Let me be a bit concerned about the print/download rewards becoming completely hidden and unclear, before celebrating the introduction of coefficients that we are not even allowed to see.
Especially since what happened with the boost granting reworking, that still feel totally random and unrelated to any personal activity whatsoever…
It’s the same as Google not sharing their search ranking algorithm. It’s done so to make it harder for cheaters to exploit the system.
No, that’s not how Google works. Sorry to disappoint you. Everyone can still exploit the system, you just have to pay for it, and you’ll be at the top of the list. Even if you’re a scammer website.
Example: If you are searching for a website to trade stocks, you can be certain that the first paid results are likely to be rip-offs (unless you use an ad blocker).
Just because something is hidden does not mean it cannot be exploited. On the contrary. This is why open source continues to play such an important role in our society. Only transparency can counteract fraud because it involves many sets of eyes, not just those of profit-oriented company.
In short: Hiding respectively lack of transparency doesn’t work in capitalism.
Don’t get your hopes up that hiding the algorithm will make it more difficult for fraudsters, quite the opposite. This can give a completely false sense of security, because no one can understand what is happening in the background. It has never worked and never will.
If that really worked, Googl, Apple, Twitter/X and Meta would have no scammers, but the sites and stores are full of them.
To do something about scammers, you would need to register the personal ID and serial number of your 3D printer.
I don’t know, if this is the right way. All persons I now in real life, who are owning a 3D printer, bought it to print small helpers and fun things (e.g. household models, toys for the kits).
Complex models are stunning and I have printed some of them. But this is not the majority. I spent quite a lot of filament in “non-complex” models, just because I have printed soo much of it. Only a few roles were spent to complex models. For me, Bambu earns quite more money in Maker Supply parts and tons of filament with the “non-complex” models, which they will support less in future. I have the fear of users movement to other platforms (designers and consumers)…
I don’t want to bring up other ideas, we had a lot in the forum as well. We all now, we have to do something against the cheaters and farmers. But focus only on models like Cyberbrick isn’t what makes Makerworld Makerworld. Let’s see…
Ingenuity and originality should definitely be rewarded but I am concerned about how reward levels are calculated.
Nearly all of my designs are things that myself or others have/had a need for and I share them to the community so that others may benefit. Many of these designs are technically relatively simple but the thought, prototyping and design my have taken days, weeks, months to perfect. I cannot see how some presumably automated process will be able to accurately assess such efforts.
There should definitely be a clampdown on anything AI generated or shows little original thought, but again I am not sure how this will be monitored.
I just imagine that all the egg and dragon designs that have thousands of downloads (to be sold on market stalls, car boot sales, Etsy, etc) will still be rewarded as they look pretty and anything genuinely original will be marginalised.
In other news Etsy have also just changed their rules on 3D printed content to only be for original models created by the seller. It is interesting to see the beginnings of a shift towards original designers.
Now that some time has passed since the announcement, I would like to revisit the key points. Specifically, I want to explain whether automated detection is even possible. However, I am going to take a different approach and describe what a malicious user would do. Then everyone can consider what problems the new system might cause. Not necessarily.
Originality - No automated system can calculate originality. Let us reconsider the text carefully: the system favours certain neglected categories. Like a word filter, what are good words that are rarely utilized, what are unfavorable topics or words such as “coasters”? As a cheater or point farmer, you would simply avoid certain words, and post everything in categories that are rarely used.
Complexity - Let’s think again about how an automated system measures complexity. It opens the file and looks at its size. It also considers how many printing plates were used. It also looks at how many different filaments and maker parts were used. As fraudsters, or perhaps even creators themselves, they now deliberately make their models more complex?
Presentation - The same question arises here: how does the automatic system measure this? Although photo quality can be difficult to measure, it can be quantified. Does that mean you have to take more photos, write longer texts, and create a PDF with instructions? If I were a fraudster, I would get ChatGPT to write long, overly complex texts.
>>> As mentioned, this is a good approach, but please consider how an AI or automated system would measure it <<<
Such systems can be very easily circumvented and exploited, not only by point farmers; even creators themselves will think twice: Should I make my model extra complex? Should I add Maker parts? Should I call my model a “super complex tool for your pocket” instead of a key toy? Why not write an extra-long, complex text and attach unnecessary photos?
Now everyone should think about what happens if the system says that your model is not complex or special. How will you complain if the system classifies it incorrectly? You will get fewer and fewer points without noticing?
To be clear, because some people don’t seem to understand: You let an AI decide how many points you get, and there’s nothing you can do about it.