 | | | | | | |
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Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
Of course, you can also always use MOCpages with flickr, photobucket, maj, or
any other popular image hosting service... it supports full HTML in your pages
(and there are some tips on the help pages if you don’t know HTML.)
Now that Brickshelf is going I would be very sad if there weren’t a place for
everyone to gather and see what’s new. MOCpages has that great
one-stop-shopping, and I’m actively working on making it even better for
everyone (kids and adults alike). My vision has always been for the site to be
a place where people can share their ideas with each other and learn from each
other.
Over the past 4 years, MOCpages has grown, a lot... it currently gets about 20%
the visitors that Brickshelf does. In anticipation of the new image hosting and
of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web server tomorrow (that
kicks the pants off the old one). They’ll both run together to balance the
site’s traffic. I also am interested in recruiting some moderators to help keep
posts, uploads, and other user-generated content appropriate. Anyone
interested?
I want to assure you that MOCpages won’t suffer the same fate as Brickshelf.
MOCpages has been covering its costs for a few years now, and I plan on
implementing new revenue streams to keep the site running strong with the new
added services. I’d like to implement a (quota/capped) free hosting service,
coupled with a subscription service for greater (or unlimited) service. (a la
flickr). Right now the new image hosting service is free... but that’s just
because I wanted to get it ready for everyone as quickly as possible! :) The
subscription service will be supplemented with sponsorhip and other partnerships
to keep revenue balanced. LEGO activities are my full time job, and MOCpages is
a major chunk of my business operations. It’s not going anywhere, and neither
am I.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
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In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
|
Sean - thanks for coming forward with this. I hope you won’t be reticent in
asking for subscription revenue if you need it to keep going.
May I make a request about something that has put me off MOCpages so far? It
may be already there, but it’s the way some visitors use their comments that put
me right off.
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off comments
on the models I myself submit. Maybe have the option of comments/votes only/no
feedback, both per-model and a default setting for all new models.
I like to display my models, and am interested in the feedback from my peers on
a forum like Lugnet, but I’m not remotely interested in the opinion of people
who just stumble across the site and write anonymously at the bottom. I’ve seen
far too many people upset by ignorant or offensive comments, accusations of
plagiarism and the like to submit myself to that.
I’ve heard it said that an infinite number of monkeys sat at typewriters can
produce the works of Shakespeare. I’ve also heard it said that the internet can
be taken as proof that that just isn’t true...
Thanks,
Jason R
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In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit.
|
Better review maintenence is coming. :) You’ll have the ability to turn them
off, or configure them to stay hidden until after you approve them. You’ll
also have the ability to delete them after they’ve been published.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
http://www.mocpages.com
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In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit.
|
Better review maintenence is coming. :) You’ll have the ability to turn them
off, or configure them to stay hidden until after you approve them. You’ll
also have the ability to delete them after they’ve been published.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
http://www.mocpages.com
|
Thanks! I know this is the main thing that kept me as just a reader of MOCpages
and not a contributor!
God Bless,
Nathan
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In lugnet.publish, Nathan Todd wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit.
|
Better review maintenence is coming. :) You’ll have the ability to turn
them off, or configure them to stay hidden until after you approve them.
You’ll also have the ability to delete them after they’ve been published.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
http://www.mocpages.com
|
Thanks! I know this is the main thing that kept me as just a reader of
MOCpages and not a contributor!
God Bless,
Nathan
|
what excellent news! I’ve been a very happy user of the mocpages site for a few
years now, after a fellow local lego nut convinced me to jump into it, and like
the voting/comments aspect of it, but the new features you’ve mentioned sound
great! would the comments that have already been made be rolled into the new
framework, or just the comments made after the new functions in place?
some ideas that come to mind off the top of my head, having individual galleries
like how the site runs now and also group affiliations. it would be neat to have
the various regional lugs be able to have outposts on the site where meetings,
conventions, displays could be tagged from galleries within the individual lug
members.
for premium membership mabye special sales in the shop, some sort of e-swag ( a
@mocpages.com email address? ) having a random premium account member picture
highlighted on the front page, along the same lines as the group pages having
those be free/fee pages as well and I’m sure you would have lots of lugs happy
to rally some membership fees towards this!
brickshelf is one of the cornerstone pillars of the community and I support your
efforts in helping to prop the sagging castle back up.
Joseph
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In lugnet.publish, Joseph Williams wrote:
| |
would the comments that have already been made be
rolled into the new framework, or just the comments made after the new
functions in place?
|
Yes, you’ll be able to delete comments that are on there now. ...a LOT of
people have been asking for this, so it’s a long time coming. :)
| |
it would be
neat to have the various regional lugs be able to have outposts on the site
where meetings, conventions, displays could be tagged from galleries within
the individual lug members.
|
I love your ideas! :) There’s a lot of social networking that can be added to
MOCpages... the framework is there, it’s just a matter of tieing things together
with some good user interfaces. (MOCpages lauched before social networks and
blogs were household names, but that’s basically what it is... a big community
of user generated content.)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
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In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit.
|
Better review maintenence is coming. :) You’ll have the ability to turn them
off, or configure them to stay hidden until after you approve them. You’ll
also have the ability to delete them after they’ve been published.
|
Hey, Sean-
This sounds great, and that was one of my issues, but here is another-- the
advent of ads. I realize, of course, the reason for them, but if one were a
contributing member, would it be possible for the ads not to appear on one’s
page?
