Suggestion for Improved Rating System

[ozarkexpeditions]

I saw someone complaining about unfair ratings here, Facebook, Reddit, etc. and while I’ve been quite fortunate to not receive many low ratings I just wanted to jot down a suggestion for discussion. What are your thoughts on this idea?

To enhance the fairness and accuracy of the rating system for designs on MW, I propose the following update:

Rating Visibility Policy:

1. Minimum Ratings for Visibility of Poor Ratings:
• Any design that receives a poor rating (3 out of 5 stars or less) should require at least two ratings before the low rating is displayed publicly.
• If a design has only one rating that is 3 stars or less, the rating will not be displayed. Instead, the design will be marked as “Not enough ratings.”
2. Displaying Positive Ratings:
• If a design receives a single rating of 4 or 5 stars, this rating will be displayed immediately.
• Designs with fewer than two ratings (unless the first rating is 4 or 5 stars) will show “Not enough ratings.”
3. Displaying Ratings with Multiple Reviews:
• Once a design accumulates two or more ratings, the average rating will be displayed regardless of whether they are high or low.

Rationale:
This aims to provide a balanced and fair assessment of each design by preventing a single poor review from disproportionately affecting its visibility. At the same time, it allows positive feedback to be displayed immediately, encouraging more users to download and review the design.

Benefits:

• Encourages balanced feedback and reduces the impact of potentially biased or anomalous ratings.
• Protects designers from unjustly low ratings due to isolated issues while promoting positive feedback.
• Provides users with a reliable and accurate indication of design quality.

This proposal ensures that the rating system on MakerWorld more accurately reflects the quality of the designs, encourages positive feedback, and provides a fair platform for designers. I know other users have suggested there should be a rating on the model itself, but I love keeping that simple with likes to promote positivity. Cheers,

[VictorLagina]

good idea sadly some people abuse this system as well by deliberately rating a design low as a form of revenge

[MalcTheOracle]

Mixed messaging

The captioning for the reviews needs to reflect the same for users and designers, right now they do not.

If a designer gets a 3-star rating, this represents a problem with the print as shown in the additional information they are asked to provide, yet, almost always fail to provide it. The designer gets no points as MW believes 3-stars to be a failure. So why does the user read “Average”, not “problem”?

Knock-ons

In truth, MW expects designers to maintain a 4 or higher average score or points are no longer awarded. This isn’t a revenue issue, this is a messaging issue.

The messaging for the user and the designer should be the same, as it stands, it is not.

Reality

The rating system only rates print profiles and not models. Most users believe it is for models, you can read this in the few times people bother to write anything.

80% of the time I get written ratings, that are positive, getting meaningful information in a report that shows actual feedback that helps fix a problem is a rarity.

If someone flags an issue, a photo and description must be provided or the report must be ignored otherwise it is pure fantasy as it has no useful or relevant information.

Ratings can’t be improved without feedback. The existing system does nothing to provide that. It is liable to abuse.

When I spend days printing various ways to fine-tune the outcome, the likelihood of a print profile I create failing on the user’s side is remote. This means I need to determine the non-profile-related problem the user is experiencing so they can print my model.

Another improvement
The ratings should be split into one for the model and another for the rating.

Screenshots of rating options

[ozarkexpeditions]

That’s a great point, the messaging should be fixed first!

[Bisti]

@MalcTheOracle

The ratings should be split into one for the model and another for the rating.

I second this, is one of my biggest gripes with MW. Very few people realize that the ratings are just for the print profile and very often they actually rate the design. The design is much more subjective and is very easy to get a bad rating on an otherwise perfectly usable print profile.

@ozarkexpeditions I would love to see it implemented. Other websites use a similar system, is nothing new.

A bit tangent to the topic : do you know of any threads that gather suggestions for Maker World ? I would love to start one so that all the suggestions will be in one place and possibly easier to monitor by Bambu Lab employees but I don’t know if it already exists under a different name(as I didn’t find any) or if this will be indeed useful. What do you think?

[MalcTheOracle]

@Bisti

Very few people realize that the ratings are just for the print profile and very often they actually rate the design

I just had another one that rated solely on the design, it clearly printed without issue or they wouldn’t have been able to put the two pieces together.

In this case they forgot to place the object in the container before saying it doesn’t connect, rated the model as poor and ignored the print profile.

• User doesn’t follow instructions
• Gets made and blame the model not themselves
• Rates the model
• Forgets the profile

2 star rating, all because the user failed the first step.

BTW, it was a battery container, they FORGOT TO PUT THE BATTERY IN!!!

I sill believe we need a model rating and a profile rating. I now also believe that once the profile has been rated a few times, maybe once or twice per printer type, it becomes irrelevant. The idea is to make sure it prints correctly, unless the profile is updated, the print-ability will not change in the future.

[VkvitV]

Got a 2 rating today for a cable clip with description “snaps easy”. I tried, but I can’t imagine what exactly the person was unhappy with.
I asked for clarification, but I’m sure there will be no answer. For a couple of hundred downloads and 50 likes, no one complained about anything like that, so it’s suspicious.
I think there should be a requirement for a video explanation for low ratings. If a person is truly confident that the problem is on the author’s side and wants the model to not cause problems for anyone in the future, then this will not be a problem for him. At the same time, such a requirement will cut off those who like to give out low ratings without obvious reasons, because it would be lazy to spend so much effort to make everyone convinced of his guilt.

[MalcTheOracle]

Add it here.

What's the most confusing comment, rating or DM you received?

I just received yet another DM that simply said… can I enlarge it. Ignoring the lack of punctuation, what am I meant to do with that? I am looking forward to the response to the clarification I sought. Some time ago I received this… them good model I responded. me Thank you, which one in particular, you didn’t say? I was proud to receive the reply. them I don’t know

Do they mean “snaps easily” into place or “snaps easily” onto the cable?

The problem with users is they do not value free stuff and can’t be bothered to provide decent feedback.

I believe a photo is required for all negative reports.

The reports are there to serve three purposes.

1. Tell the world it worked.
2. Tell the designer it failed so they can fix it.
3. Get a fix to the user.

The vast majority of negative reports I have seen in the forum and the ones I have received rarely provide sufficient information to help the user get a solution.

If your user believes the cable clips break easily, how are they going to get one from you that doesn’t?

If they are say it works so well it snaps easily into place, how will people know that is what they meant?