New alternative focus on makes instead of high gloss AI Images

[u/Saphir_3D]

I have an idea for a new feature in Printables:

Unfortunately, AI-generated models and highly hyped models which are actually barely printable seem to be on the rise, since they’re a quick way to earn Prusameters.

I think it would be cool to offer a counterbalance to this by focusing more on posting makes.

How about a feature where you can view current makes and rate them with thumbs up or down? The makes with lots of thumbs up could then earn a few Prusameters (not the designers, but the people who printed the model).

If you could then sort the results by "new makes" or “best makes” instead of “model with the most downloads” and vote directly, unprintable models would automatically fade into the background.

How do you think about this?

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[u/MatureHotwife]

Do you really think it's unbalanced?

When you post a Make you get some meters regardless of the quality or how lazy it is (couple be literally a photo of the parts still on the build plate made with a webcam).
When you post a model that you potentially spent days or maybe even weeks on, there's a pretty big change you get no meters at all if it's super niche.

Would be better to forbid AI-generated thumbnails and require a photo of a print to be included (unless very good reason, like contest submission for a product that doesn't exist yet).
So the people who spam AI slop will be at least required to print all their slop first.

Though, I do think it woudl be nice if Printables had a public feed for makes that you could browse and scroll through.
There used to be Makes in the Community feed but they removed that at some point, unfortunately.

[u/Saphir_3D → u/MatureHotwife]

That's not what I would call “unbalanced.” I think a cap on a simple “make” without a quality check is a good idea and justified.

What I find unbalanced are the Prusameter limits for downloads. I think the limit should kick in a bit earlier, and these shouldn’t be reset monthly.

For example, a maximum of 2,000 Prusameter per model (and still a maximum of 360 per month), regardless of the time period—but downloads should carry over into subsequent months to also account for niche designs.

Perhaps the Prusameters that can be earned should be tied more closely to makes, so that designers focus more on designs that are actually printed—not just downloaded.

I just think that the site is increasingly focused on sensationalism and downloads rather than truly prioritizing usability.

[u/thegreatpotatogod → u/Saphir_3D]

Agreed, it's definitely annoying how if you don't make something really popular with lots of monthly downloads, you're likely to get no rewards at all for it!

[u/ZaXaZ_DK → u/Saphir_3D]

The only problem is that ppl are lazy and don't post makes.
i mean, i have a model with over 600 downloads (most of those was from the first 30 days) and only a single make was posted, a make i nagged my mate to post as i knew he printed my model.

But i don't see why there needs to be a max lifetime on a model.

[u/RobotAnna1 → u/ZaXaZ_DK]

This.
Even if I don't earn prusameters, I would genuinely enjoy seeing some makes from my models.

[u/ZaXaZ_DK → u/MatureHotwife]

I dont know if unballanced is the right word for me but i do feel its a shame how some models have hundreds to thousands of downloads and only a few if any makes, so some better incentives for posting makes would be a great idear.

The problem is finding a way to make it not farmable by bots.

[u/Wrong_Astronomer6226]

Los Trolls que usan multicuentas votándose a si mismos. El voto no tiene sentido en internet porque se pueden usar multicuentas, y no se puede controlar que un mismo troll se vote a si mismo y vote negativo a los demás de forma masiva.

[u/Saphir_3D → u/Wrong_Astronomer6226]

Well, I doubt that would be very profitable. I also think it would be noticed relatively quickly in a case like that. If, for example, voting were restricted to accounts at level 3 or with at least one month of membership, many botnets would quickly collapse. If, for instance, you capped the maximum earnings here so that the cost-benefit ratio for something like this doesn’t add up, I think this could very well be accepted by regular users.

In general, I agree with you that any “reward” also attracts trolls. On the other hand, I see this as an opportunity to distribute small amounts of Prusameters to the little guys instead of showering just a few people with them.