BTW, good to finally meet you at Brickworld:-)
JOHN
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In lugnet.publish, John Neal wrote:
| |
This sounds great, and that was one of my issues, but here is another-- the
advent of ads. I realize, of course, the reason for them, but if one were a
contributing member, would it be possible for the ads not to appear on
one’s page?
|
I don’t like the ads anymore than you do, it kills me to see them there. But
MOCpages had to shift to an advertising model (from a donation model) to stay
alive. It’s a sad truth. Over 1,000,000 people visit MOCpages every month...
most of them are lurkers (kids, mostly) that would never donate or become
members.
I’d like to see ads disappear if you’re a paying member. Here’s the trick: If
you pay $x to view a web site ad-free, you are removing $y of ad revenue. And
if $y is MORE than $x, we might as well make the whole site free! The trick
will be to balance it out; it’s all part of the cost model.
| |
BTW, good to finally meet you at Brickworld:-)
|
Same! :) I feel like I’ve known you for 5 or 10 years.. it’s weird to think we
never met in person until just last month. :)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
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Hey Sean,
I’ve got a question about ads. Do you gain revenue every time I log onto the
site and see the ad, or do I actually have to click on it? If the latter, I
think we in the community could make the very minor commitment to click on ads
when we see them, if it will help keep great resources afloat.
Thanks for adding the image hosting, btw.
Bruce
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In lugnet.publish, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
| |
Hey Sean,
I’ve got a question about ads. Do you gain revenue every time I log onto the
site and see the ad, or do I actually have to click on it? If the latter, I
think we in the community could make the very minor commitment to click on
ads when we see them, if it will help keep great resources afloat.
Thanks for adding the image hosting, btw.
Bruce
|
I don’t think you want to do that. It might get Sean in trouble for
click fraud. Just click on the ads
that you are actually interested in.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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In lugnet.publish, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
| |
Hey Sean,
I’ve got a question about ads. Do you gain revenue every time I log onto
the site and see the ad, or do I actually have to click on it? If the
latter, I think we in the community could make the very minor commitment to
click on ads when we see them, if it will help keep great resources afloat.
Thanks for adding the image hosting, btw.
Bruce
|
I don’t think you want to do that. It might get Sean in trouble for
click fraud. Just click on the ads
that you are actually interested in.
Marc Nelson Jr.
|
Hmm, guess I won’t do that then. It does see odd to me. The idea of
advertising is the more eyeballs the better. My TV doesn’t penalize me for
watching the commercials even if I don’t buy anything. To the contrary, they
are hoping that since I watch the commercials I may end up buying something I
wasn’t originally intending to. It seems that if I go to a website it increases
the likelihood that I will buy. Obviously an automated program generating
clicks is fraud, but a real person checking out a real website, even if not with
a pre-formed intent to buy, seems like what advertisers would like.
Bruce
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On Tue, Jul 17, 2007 at 03:09:58PM +0000, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
> Hmm, guess I won't do that then. It does see odd to me. The idea of
> advertising is the more eyeballs the better. My TV doesn't penalize
> me for watching the commercials even if I don't buy anything. To the
> contrary, they are hoping that since I watch the commercials I may end
> up buying something I wasn't originally intending to. It seems that
> if I go to a website it increases the likelihood that I will buy.
> Obviously an automated program generating clicks is fraud, but a real
> person checking out a real website, even if not with a pre-formed
> intent to buy, seems like what advertisers would like.
It's not like you watching a commercial though - it's like you turning
on the TV when you're not home, so that the rating of a show goes up
(and therefor it's revenue from commercials). If you follow a link of
interest, and end up not buying, that IS good for the advertiser. But
if you follow the link just to immediately close the browser (or hit
back) without even looking at the page, that's just wasting the
advertiser's money.
Dan
--
Dan Boger
dan@peeron.com
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| |
|
In lugnet.publish, Dan Boger wrote:
> If you follow a link of interest, and end up not buying, that IS good for the advertiser.
On top of this, click padding/click fraud throws the whole system off. The core
concept is based on a system that tracks, reports, and allows advertisers to
respond based on real interest. For instance, if I'm selling widgets and am
using click-thru based ads, I want to know what drives people's interest (free
offers? Product photos?), and what makes them actually click a banner, respond
to a page, then conduct a transaction (online purchase, email signup,
send-to-friend, whatever the metric).
This is why Google (and others) are so hardcore about the various forms of click
fraud. They absolutely will shut your account down, no matter how much money
it's earning for them or you if they catch you encouraging users to do it.
> But
> if you follow the link just to immediately close the browser (or hit
> back) without even looking at the page, that's just wasting the
> advertiser's money.
