This is just a small explanation for what in my opinion the “Boost” function on Makerworld is actually for.
So it is NOT to support the very popular designers and popular downloads. They will get their point regardless of boost since they are very popular.
The Boost is for the niche designer. Lets say you have an '67 Buick and you need an actuator arm for the climate system that is not sold anymore anywhere. But you go on makerworld and you find someone who designed that exact specific actuator arm already for you to download… That person will never gain lots of points on a design like that. THAT is what the Boost is for! To show apreciation to designers that otherwise would never gain any points…
At least that is my thoughts about it. Let me know if you agree.
Pretty much how I’m using them, I figure popular models are getting rewarded fair enough. The niche models that have a few d/l’s but hit the spot need some benefit beyond a glowing review. Its a shame this isn’t highlighted. I browsed the trending feed this morning and saw a great many boosts around the top end of town, a few pages down and virtually zip.
I think it’s irrelevant if this is the purpose or not. The people will just spend them as they like. As seen in the other topic, for example, they spending their boosts on the Bambu Lab profile. Doesn’t make sense, but it’s up to them.
This of which you stated is EXACTLY what we (2 others and myself) do as “Protospyre LLC”.
We solely sought out and marketed that we could make anything. Investing in 3D printers was a cheaper method for a start up in which we’ve never needed a business loan or investors to gain capital and buy the things we’ve needed. Bambu Labs did make that possible at a relatively low low cost versus what most do here in the PNW, build a machine shop.
So although there’s limitations with FDM we catered to that “They don’t make em anymore” statement and advanced from doing so. This is exactly why I (Cody) modeled that (4-to-1) myself. I reached out to the facebook group to see whoever owned the bambu labs official 4-to-1 adapter and if they would send me some rough basic dimensions of it. I had 1 actual response in which he went above and beyond and sent me a rough model. I mean it was nice but very rough like I received it as a mesh body so basically ended up having to reconstruct the whole thing and by the time I finished that it didn’t look anything like bambu’s besides the face of being square & having a protruded diameter towards the printer head.
I’m getting a little off topic but its goes with what you’re saying i promise. I didn’t plan to upload it on MW. It was for the Sunlu S4 filadryers we ordered which was supposed to solve our loading/drying processes for the P1P’s but then I couldn’t order the dang BL adapter… literally since it was released, kept getting emails with misleading notifications saying back in stock then I’d instantly click and bam its out… I didn’t wait days afterwards, literally received the email and it was gone. SO being fed up of the loading these printers needed I made it myself and went oh hey, maybe I’m not the only one who could benefit from this plus if they truly want they can buy the official one later on…
So all in all I’d like to say “That’s me!” anyone can get a quick up an ready to go adapter that’s functional via makerworld. Even now it’s out of stock again also…
I’m not sad I wont receive 20 gift cards from it because I truly wanted to just solve the constant issue of BL’s product shortages. I received 2 boosts total and both went to that model.
The way you described how it was intended to be used is how it was probably thought of by MW. Will it be used like that? idk. but it doesn’t look like it is so far… What it looks like is a thumbs up, but with a $ symbol attached.
I do have 1 question though, I don’t recall seeing a rule stating a limit/cap to how many boosts a user can give to another…
When you boost it shows a message that you can only boost two times on a model. And you got 2 points per printer. If you have multiple printers you get multiple times 2 points.
I see what you mean there…
I have a lot of designs that originate from hobbies. I start a new hobby, design some things for it for myself to use and since I have them, share them on MakerWorld. They will never gain lots of points and they were never meant for that, but someone who shares that hobby can now give me a boost to support the effort of uploading it and that is nice!
I don’t know what it’s for or how it works but I gave a Boost to the one that came up with the Can Tab Assist. Us folks with RA appreciate the little things that help us get by in the world. The bottle/cap opener is another great help.
The purpose of Boost is well decribed in the official Bambulab blog page:
The fact that Boosts are “misused” probably depends by the fact that many peolple didn’t read and understood it yet - so it looks to me that (right now) there is a lot of people using Boost like a duplicate of the “like” function.
Hopefully the real intent of the Boost will become more clear in the future. But in summary (I quote the blog):
(…) we hope that you use your boost rights wisely to encourage innovation, creativity, and dedication among those who contribute to the community.
Personally, I will first Boost the creators that made the models that I liked more (i.e. the models I downloaded and printed because I really liked them, not because they were easy and fast to print…). And after that I will start to Boost models that are really outstanding (in terms of details, originality, aesthetics).
In some way I will become the judge of “my own contest” where I will finally award who really deserve an award…
And this is what I do with mine. I try to find the maker who isn’t uploading day after day and I like/use the print.
If a bigger designer makes something I gotta have and love, I may use one there. So far I’ve give out 4. Hope it helps someone.
Yes, but unless you receive a lot of boosts, it is arguably pointless to have a one dollar gift card that expires in two weeks. It is still only benefiting the massively popular models.
There is a psychological phenomenon called crowd mentality or herd mentality that is behind social trends among other behaviors. Yes, a trendy model will get more and more attention and become even more trendy because of this psychologial phenomenon, while the rest will beocme more and more invisible.
I made a post on another thread expressing this as one of the concerns that the boost system as proposed may not achieve what it intended to do.
The expiration date is for using it, ie, if the token isn’t given to someone within 2 weeks, it expires. The boost tokens that one receive should have no expiration date.
Unfortunately, exactly those models are rewarded that already have many downloads or prints. Other models that take a lot of time and also filament (for testing) are left empty-handed.
This model, for example, got 63 boots, but already had 2.9k downloads and 1.7k prints.
Nothing against this model, it may have its raison d’être, but I can design something like this in Fusion360 in 5 minutes.
There should be a limit, models that have a certain number of downloads/prints (e.g. 500) should no longer get a boost.
I do agree the boosts should not be going to me (although I am flattered to receive any, and certainly appreciate it). Unfortunately, many do not pay attention to what boosts “should” be used for (niche creators and complex models). I wish creators had a way to give their boosts back to the community instead of only allowing them to be redeemed them for 11 points (which, as others have stated, isn’t even 1$).
Knowing BBL, they will continue to improve the system, hopefully driven on our feedback.
No one should feel bad about getting boost, unless they have played tricks to get them. Otherwise, it’s not their fault that they get many.
The boost tokens are not meant to be used only for niche or “complex” models either. Also no amount of user education is going to overcome the deep-rooted crowd mentality.
It’s the boost system that should be adjusted or changed to provide a more balanced rewarding experience for all. Give MW time to make it work better.
I would rather the boost system be used to literally “boost” a model you love for others to find. If implemented correctly it would be pointless for the first few models in trending.
where I will finally award who really deserve an award… 
