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Subject: Re: What are the motives of making and sharing documentation of DIY Projects?
From: Larsie <lkrol...@gmail.com>
To: thingiverse <thingiverse@googlegroups.com>
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I'm probably one of those who've posted on Thingiverse without really
being that good at 3D design. So the result isn't that great, but I
try to convey an idea and be part of the community. There are so many
great designs on this site that it really inspires me to try to add
something too. It feels very much like being part of a community, with
positive feedback and advice from people who are very good designers.
It's such a positive place, and the barrier of posting is low. I like
that about Thingiverse. I think Thingiverse has reached a critical
mass to show that there are in fact readers and interested parties.
There is a large enough community to be interested in your things,
even if your stuff looks funny and odd like my stuff does. Compared to
putting things on a smaller web site or blog, posting it on
Thingiverse gives you a larger number of interested readers and it's
more likely that it gets noted. Tipping point etc...

One thing that might have been cool to add to Thingiverse is a
'request' page. People may have ideas about what to make, but not the
competence to design it. Maybe they could draw it on a piece of paper
(or god forbid powerpoint), but feel the barrier of 3D is too
difficult. Then others can pick up the idea and design the object.
That could maybe expand the community even more and allow for more
ideas to be shared. Maybe this is the group to share such ideas, but
the barrier of finding this group is maybe a bit high for 'the man in
the street'. For 3D printing to get really big, we need everyone to
paradigm-shift into 'oh I can print that!'. My kids of 5 and 7 say
that all the time... 'Dad, can't we just print that?'. When everyone
thinks like that, we've reached a new level of community...

Sorry for the many words, but basically: Thingiverse has reached
critical mass, so people enjoy posting stuff there and put effort into
documenting it because they see that people download and print their
stuff. It's a good self-reinforcing circle.

Lars