One Graphic says it best. It isn’t a point redistribution, it is a point elimination.
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Just got an idea for a new model. A bridge! It’ll be perfect for everyone on here, it’ll help them get over it already.
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No, don’t make a bridge. You would be contributing to the mass exodus as the people jump from it.
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its still in beta and they said its a work in progress they had to dial it back before the bots and scammers bankrutpted them… some of you had it easy cashing in some of us were happy to get anything free, glad i do it for fun and not a financial gain…
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Or perhaps a model of a brick of cheese to go with all the wine? BTW, I miss the gold stars…
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This was to be expected. This is classic Internet marketing 101. Make the incentive high to bring in the product (the people are the product in this case). Once you have the sheeple feeding from the trough, you gradually close off the gates of hell, allowing for a painful retreat, if any. Remember back in the day when you could ask Google a question and get a good answer? Now you have to wade through 10 pages of ads first. This is the same tactic, although quicker than I’ve ever seen it before. Clearly, the Makerworld marketing budget ran dry. You didn’t think all those freebies were free, did you?
Drug dealers use a similar tactic, “The first one is always free” 
Also, you see this in MMO games. The early payouts are often rich as the goal is to build a fanbase. Same is true for new Las Vegas Casinos. New Casino slot machines always pay highest in the first few weeks of opening day.
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Seems like overall activity on the platform is way down, feels way less lively now
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I use ad block, havent waded through ads since 2000
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True, but also factor in the time of year. Spring is in full swing for us northern hemisphere dwellers. My busiest printing time is during the winter months.
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Just saying this isn’t dialing back, this is affectively eliminating the point cost budget. It would be acceptable to me even with an 60-70% dial back. But a 95% dial back is going to leave this place to the ghosts.
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As I added on a different post…
I’ll just add this, these are very valid mindsets:
- Only in it for the points.
- In it for the models and the points.
- Only in it for the models.
Where are they jumping to, I wonder?
I would argue there is more activity, at least on these forums. I used to be able to keep up with every current topic in the MakerWorld category, but not any more.
Yup… Exactly what happened to Thingiverse… It’s a ghost town right?
Wait… Wait… Hold the phone… What was that? Thingiverse is still the busiest 3d model repository and they don’t give out anything in return? Hmmm… That’s not what some random person on the internet led me to believe.
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the old system rewards where never sustainable… they were giving away like 10c a download… would costs billions to fund after a while…
Imagine selling every model for 10c.
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Some might call me a sheeple, but I’m pretty happy. I still rather enjoy Makerworld, 3d printing, and designing. None of the changes with Makerworld has taken away from that. I think people use words like sheeple to hand wave away other people’s happiness when it doesn’t fit their own cynical views. Makerworld’s point system doesn’t define the value or happiness I get out of 3d printing, or why I’m here, or why I enjoy Makerworld.
The only thing that puts a cloud on my Makerworld day is having to wade through all this crying like the world is ending, like Makerworld is sliding off into oblivion. Maybe it is for you, but for me, I’m still having a blast.
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I agree it wasn’t sustainable but not being honest with their designer base is the why people are leaving. Look at Thangs, Printables, Thingiverse, heck even anycubic’s hack of makerworld and you will see the bigger designers here posting new designs over there and nothing here. Yeah they didn’t “private” their collections here, but definitely are not expanding them.
And the point is still made. The point system is essentially gone. Yeah you can get a thing of filament every 2-3 months but isn’t that printables V2? The designers that are looking for more than just a smile and wave from customers, and a platform that is honest, are going and they are many of the top designers.
It took Thingiverse years to get where it is now. And there was a period of being the trash bin of repositories, and having managing company changes before it improved.
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And I run 4 Bambu printers so enjoy being able to send items directly to my printer from the site (While logged in). It sucks that I have to go to other sites to find those designers now and lose the advantage of Makerworld.
@Makerworld needs to stop the bleeding somehow but so far seem to completely ignore the community. That is why I am whining here… Frustration not from me not getting points, but the reasons for the site being created are dying. Community, Communication, Downloads directly to Bambu’s printers, Innovation - All are bleeding and appear to be going completely the wrong way.
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Please provide examples.
This is wrong. I am a designer. I am small time. There are a lot of other, more accomplished designers with more followers, more downloads and more boosts than I.
I forget the exact day that everything changed, but looking at my analytics, April 17th is when my point generation really took a nose dive. That’s almost three weeks ago. Since then, I have earned 621 points and 62 boosts (682 points) or 1303 points total after boost conversion. More than enough for two $55 (Cdn) gift cards from 19 days of earning. Still WAY better than Printables system
If I, a middle-of-the-road-popularity-at-best designer am generating that much here then those top designers you’re talking about are still generating decent points. Certainly more than they would anywhere else that they are uploading for free.
EDIT: Also, on top of modelling a bridge and a block of cheese, I need a model of a sheep with my name shaved into it’s side.
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From my Following list here (just reviewed the first 10 and 1 is you) - may have 1 upload in the month but pretty much stopped uploading:
IXPatch
BeeTee 3d
Picture_it
3DPmom
agepbiz
BT3D printing
like I said, that is 6 of the first 10 on my follow list…
I’m more bothered that:
A) I don’t believe the download numbers at all anymore. It’s nice to see that your model has been checked out and possibly printed even if you get nothing for it.
B) they seem to have reduced the incentives by 90%+ all at once rather than taking it down in steps. pulling back to 10% is fine in the long run but it’s jarring now.
C) They didn’t think about incentivization at all with the boost system which is supposed to be the bone we’re happy with after the huge rewards pullback. Why would a regular user who doesn’t make models bother to use boosts? Even with a small points incentive, most of them are not going to bother to look into how points work.
D) Trading boosts is obviously going to happen and it feels bad that a portion of the rewards is going down that sink
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