Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
For people who make models that get a decent trickle of downloads but never see huge numbers, it's a real bummer that the Prusameter "regular rewards" reset entirely every 30 days. For example, someone who is juuuuuuuust under the threshold could collect almost 350 downloads over the course of a year but never see a single reward for it, where they'd have earned over 150 meters if those downloads (and associated likes) had happened in a single month.
What would be great would be a combination of "lifetime" milestone and "regular" milestone rewards. That way, people who create lower-profile but still useful models can be rewarded, as well as people who make flash-in-the-pan or consistently popular models.
(For example, I just had a model hit 13 likes and 30 downloads, but since it took closer to 40 days to do it than 30, no rewards are forthcoming, and they probably never will be.)
It would be better if the entire Prusameter system was closed down along with the flash contests, that way the majority of the useless uploads would cease and well thought out prints would be more visible; for those who wish it might then be worth linking to a tipping app. We also need an assurance of quality, that the object is printable, is worth printing, has been tested and performs as desired.
We also need much improved search - there are ridiculous numbers of uploads that reinvent the same part over and over again because it's easier to design from scratch than to find a decent print where the work is already done.
Cheerio,
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
I think the system is good; it just needs more tweaks to avoid trash uploads and reward contribution. But that's a broader topic; I specifically wanted to talk about this issue, of contributors only being rewarded if they're popular in a given 30-day span versus over time slowly but consistently.
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
It would be nice if the Reward System worked more like how they do Badges.
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
If everything needs to be quality assured and tested extensively the number of designs would drop to the bottom I suppose. Also interesting designs that do actually work would stop being published.
What I would like to see is that designs need a real world image in order for being allowed to publish it (and a system were peope can report entries not satisfying that requirement). If people can't upload that, they have not even tried if its possible to actually print the design.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
I think that's a great requirement... but, again, not the intended topic of this thread, which is specifically about rewards tied to likes and downloads.
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
Not to intend to derail the thread, but I think there should be some points from the published makes towards the model creator, and this should be a permanent one and not just from 'last 30d'.
In theory 'like' is easy to give even without print - that's why we can see huge amount of likes to any mario/zelda related models even if noone printed it - but the real value we can see how print ends when someone actually prints it.
See my GitHub and printables.com for some 3d stuff that you may like.
RE: Model like/download rewards resetting every 30 days
Not everything deserves an award. Prusa is putting a lot of emphasis on "popularity", which does not always equate to quality, usefulness, or complexity. But I'm sure they know that. The 30-day rolling window skews the rewards towards items that are more popular, which is entirely their choice. Eliminating that limitation would mean just about everything would eventually, over time, qualify for a reward -- which is absurd.
I would like the ability to "tip" designers. I have found designs that are not "popular", for example something like a replacement part for an obscure mechanism, that are hugely useful (to me) and well-designed. Yet the designer will never get Prusameters for it because it just isn't something a lot of people will ever need. Allowing downloaders/makers to directly reward the designer would help with items like that.
specifically about rewards tied to likes and downloads.
All reward systems cause floods of designs-for-rewards, it's no longer worth the effort of polishing and publishing carefully crafted prints - unless there is a quality metric it will never be seen. If you want peoiple to find and use your designs you'd better post them elsewhere.
A few days ago I designed a spare part for a poster here who was having difficulties ( https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/english-forum-general-discussion-announcements-and-releases/modifying-a-thingiverse-stl-file-in-prusa-slicer/#post-676400 ) I nearly uploaded it to Printables but it turns out there was a competition running for such prints and it would have looked like a feeble attempt at an entry so I didn't bother.
If everything needs to be quality assured and tested extensively the number of designs would drop to the bottom
Exactly: And every one of them would be printable and, if they addressed your needs, worth printing. It would also become worth the effort to document the designs properly; good, tested documentation is worth as much as a good, tested design and can take a lot of effort.
In the first two years of the database, when it was still called PrusaPrinters, about 50,000 prints were posted with a very high average quality. Then the name was changed; rewards, badges and flash competitions were added and in the second two years the total number of prints has risen to nearly 500,000 of abysmal quality. In the process the decent quality older prints have become almost impossible to find amid the dross.
All this is a long winded way of saying: If you are designing for rewards, I don't want to see your work.
Cheerio,