain traction is contest eligible designs.
Most people find models by searching not browsing. I never look at the newly uploaded models, since there is a very small chance I would need any of them.
When I need to find a model to fulfil a specific need, I use the search function.
Do not be upset if your last uploaded model is quickly moving down the list. It is normal. The same thing happen on all the other sites.
I’m not sure they are actually being nefarious but perhaps this was part of their plan anyway.
Create makerworld to coincide with the release of the A1 mini AMS.
Create or allow thousands of spam accounts to flood makerworld, so the platform seems to have many more users than its rivals.
An overly generous points system initially to get more genuine members to join up (FOMO).
Slowly making small changes to address clear violations and ways users are gaming the system for points.
In the end, whether it’s genuine users using a few points to buy gift cards to help purchase another printer, or AMS, or if it’s bots doing it, sales are sales. They are making so much money they wouldn’t care if 1000 printers were given away a month at a loss. Each one they get into the public is only going to increase their market share.
Perhaps BL created these spam accounts themselves.
Just like shopping in a retail environment, being able to browse peacefully is a great thing. The spam in this case is way out of control and needs some hard and fast moderation now, at the very least the next update should have some of the above suggestions included.
If everyone just used the search function the Trending feed would be full of poop bins and splitters Very few of my downloads are from the popular sections, I love to see new stuff and find it refreshing to see how 3d printing is branching into so many parts of our lives.
The uploads (or at least uploads and participating in the reward program) could require more verifications like a phone number, or a phone number + must have bought something from the Bambu store. The latter would also provide a shipping address that the gift cards could be personalized to.
Very few of my downloads are from the popular sections, I love to see new stuff and find it refreshing to see how 3d printing is branching into so many parts of our lives.