Hi everyone,
I’ve noticed that many models use contests to gain a visibility boost since contests tend to draw a lot of attention. However, the current penalty system isn’t much of a deterrent if a model becomes popular afterward through the trending section.
A small change that could further reduce false entries: If a model is removed from a contest due to being a false entry, it should also be blacklisted from the trending section. This would have a greater impact on the authors’ models when they deliberately enter contests just to draw attention.
What do you think?
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Let’s assume that the points and the contests, and the boosts have one main goal, and that is to incent people to add/create content for Maker World. Your suggestion of punishing ‘contributors’ kind of goes against this goal. If someone adds an item to contest that is out of theme, but is generally well received by users of Maker World, then this seems like a success towards the main goal? Now, Maker World, does have to be careful about integrity, and ensuring majority don’t have negative experience because of perceived abuses. But end of day, the consumer decides, and as long as people visit, download, print, buy filament…, then, I suspect, all is good in the eyes of the powers that be.
The mistake I think we make, as designers, is we assume that there is more to the points, contests, boosts, etc. than this.
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Hey @evets17, thanks for your thoughtful reply.
From a business perspective, I think the main goal is to encourage people to buy filament, parts, and printers, and to grow the platform by driving conversions in these areas.
That being said, it’s important to consider that there are human resources involved in cleaning up contests from false entries, as well as the frustration of participants who put time and effort into creating models, only to see others abusing the contest.
There is already a penalty system in place to reduce frustration, minimize the necessary effort, and keep contest entries aligned with the theme. I believe this is the right approach. There are rules in place, and you have to play by them or face disqualification. I also believe that taking drastic measures, like deleting models, would not be beneficial to the platform and its goals.
A good model will still generate downloads if people search for it; it will only lose the opportunity to go “viral/trending.” Getting a model on the trending page is a significant boost for visibility. We also see many models achieve this without abusing contests to gain attention.
If the goal is to grow the platform, we must also protect it from fraud and ensure that those who play by the rules are not frustrated. This ensures the platform keeps being trustworthy.
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Hi Benjamin, we appreciate the fact that you realize the biggest drive behind our punishments is to provide a fairer ground for participants who put time and effort into creating models that stick to our contest theme. Under current circumstances, we believe a tougher approached is required to those who intentionally abuse our system. Thanks for your great advice and thanks for always being a contributing member to our community.
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