It’s been said before but I’d like to say it again. There should be separate ratings for Models and Print Profiles.
Sometimes the Print Profile is trash but the model is great, and if I make my own print profile I’m very happy with it. In this case I would like to leave a positive review for the model and a negative review for the profile.
Sometimes the uploader of the model lies about what it’s features are, but the print profile itself is good and it printed fine. This is what prompted me to come here today.
Because the points people get for the “High Quality Print Profile” recurring rewards, people get VERY touchy about negative print profile reviews and I just had someone blow up on me today because I gave them a 2 star review for labeling something as being a French Cleat mount when it actually screwed into the wall directly.
On a side note, there needs to be some way to report it when this happens and there needs to be something in the Code of Conduct / Terms of Service regarding this. Lashing out at negative reviewers is super immature and not good for the platform.
You appear to notice the difference between the model and the profile, yet you are disappointed that someone complained you rated their profile as a failure when you experienced no such print failure.
It wasn’t what was expected. You should have added this as a comment, not on the print profile/negative ratings as it printed without issue (you didn’t say otherwise), yet you penalised the print quality.
They were not in the wrong (in principle, I have no idea about the content of their response), you were, and I am sure with reflection you will agree.
This is my point. The ONLY way to rate a model badly is to rate the print profile badly. There’s no thumbs down button or rating system for the model itself, and people don’t look at the comments first if it’s 5 stars.
I think that many people confuse this and when they give rating, they rate the model, not the profile. I also received good ratings with the comment that the MODEL is great (usually no one writes about the profile).
At first it might be more confusing but it’s the only good solution.
Design rating system can be misused, us designers already suffering from the level of inexperienced users, just shoving 1 star reviews (as if they are using amazon) on print profile without contacting the creator for the issue 1st, that is because they don’t understand the fundamentals of owning a 3d printer and their printer not being maintained/prepared properly. (only talking about well made TESTED print profiles)
So…the model rating will be simply unfair and unjustified as not everyone share the same taste, that is why there is a like button not a dislike button, you have no idea the amount of haters can just attack you with that just because it is easy to do, to get your design earn less view, downloads, points.
the current system is more than sufficient, good design = a like…not good design = no like and move on (less like will have less interaction from the users).
imagine winning a contest and you get Dislikes from other contestants because they didn’t win, or even raids of dislikes from certain cults or whatever groups who would go against your designs.
I don’t think that the ability to point out issues with a model should be removed entirely just because it could be abused. On that note, I do think that the rating should be entirely for informational purposes and should not tie into any rewards systems or contests so that there would be less incentive for people to use the rating system to hurt a designer. And the same system that’s used to check if a Print Profile has been Printed before allowing a review could be used here to prevent mass down-voting by people who didn’t print the model.
I don’t think that it’s asking too much for a 5 star rating on the model. We already have that on the print profile. It could even be worked into the rating system, like how Etsy has ratings for Quality, Shipping, and Customer Service. When I put up models on MakerWorld, I think of myself as a merchant “selling” my model to the users for the currency of Views, Boosts, Downloads, Prints, and Ratings. If I make good models, and don’t promise what I can’t deliver, I should get rewarded in those currencies accordingly. If I try to scam people, causing them to waste plastic and leaving a bitter taste in their mouth, I would want them to have some recourse.
Your points are not invalidated by what I say next.
Originally, MakerWorld was open to supporting multiple manufacturers and did so. There were point based restrictions back then as well.
Since its launch, MakerWorld has transitioned into a site that services its own user base and not for those with other manufacturers.
Despite the complaints that the points once offered have dramatically reduced, they tend to be more than for other services.
A model upload now is assumed to be from the community of Bambu Lab and aimed towards Bambu Lab customers.
I am an account holder on the AnyCubic offering, it has far more restrictions than MakerWorld, provides less points (which results in earnings) and disqualifies entire categories of models unworthy to receive points, but worthy enough for the service benefitting from their presence on the site.
