I’m not sure I follow… what does printing have to do with boosting? Right under the header of their blog post it says…
How we’re refining our Boost system to better reward ambitious projects and reduce manipulation
Printing will not stop the boost4boost people gaming the system… they’ll just print each others 2g model and then boost each other. Then immediately in the first paragraph it says…
When we launched the Boost System last year, our goal was clear: encourage and reward designers who dedicate much effort to create intricate, technically advanced 3D models that push the boundaries of what’s possible .
Hand in hand with the first quote that’s more or less a… we know, it’s nothing you’d wanna print for yourself; however, if you design models yourself and you can appreciate the effort put into it… here’s a way to do so.
I’m not sure that you and BL are on the same page… it’s a bit like saying, you can only be a fan of that football team if you also own the team. Or you can only appreciate a van Gogh if you bought one at an auction before.
But maybe I’m missing something here… why exactly do you think it’s necessary to print something before you can boost it? Keeping in mind what BL is saying what their boost system is supposed to be good for, ie… " Boosting What Matters: Rewarding Engineering and Design Effort" (which is literally the title of the blog post.)