Gallery being sorted by "Popular Now" by default is a problem

"GLovely1;c-16667313" wrote:
Thank you @kreatora :) Yes, definitely the upward movement on the popular now page depends on the quantity of likes.

If the 'Popular Now' section is based on likes I'll never get there, lol. I don't get a lot of downloads (except for a few things that I was lucky enough to get a Maxis fave on years ago - my newer stuff hardly gets downloaded at all), but I get even fewer favorites. I used to think that it was because people had problems with my builds after placing (even though I playtest each lot thoroughly) but then I saw that someone who copied and re-uploaded my RV Motorhome lot has more favorites than I do! So yeah, the gallery has been a mystery to me for a long time.

"GLovely1;c-16667313" wrote:
Thank you @kreatora :) Yes, definitely the upward movement on the popular now page depends on the quantity of likes. It is the act of first getting our creations into the popular now section that is faulty. All simmers can and some actually do add +1 repeatedly typically upon initially uploading a creation and during the first 48 hours. That way they guarantee their spot in the popular now section within the 7 day window that creations stay in there. Once a creation gets to the popular now page all the gallery sees it and the cycle of the system works in the sense that the more likes a creation has the more people see it and the more download they get. I play fairly and create original things I love first and then send it out into the gallery hoping the system will effectively work for me honestly. Within this new system it is now even more impossible for it to work for #fairplay original creators like me. I choose create and play in the gallery fairly even though I know the easy way to boost my creation download total. I will not use this trick because that would be saying I am better than every other creator in the gallery. I feel using the self downloading trick also says I don't value the efforts of every other creator in the gallery. Those of you who know me know I value all of your creative efforts tremendously <3 Being popular is not my first motivation in the gallery but I do not trust anymore the motivations of some others. I see proof daily that simmers are adding to their own download total and that should not be allowed to continue in a number driven system.

Exactly. The gallery system is actually a paradise for those who download their own creations. And some really amazing creations from honest creators stay in the dark cause there are only some creations that goes to the pop tab. So, to be sure to be there, they download their own creations tons of time. Easy.

"brenleedee;c-16666717" wrote:
I really don't understand why we have to vote on twitter, not everyone has a twitter account..I don't. Having a random poll on Twitter that some of us didn't even know about is really no way to determine if they will change something.

I do agree with the consensus that at least there was an acknowledgement, sadly this also means they haven't been working on it.

Agreed. The forum here has polls, so why not use them? At least it should be used additionally. Especially because people here are talking about the whole issue. If people made them aware of this thread and the issue here then why not at least head over here and mention the poll?

@wormstache999 Yes, that's weird :/

Also, I would appreciate it if EA set the News window as the main site like it was in the past and remove the instant download button, because sometimes we creators want people to read what we wrote before they download our works.

I don't have twitter so I probably won't vote in the poll, but I am trying to fave/like all the really wonderful creators who are creative (meaning don't reupload others lots) and who put a lot of time and effort into their lots. I urge others to do the same, so that they can get a fair chance of getting on the most popular list. These creators usually got a lot of faves when their lots showed in the newest catagory by default but are now rather overlooked.

Interesting, I wasn't aware of the fact that people could download their own creations over and over to cheat the system. I wonder if they could make it so you could only download your own thing once every 24 hours (or something like that). Because I'd hate to lose the ability to download my own creations entirely. There's been a few times that I lost/accidentally deleted something from my library, but was able to recover it because it was on the gallery.

"Plantyl;c-16667454" wrote:
Also, I would appreciate it if EA set the News window as the main site like it was in the past and remove the instant download button, because sometimes we creators want people to read what we wrote before they download our works.

@Plantyl I totally agree with that!

"hyrulerose;c-16667467" wrote:
Interesting, I wasn't aware of the fact that people could download their own creations over and over to cheat the system. I wonder if they could make it so you could only download your own thing once every 24 hours (or something like that). Because I'd hate to lose the ability to download my own creations entirely. There's been a few times that I lost/accidentally deleted something from my library, but was able to recover it because it was on the gallery.

Sadly, yes, people can and do easily cheat our gallery system. Each time anyone downloads anyone else's creation the download count goes up +1. If you delete that creation for whatever reason and then decide to go download it again it's download total goes up again +1. If everyone in the gallery would create and upload fair and honestly this would not be as big a problem as it already is. I would hate to lose the ability to download my creation again if I lose it or whatever. That is not the issue though. The issue is the gallery is tracking this download number in an accounting for who is "popular now". That is completely unfair when any one of us can go right now and manipulate that number repeatedly to be seen in the popular now section. This section is already full of self downloaded creations mixed in with amazing talented fair original creators. Soon, especially if the popular now section remains the default that page will be showcasing the who's who of re-uploaders and download manipulators with a sprinkling of really popular simmers with higher follower counts. I, even having 1800 followers have no hope of reaching that section in that case. I was barely getting there before this frustrating new popular now as default change :s

"simsinmysleep;c-16667343" wrote:

"GLovely1;c-16667313" wrote:
Thank you @kreatora :) Yes, definitely the upward movement on the popular now page depends on the quantity of likes.

If the 'Popular Now' section is based on likes I'll never get there, lol. I don't get a lot of downloads (except for a few things that I was lucky enough to get a Maxis fave on years ago - my newer stuff hardly gets downloaded at all), but I get even fewer favorites. I used to think that it was because people had problems with my builds after placing (even though I playtest each lot thoroughly) but then I saw that someone who copied and re-uploaded my RV Motorhome lot has more favorites than I do! So yeah, the gallery has been a mystery to me for a long time.

If the gallery operated the way it was intended then we would all have a greater chance at reaching the popular now page. I simplify it here but think this way ~ each "like" I gave would be seen by my followers on line at the time of the "like". Those simmers see it, "like" it, download it probably also and may even go follow that creator. It goes around the gallery in a circle like this. We all need some "likes" on our creation, some followers and some downloads and of course some really great creative uploads. I still don't even understand all the in's and out's of the gallery and I have been studying this particular problem for a year now. If all played fair in the gallery the system would actually work pretty well statistically speaking. Truly, all I really know for a fact is there is a fast, easy way to add +1 repeatedly to our own creation or to anyone else's creation and that ability should be removed from the gallery asap or the measure should be switched to the "like" accounting since we can't manipulate that number. We click the +1 "like" and if we click it again our +1 "like" goes away. It is fair and balanced accounting. Is that a perfect measurement either? No, but I do believe it is a better option than what is happening right now.

"Plantyl;c-16667454" wrote:
Also, I would appreciate it if EA set the News window as the main site like it was in the past and remove the instant download button, because sometimes we creators want people to read what we wrote before they download our works.

Yes, I agree with you. I have mixed feelings about the overall look of the new gallery but I would like our "newsfeed" to go back to being the first thing we see when going into the gallery. Now it seems sometimes it comes up for me first and sometimes the community popular now comes up first when I enter the gallery. I don't understand that one at all. Also of course the change back to "newest" when we look at the community page. I liked the ability to choose whether I ever looked at the community pages of newest and popular now or not.

Sorry I meant for this to be an edit to my post just above .. I didn't mean to double post. I tried to delete this one and add it to the one above but we can't delete. I'm still learning ;)