I don't have much to say on the stealing/reuploading debate (other then : yes, it is within the rules. No, I still don't like it), but on topic: I totally agree that the search feature needs some fixing.
From my own experience, the search doesn't even work very well. I can't find my own uploads, even if I know the name of the build and the tags on it. They are just missing (but others must be able to find them, as I do get some downloads daily). The first load of builds seem to be in order of popularity, but after that all the results are jumbled up. This could be good to randomize the results, except it is the same ones on top all the time, and they don't get jumbled up until later.
When I am looking for something to use in my game, I rarely have the patience to make it past all those reuploads that I have seen so many times before, even though I rarely use the gallery. So I build my own instead, and since I build for myself and not the gallery, I will only share it if it happens to be one of those builds with an acceptable photo, which is rare in my game. And a year ago, that was good enough to get some downloads. I don't think I have gotten worse at building (nor better), but my builds rarely get downloads now. I don't know (or really care) if it is because there are so many other good, better or downright impressive builds out there, or if it is because the quantity of uploads have gotten to the point that everything gets drowned out immediately. I just know, that if I was a builder, who liked getting acknowledged for my work, I would find it depressing that you only have a 3 hour window to get downloads in (What you get 3 hours?? I only get 10 minutes. Seriously, my last build got 30 downloads in 10 minutes, then 1 download the following 24 hours. Edit: I see the 3 hour reference is not in the OP anymore, oops).
When looking for things to download, I always wish I could sort by most popular today, this week and this month, as I hope to find a variety of good builds. Instead I can see:
The most popular ever - This list rarely changes at all - only the number of downloads. I can see it as useful for those builders who like the recognition of being the best of the best, but I saw those same builds 2 years ago, so that list is not so interesting for me to look at. This is a good list for new players to look at, but I doubt new players would get less awesome builds if they were looking at a monthly or even yearly list.
Popular Now - Topped by the Maxis curated builds, so I could just search those instead, if I hadn't already been notified of those builds when Maxis picked them.
Most recent - A big part is "unfinished" builds that I have no problems scrolling past, but of the remaining ones, so many are reuploads, that it isn't funny. Every so often, I feel like I should be looking for new builds and encourage those great builders (with downloads, favs or comments), but it is time consuming to find one, and when I do, I "have" to check if it is original, and if it is not, I check if it has changed enough that I want to encourage the uploader, or if the encouragement should be sent to the original builder instead. All in all, this is too time consuming for someone who just prefers to play the game.
Being able to sort by originals within those categories would be really helpful.
With regards to following people: I really wish I could follow people without getting notifications in my game, unless I am on the gallery. It is immersion breaking for me to get all that spam (sorry, that is what it feels like when getting notifications about people favoriting an item every 2 seconds, while playing. Notifications about their own uploads will be rarer and not so intrusive. So would showcasing, if there was a time limit on how often they can showcase). I would love to only see those notifications when actually browsing the gallery, and not while playing the game. Then I could follow not just great builders, but also the people who favorite all those great builds that I can't find through my normal searches.
Comments
From my own experience, the search doesn't even work very well. I can't find my own uploads, even if I know the name of the build and the tags on it. They are just missing (but others must be able to find them, as I do get some downloads daily). The first load of builds seem to be in order of popularity, but after that all the results are jumbled up. This could be good to randomize the results, except it is the same ones on top all the time, and they don't get jumbled up until later.
When I am looking for something to use in my game, I rarely have the patience to make it past all those reuploads that I have seen so many times before, even though I rarely use the gallery. So I build my own instead, and since I build for myself and not the gallery, I will only share it if it happens to be one of those builds with an acceptable photo, which is rare in my game. And a year ago, that was good enough to get some downloads. I don't think I have gotten worse at building (nor better), but my builds rarely get downloads now. I don't know (or really care) if it is because there are so many other good, better or downright impressive builds out there, or if it is because the quantity of uploads have gotten to the point that everything gets drowned out immediately. I just know, that if I was a builder, who liked getting acknowledged for my work, I would find it depressing that you only have a 3 hour window to get downloads in (What you get 3 hours?? I only get 10 minutes. Seriously, my last build got 30 downloads in 10 minutes, then 1 download the following 24 hours. Edit: I see the 3 hour reference is not in the OP anymore, oops).
When looking for things to download, I always wish I could sort by most popular today, this week and this month, as I hope to find a variety of good builds. Instead I can see:
The most popular ever - This list rarely changes at all - only the number of downloads. I can see it as useful for those builders who like the recognition of being the best of the best, but I saw those same builds 2 years ago, so that list is not so interesting for me to look at. This is a good list for new players to look at, but I doubt new players would get less awesome builds if they were looking at a monthly or even yearly list.
Popular Now - Topped by the Maxis curated builds, so I could just search those instead, if I hadn't already been notified of those builds when Maxis picked them.
Most recent - A big part is "unfinished" builds that I have no problems scrolling past, but of the remaining ones, so many are reuploads, that it isn't funny. Every so often, I feel like I should be looking for new builds and encourage those great builders (with downloads, favs or comments), but it is time consuming to find one, and when I do, I "have" to check if it is original, and if it is not, I check if it has changed enough that I want to encourage the uploader, or if the encouragement should be sent to the original builder instead. All in all, this is too time consuming for someone who just prefers to play the game.
Being able to sort by originals within those categories would be really helpful.
With regards to following people: I really wish I could follow people without getting notifications in my game, unless I am on the gallery. It is immersion breaking for me to get all that spam (sorry, that is what it feels like when getting notifications about people favoriting an item every 2 seconds, while playing. Notifications about their own uploads will be rarer and not so intrusive. So would showcasing, if there was a time limit on how often they can showcase). I would love to only see those notifications when actually browsing the gallery, and not while playing the game. Then I could follow not just great builders, but also the people who favorite all those great builds that I can't find through my normal searches.