Thingiverse "New" queue

This probably isn't the best place to discuss this, but Thingiverse doesn't have a forum or as near as I can tell, a support email.

Their newest site update changed a lot, and I'm reserving judgment on a free resource. One concern I do have as a person who liked to browse the "newest things" category, is the way in which the new "customizer" is implemented. People can now modify parametric models on the site and get a customized version with just a few clicks. They can also share the new version. When they do this, the "newest" queue ends up full of plaques with the names of people I don't know and other personalized items that aren't really new.

They really need a way to either filter out customized items or they need to not consider items added through the customizer as new. Maybe someone from Thingiverse reads these forums, or someone here knows how the suggestion could be passed on.

The site change is a large step back. Yes you are right about the queue, i also used to look at the new things and now that use is destroyed. They also removed the time stamp when objects were made, that was an important feature.
My other problem with the changes is that the pages are more cluttered with stuff that has nothing to do with the page you are on and it now wastes my time w/stuff i dont care about.
I understand it is there site and they can do what they want but they have just lost another user.

Just curious,

What other sites provide the same kind of service as thingiverse? They're the only one I know of where a large number of people share their designs.

I think people should follow Prusa's example, and post their work on github.

I understand that browsing github for .stl's is not a easy or seamless operation, but perhaps in time someone can build a database that follows "things" that exist on github.

If one really wants to share their work openly, it should be licensed under GPL. Thingiverse terms and conditions are in conflict with the GPL, so if you really care you should use github.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2013 01:03PM by xclusive585.

I don't think using github is ever really going to catch on for small things. The convenient interface is really what makes Thingiverse what it is. I'm not aware of anything like it, otherwise I'd probably just jump ship for a competing service.

I understand and respect the reasons for licensing things under the GPL, but it's not fair to say that a GPL license is the only way to openly share something. I'm perfectly fine with their terms of service for things I've created, and as such I've published a couple things there. There are lots of room for complaint with regard to Thingiverse, but for many people the drawbacks are very small compared to the positives. I was really hoping to focus on what could be done to fix what is at this time the best option to discover and share 3d printable models.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2013 01:34PM by Twitchy.

Thingiverse does have a forum of sorts, though it could be argued that a google group doesn't qualify. Thingiverse employees have responded to posts there about the recent changes, though, so there's at least some evidence that your complaints will be heard.

Give it time and you will have to pay to become a member of thingiverse in order to download anything. It's a makerbot asset and I am 100% certain that this change will come along.

How about a new site that takes stl, scad, files etc. uploaded to github and then catalogues these files. Maybe if the designs owner added the github link to this new website complete with description and photos. It could catalogue things better than the thingiverse way of doing things i.e none of the biased "featured" items, no one printer company should own the site in order to prevent more bias towards the their own printer.

Any web designers have time to do something like that???
My basic web design skills stop me from doing it but i've plenty of ideas for anyone skilled enough to make it happen....

Funding to keep the site online would be an issue but I am sure a bit of a brainstorm would come up with some low cost solutions for this. As the files are not stored on the site it would keep the cost of running it a lot lower.

willing to help anyone with the skills to make this happen. just send me a pm.

keithCl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Give it time and you will have to pay to become a
> member of thingiverse in order to download
> anything. It's a makerbot asset and I am 100%
> certain that this change will come along.
>
> How about a new site that takes stl, scad, files
> etc. uploaded to github and then catalogues these
> files. Maybe if the designs owner added the github
> link to this new website complete with description
> and photos. It could catalogue things better than
> the thingiverse way of doing things i.e none of
> the biased "featured" items, no one printer
> company should own the site in order to prevent
> more bias towards the their own printer.
>
> Any web designers have time to do something like
> that???
> My basic web design skills stop me from doing it
> but i've plenty of ideas for anyone skilled enough
> to make it happen....
>
> Funding to keep the site online would be an issue
> but I am sure a bit of a brainstorm would come up
> with some low cost solutions for this. As the
> files are not stored on the site it would keep the
> cost of running it a lot lower.
>
> willing to help anyone with the skills to make
> this happen. just send me a pm.

In the meantime, someone should write a bot to crawl thingiverse and download every .stl/.scad
Er, just kidding.

Makerbotiverse, as opposed to Thingiverse, I will never put another model up there again. I have 27 up there now but nothing new due to all of the drastic changes and downgrading that just happened.

---

_______
I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

xclusive585

if I knew how I definitely would. then store it to a hard drive as an emergency back up....

maybe it's time for me to learn how to do it!!! or ask my very talented software engineer friend to give me a hand.

GrabCAD is free to use. But it's not just .stl's, which may be a good or bad thing. Definitely a lot smaller than thingiverse, but for some reason whenever I want to find something that isn't "allowed" on thingiverse, it's on GrabCAD.

i.e. AR-15 Lower

If thingiverse goes paid membership, I'd be gone in a second and I imagine many others as well. Eventually a free version would pop up.

Theres too many of us now, and we're too powerful! lol

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you had to pay to put anything on Guthub? starting at $7 a month? Github would be the obvious alternate site if it got a graphical user makeover but it is such an arse to navigate and find anything on.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Wired1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought you had to
> pay to put anything on Guthub? starting at $7 a
> month? Github would be the obvious alternate site
> if it got a graphical user makeover but it is such
> an arse to navigate and find anything on.

You only have to pay if you want to keep your project private and/or not open source. See: [github.com]

---

Help improve the RepRap wiki! Just click "Edit" in the top-right corner of the page and start typing. Anyone can edit the wiki!