Each service has is pros and cons, you have to decide, as someone without a BL printer, if the cons are worth the pros.
I think users already rate both. If the profile doesn’t work, they rate the profile. If the model prints out fine, then the rating shifts to the model regarding its quality, functionality, usability, user experience, style, etc. One can see this 2-step thought process when the rater includes comments.
In a way, this works for the purpose of ensuring good user experience. An upload of a bad model doesn’t deserve a good rating even if the print profile works. On the other hand, if the print profile doesn work then the upload doesn’t deserce a good rating even if the model is fine, because the user has wasted time and filament.
It seems like users have made the rating about the overall user experience, instead of print profile or model separately.
A print profile is intended for the less experienced user.
Experienced users may download it but then make adjustments because they need more walls, aren’t happy with the infill or whatever.
The normal “I want to print this now” user - possibly using the mobile app - is unlikely to differentiate between a model and a print profile (experience value).
If a user can distinguish between the model and the print profile after a while, they don’t really need the print profile anymore - except for convenience.
Being able to evaluate the model requires a certain amount of experience, which the standard user does not have for the most part.
There is a clear rating for models, derived from the number of downloads and the number of prints. Such rating clearly differentiates between interesting, good quality models and less valuable models. I would say the system as it is works very well and is fine tuned.
You actually can. Points for print profile alone are low. Print profiles however give models far more ability to be printed. That’s why I still think people posting print profiles on models without them are of service to both model author and the platform itself (except profile leeches)
It’s a broader problem - On makeronline (anycubic’s site) they accept AnycubicSlicerNext profiles, the Orca ones aren’t respected as much and trying to use BS profile gives the same results…
Personally, I think that since all of them have common root in Slic3r and expecially since Bambu studio is a fork of Prusa Slicer, Orca is for of Bambu Studio and AnycubicSlicerNext is reskin of orca with added networking for anycubic cloud, all model sharing sites as well as slicers themselves be backwards compatible: for example a basic model with default profile done in BambuStudio 2 should be as easy to open in PrusaSlicer as native prusa 3mf and vice versa as long as tehre aren’t any incompatible settings and in case there are - then user should be just informed about that. Maximum compatibility is great.
(sidenote: IMHO anycubic shouldn’t have done orca reskin, they should instead contribute profiles and networking code to orca, similarly to elegoo. Elegoo slicer is pretty much 1:1 with orca with exception of basic branding)
This is contrary to your point 1 - you CAN earn points but is just slightly less. Again - people providing print profiles for not their models are providing a service to model authors as well as the platform (and they can be so kind to share points with model author).
Likely because they are not all feature identical, there will be some that are far behind studios build and some that are ahead of it, so its easier to set a version that is always the default especially when they control that codebase
Yes it sucks that you can’t use orca but i just work in orca then import the models in to BS and go from there to upload it
If you don’t own Bambu you can’t earn points on models
For what its worth I was able to earn enough points for a P1S entirely by posting models and profiles built on my old Ender 3. It is certainly a bit harder as most users are looking for ready to go Bambu profiles, but not impossible by any means.
Both of these metrics measure the part BEFORE printing. Say it says it’s a robot arm. The pictures are of a robot arm. There is a BOM of motors to purchase. But you print the models, using 1-2 entire rolls of filament, and then there’s nowhere to attach the motors too. The parts themselves printed fine. They are strong, well supported, and would function correctly except that they are missing a vital feature.
As a user, I would download and print before discovering this.
You can download bambu studio for free and just chuck your model in and export a profile with standard settings, thats what most creators do anyways.
It should work 90% the time. The only thing is you have to do is check the box for “I testested this print profile” when you in fact did not.
I would bet more then half the print profiles on MW are 100% stock, the next 30% are just the guys who think they are smart to change the infill to gyroid, and maybe 20% put some thought in it and have the skill to make good profiles.