If this is a thing, MakerWorld must make a full and public an announcement of this.
@MakerWorld can you share information you have that directly affects your users that you have chosen to keep secret for unknown reasons?
Until MW clarifies what is actually going on, this is what I will believe is happening, especially with models that have earned a decent amount of points. A quick hack/bug/feature to stop the outflow of money. I’m curious if this is only when someone attempts to redeem cash instead of giftcards.
I’ve never redeemed for cash so unlikely in my case.
If that were the case, the points would have been taken away. The only thing that happened so far is that the models are no longer searchable, right? If anything, I am surprised that they have not taken down the models.
It looks to me MW is taking a middle road: making the flagged models unsearchable but stop short of taking them down. Do you ask MW to announce this approach publicly?
Yes.
Their choice directly affects those who have no idea they are being affected or why.
Well, I have an update for everyone. The reduced visibility can definitely be reversed as I have done enough to appease the Payment Service Provider and had the visibility of my Madballs coasters restored under the name SurlySpheres.
I followed the suggestions of the support staff and changed not only the model name, but also the name of any characters in my description, Eye-Sore became Peeper-Pain, etc. I added a line about my model being inspired by a popular 80’s toy line and then I added tags like “fan art” and “unofficial”.
I have no idea what combination of those things are responsible for the restored visibility, but anyone affected should take similar steps with their models and then submit a ticket with support that looks something like this
Only if you know it is happening.
Very true. An official response is absolutely needed.
Wow, this is not a great situation…
The payment processor they use is Airwallex. There is no reason for them to get involved with stuff like this. Their job is to take money from Bambu and give it to us designers based on how much Bambu says (via an API). Their other payment processor, the one who takes money from people for commercial licenses, is probably Stripe. They shouldn’t get involved either, but they at least have some small reason, that they’re helping Bambu sell access to the license to the IP. Both ThisNoise and Dr Operator have commercial licenses enabled. They’re not against selective enforcement, so maybe it’s not related, but it’s possible that their Membership Payment Processor is picky.
Thankfully it looks like my Italian-plumber’s-toothed-fish-plant dice tower, which is my only IP related model, is not affected (not that it matters much as it hardly gets downloads anyways). I don’t have a commercial license enabled.
I do have commercial licenses enabled, and I added a section that I assumed had protected me, but maybe not.
“Please note that this license applies only to my original models and does not apply to any derivative works or remixes published under my account. This license does not apply to any of my models that contain IP that belongs to another company.”
I’m going to contact support about this. I appreciate the PP names. If it’s a situation where commercial licenses are what’s causing the issue, that’s an easy fix. I’d just disable the licenses. I haven’t had a single license subscriber anyway.
Wish I hadnt raised a ticket on this, I’ve earned no points since 
(I only usually get 65-70 a day)
I’m going to bump this as I feel I’ve been heavily targeted for some reason.
I have never withdrawn money as I don’t make that many exclusive points, I have a few unique models.
Anyway, my original hot wheels skadis stand no longer appears in search, remixes do, my Flynns Arcade sign, not in search, others are, the Twin Pines & Lone Pine signs based of BTTF, gone. I’ve had a look & can’t see what I’m meant to change.
When I’m seeing so many others with the same content searchable, including remixes of my own models, it’s pretty disheartening & has really stopped me uploading anything.
Has anyone discovered an actual fix with solid guidelines? About half of my uploads seems unsearchable.
Interesting. I have tried again, the one with the orange car now shows up, the arcade sign does in the search bar but the others still not.
Possiblty account specific based on past searches/clicks?
I do look a bit silly but still a weird one.
I think it is probably how the algorithm works. I see your models in similar spots as Cincinnati. I get frustrated when I look for things I have the exact name for and can’t find them. Happens on occasion but it seems to work itself out strangely.
I’ve noticed a 90% plus drop in my downloads and other metrics vs. same time last year. I’ve got 200+ models, most are very simple kit cards, but a few are office organization things, a couple kid things… none of them are returning in search results. Even the non-IP related ones. And the ones of abstract planes no-one has even heard about don’t show up. I’ve earned consistent enough points up until this year that I’ve been able to get a couple A1s and like 70 rolls of filament since 2024 without paying a penny… maybe I’m on their naughty list? I’ve submitted a ticket including screenshots, so hopefully they don’t further punish me, though, there’s not a lot else they could do.