Github is free as long as the repositories are open for all to see. If you want to hide stuff or go above the free quota limit then the subscriptions start...

I haven't paid a dime for my github space...

What I like about github is that it allows me to work on my models seamlessly between work (at lunch of course...) and home.

---

- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

Thanks guys I'll have to give it a go in that case. It looks like Cubehero uses github as the repository so I might have to work it out to use that anyway.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

It's a matter of will, or the lack of it, I should say. There is nothing even remotely complicated about how the Thingiverse web site functions now, or in the past. Plenty of us on this forum are fully capable of putting up such a site. Is anyone willing? I don't think so.

Using git hub is a copout, if you ask me. Let's not forget that part of RepRap's goal is to bring 3D printing to the rest of the world. That means not only simplifying designs, and operation of the machines, but also presenting newcomers with a web presence that is both welcoming, and easy to access.

For all of its treasure trove of information, the reprap site falls short on this one aspect, and thingiverse continues to succeed, in spite of itself. Deep down (or maybe not so deep) I imagine more than a few of us harbor a secret desire to see everything makerbot fail. It's human nature. But what if they fail? Will we be ready to pick up the slack, and provide what they provide?

I like the idea of using GitHub to store the data for models, but having a slicker front end that so that people just wanting to browse don't need to deal with the GitHub interface. We could have some sort of standard for descriptions (description.txt) and instructions(instructions.txt) much like README files are understood to be descriptions by the GitHub interface itself. Thingiverse could even be mined and put into GitHub to get things rolling. As a developer being able to use GitHub configuration control for published models would be great.

Quote
Greg Frost
I like the idea of using GitHub to store the data for models, but having a slicker front end that so that people just wanting to browse don't need to deal with the GitHub interface.

That sounds like Gary Hodgson's Githubiverse

I think that is what Cubehero is doing but haven't tried it yet. I had a brief look at how you upload to it and it was nightmarishly geeky so I'll try something simple as a tester. But it looks like it is using Github as the store and just presenting a sane front end for people who don't write their shopping lists in Fortran.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Write(*,400)
100 Format ('milk')
200 Format ('eggs')
300 Format ('bread')
400 Format ('I take offence at that.')

Oops sorry Greg. I never used Fortran but can remember Pascal and C and I programmed my microprocessor systems/software engineering project in machine code

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Greg Frost Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like the idea of using GitHub to store the data
> for models, but having a slicker front end that so
> that people just wanting to browse don't need to
> deal with the GitHub interface. We could have some
> sort of standard for descriptions
> (description.txt) and
> instructions(instructions.txt) much like README
> files are understood to be descriptions by the
> GitHub interface itself. Thingiverse could even be
> mined and put into GitHub to get things rolling.
> As a developer being able to use GitHub
> configuration control for published models would
> be great.

All very good points, we've kindof been touching on all of them in the various thingiverse threads we have going.

I think we've started up a very important coversation about preserving the openness of our OSHW project. And there have been a couple good ideas mentioned. (Greg in another post I made a half-joke about writing a bot to crawl thingiverse and collect....)

Greg, what's your thoughts on cubehero.com and its gitub version control?

I think that those of us who believe in FOSS need to agree on a route to be taking other than thingiverse. Github obviously, but can we get a way to browse .stls off github or do we need a third party website?

I haven't been there until just now, but when I attempted to sign up with the username 'Greg Frost' it responded with a "regular expression mismatch error" which, being the fortran shopping list kind of guy I am, I immediately realised that this was because there was a space in my username, but Joe Thingi might struggle with that.
I'll have a closer look at the other features of the site...

Quote
xclusive585
I think we've started up a very important coversation

We start this conversation a lot.

August 18, 2012: Thingiverse Alternative Poll on Reddit
September 19, 2012: Prusa Jr. Chastises & Leaves THINGIVERSE
September 24, 2012: The death of Thingiverse?
October 12, 2012: Can we put an organized model repository up on reprap.org?

True and still no viable alternative coming out of any of them.
Anyone got opinions/criticisms on Cubehero.com and GrabCad.com or any other new sites?

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

I have been a member of GrabCad.com for a while now and there are some serious models up there that Thingiverse would never allow. Most of GrabCad seem to give up their Solidworks files with ease.

As far as Cubehero.com goes I had not heard of them until two days ago when I spotted the name on irc. I visited it and it showed some promise imo.

Now, on irc I was told (really to get the good info you need to be on irc) that there are four different ones being worked on as we speak and two are about to go into beta. I tried them and they show promise and one of them I tried (I can't for the life of me remember the urls) said he was working on the thingiverse (now Makerbotiverse) stl viewer. He had it working but just needed to figure out how to get the uploaded model to get into a queue for it.

So, the moral to the story is that while this forum does not say much about a lot of things (reason irc is the place to be) there has been a lot of work done on an alternate site that is close to going live and we can say goodbye to any thing MBI has touched.

---

_______
I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

What is irc?

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Internet Relay Chat

irc.freenode.net #reprap

Dark Alchemist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now, on irc I was told (really to get the good
> info you need to be on irc) that there are four
> different ones being worked on as we speak and two
> are about to go into beta. I tried them and they
> show promise and one of them I tried (I can't for
> the life of me remember the urls) said he was
> working on the thingiverse (now Makerbotiverse)
> stl viewer. He had it working but just needed to
> figure out how to get the uploaded model to get
> into a queue for it.

Anyone know what these are? I had a look at irc but it seems to be a stream of chat and not searchable by content.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

irc is just a stream of chat that is unsearchable and also unrecorded - that's why it's such an excellent choice for communication