I moderated a forum for a while and there we also had some trolls doing unwanted things.
As you can imagine, the more users you have the higher the potential for unwanted comments…
Needless to say you can’t really give a user the rights to remove comments as this also tends to make users abuse this right.
So rather than moderators removing offending comments they spend the same time restoring comments that a topic owner should not have deleted…
Anyway, after all else failed or required far too much time we just started an open assault on our users:
Step 1
New users can only post in the public sections and topics by actually creating a new topic.
Step 2
Implementation of a quality/quantity check system.
After a few topics created the user moved up in the ranking to allow commenting on other topics.
At first fully moderated though, meaning a mod or the topic owner would have to approve the comment first to make it visible to the public.
Two warnings, then a ban for the offending user.
Hard but required.
Step 3
By also including a reputation that lifts the status of a user based on topic/post count, likes and how often a comment or topic was rated by users to be helpful it all became more or less self cleaning.
Those highly regarded users would get a more comprehensive editor and not just the standard one but also the right to edit the comments of other users.
Their change would be visible right away but the user in question and the moderator team would get a notification about it - allowing the team to step in if required.
Did it solve the problem of trolling, fake accounts and users creating new account to keep the abuse running?
Of course not but over time it reduced to a very acceptable level and these days you have a hard time finding offending posts.
You can’t eliminate bad habits and behaviours…
All you can try is to limit them or their impact on others.
Maybe all we really need is a forced cooling off period for all users below a certain status - maybe defined by how many models the contributed or such.
Give their posts 24 hours and also the weekend before they turn visible to the general public.
Send a notification the the creator that he shall check a new comment.
If found offensive it can be tagged, with that it stays invisible until a moderator checked it out.
Means you have to check things first and that can be a lot to check if you uploaded a ton of models - still beats the alternative if you ask me…
I think it’s a good idea, among other things there is already a user level system that is not used by Makerworld and usually the comments of the trolls have a profile with a level from 8 and below (I suppose because it is quite easy to get to level 8 without interacting)
Problem is costs due to the required man power unless Bambu promotes a bunch of long standing and active users to step in and help.
They already did similar here in the forum if I am not fully mistaken.
Bigger problem is a proper integration of a new system that won’t have a negative impact on the good users and new users.
Sure, the ticket system is there to get help but we all know that it can be a painfully slow process and that it highly depends on how competent the support person is.
Imagine you just got your new printer ready and encounter a problem you can find solved here already.
Only to find out that what for you is a very urgent cry for help might become visible a few days later before it happens to be Friday evening and everyone left the office already.
Not good…
You can’t have both high quantity and high quality in a community based online place without also having a massive oversight.
I think Bambu is well past the point of where man power alone and just report button is enough based on the volume of new posts/comments and new models.
Change has to and will come (eventually).
Most likely in the form of more automation and AI control.
A word detection is already used here to automatically replace offensive words like sh!t with a place holder.
A first step could be to extent this detection list by including the words and phrases commonly used by these trolls.
Once detected nothing at all happens that would be visible to the possible offender.
For him or here their comment would be visible as usual but for no one else.
Their post/username is automatically flagged and if found offensive dealt with accordingly, up to banning the banning the user and their IP address if it is fixed one.
Later, once the AI learned and observed enough, most of this, if not all could done through AI controlled bots.
Like a remote controlled moderator with the AI holding the remote.
Delete/change the post, warn/ban the user, provide a meaningful reason to the offending user, case closed.
And an AI used as a bot patrol system wouldn’t have too much issues learning to detect and deal with unwanted AI generated models, pictures or model discriptions
I guess if would ask 100 users who are in the game long enough you can get 100 different and equally good suggestions to make things better.
In the end though it all comes down to Bambu getting pro-active and to start making things better.
Ask yourself when the time would be when Makerworld and what can be seen or found there has a higher importance than sales.
Until that time comes for Bambu any change comes with costs that need to be justified first.
Maybe if we keep bumping this topic enough Bambu will stumble upon it and reveal what, if any, plans in this regard they might have.
I don’t even know if Bambu has at least something in place that counts how often or how frequent a users gets reported to impose sanctions or limitations.
If you just download the STL files, which you can do from MW, you also wouldn’t count as printing the model as you have to use the supplied 3mf in order to be counted, so thats also not even really a viable option
Maybe option 2 is Ok. I print a few models from makerworld but I often compliment people on their designs / skills and even boost models without printing. I browse MW often looking for something to print, and get inspiration for things I want to design. One example is the M3 mechanical bolt sorting machine, after many iterations of trying to dispense a single peanut from a hopper. His method works great, and now I can finally get to the rest of my “clever pet” clone. My dog will be very happy soon
Yeah. That made be realize, this is what I was recalling earlier: #1 Prevent those who do not print the model from commenting which I think would lock out LAN mode users since those prints aren’t verified. Unless I’m mistaken that must have been what I was reacting to initially, duh.
But I think the #2 option to let the listing author delete junk comments on their listing is perfectly fine.
And we could suggest a #3 option - let the author of the listing ban annoying users from posting, for some long (expiring) time period. (Expiring because maybe that person decides to stop being rude some day. ) That could be overcome with another account, but it raises an extra barrier of inconvenience.
This, because it will also stop those who have not printed their own model from using an alternative account to make a complimentary comment to trick other users into thinking a user has successfully printed the model.
Here’s an idea, since it seems that a lot of model makers refer to the model being printed being a requirement for posting a comment or such.
The 3MF format supports protection of the content.
All vital things encrypted.
That also allows for a low level of ‘tracking’ things a user does with the file.
In theory Bambu could implement these existing 3MF features to make the export of stolen 3MF files much harder but also to get sort of a flag working.
A downloaded model actually printed results in a flag in that users user profile to be set - like a confirmation.
Not visible to anyone but regulating for example who can and can’t comment on a model.
Or in a less exclusive way add a little symbol or icon to the post indicating the user did not complete a print of this model.
Bambu didn’t invent the 3mf format, its pretty much an open standard so in order to maintain interoperability i doubt they are going to start encrypting portions of it
Its literally just a 3d modelling version of a .zip file, you can straight up open the file and take out whatever you want
) That could be overcome with another account, but it raises an extra barrier of inconvenience.