And it does cost money for those fake/quasi-fake clicks, especially with a
system like Google AdSense.
Jake
---
Jake McKee
Private Citizen
"Keeping hope alive"
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On Tue, Jul 17, 2007 at 02:22:32PM +0000, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
> I've got a question about ads. Do you gain revenue every time I log
> onto the site and see the ad, or do I actually have to click on it?
> If the latter, I think we in the community could make the very minor
> commitment to click on ads when we see them, if it will help keep
> great resources afloat.
IIRC, Google ads actually penalizes sites that end up with many clicks on
ads that do not actually end up in sales? It certainly penalizes the
advertisers that have such ads.
Dan
--
Dan Boger
dan@peeron.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
| |
I’ve got a question about ads. Do you gain revenue every time I log onto the
site and see the ad, or do I actually have to click on it? If the latter, I
think we in the community could make the very minor commitment to click on
ads when we see them, if it will help keep great resources afloat.
|
It depends on the ad. Some ads pay out on a cost-per-view, and others pay out
on a cost-per-click. It is up to the advertiser to decide how they want their
ad to work in this regard. This is actually a good thing, because some
advertisers just want their brand to be seen (like on a TV commercial) but other
advertisers want you to visit them (more like a newspaper ad with a sale
coupon).
And as Dan pointed out, never, never, click on ads just to generate revenue for
a site owner. It’s called “Click Fraud” and it’s not allowed. It’s highly
investigated, too.
I’d love to share more about the ads & revenue because I’m normally a very
down-to-earth person, but the ad network’s terms of service forbid me from
talking about how much money I make and other details on clickthrough rates &
things.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
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In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit.
|
Better review maintenence is coming. :) You’ll have the ability to turn them
off, or configure them to stay hidden until after you approve them. You’ll
also have the ability to delete them after they’ve been published.
SeanÂÂ
- - -ÂÂ
MOCpages adminÂÂ
http://www.mocpages.com
|
Sean, this news has made me willing to try MOCpages as well, (mainly because my
YouTUBE account often gets comments I wouldnt want my mother to read) but I am
also not keen on the “Rating”, any chance of turning that off as well?
Thanks for stepping up to the plate on this one.
As I donated to Brickshelf, because I used it regularly, I am willing to do the
same now that I have opened a MOCpages account... do you have a paypal account
associated with MOCpages, I couldnt find a link.
Thanks,
Janey “Red Brick”
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In lugnet.publish, C. L. GunningCook wrote:
| |
Sean, this news has made me willing to try MOCpages as well, (mainly because
my YouTUBE account often gets comments I wouldnt want my mother to read) but
I am also not keen on the “Rating”, any chance of turning that off as well?
|
i don’t see why not. :) It’s funny, because all those features (reviews,
ratings) are what drew a lot of people to MOCpages in the first place. Ah, to
each their own I suppose. I’m working on all this stuff right now, so it might
be a week or two before the features show up, but rest assured. :)
| |
As I donated to Brickshelf, because I used it regularly, I am willing to do
the same now that I have opened a MOCpages account... do you have a paypal
account associated with MOCpages, I couldnt find a link.
|
Wow, thank you for your generosity! MOCpages used to accept donations years
ago, so the old link should still work >>
Donate to MOCpages. You really don’t need to if you don’t want, although I
suppose it would help offset the $1800 I spent on the new server yesterday. :)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, C. L. GunningCook wrote:
|
| |
| |
I am willing to do
the same now that I have opened a MOCpages account... do you have a paypal
account associated with MOCpages, I couldnt find a link.
|
Wow, thank you for your generosity! MOCpages used to accept donations years
ago, so the old link should still work >>
Donate to MOCpages. You really don’t need to if you don’t want, although I
suppose it would help offset the $1800 I spent on the new server yesterday.
:)
|
Thanks Sean, and as they say “cheques in the mail”... smile. Looking forward to
the updates, and some free time to upload a few of my MOCS.
Janey “Red Brick”
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, C. L. GunningCook wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, C. L. GunningCook wrote:
|
| |
| |
I am willing to do
the same now that I have opened a MOCpages account... do you have a paypal
account associated with MOCpages, I couldnt find a link.
|
Wow, thank you for your generosity! MOCpages used to accept donations years
ago, so the old link should still work >>
Donate to MOCpages. You really don’t need to if you don’t want, although I
suppose it would help offset the $1800 I spent on the new server yesterday.
:)
|
Thanks Sean, and as they say “cheques in the mail”... smile. Looking forward
to the updates, and some free time to upload a few of my MOCS.
Janey “Red Brick”
|
I bet he gets the cheque before I get my toothpicks. ;-)
Jude
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
Wow, thank you for your generosity! MOCpages used to accept donations years
ago, so the old link should still work >>
Donate to MOCpages. You really don’t need to if you don’t want, although I
suppose it would help offset the $1800 I spent on the new server yesterday.
:)
|
|
In lugnet.publish, C. L. GunningCook wrote:
| |
Thanks Sean, and as they say “cheques in the mail”... smile. Looking forward
to the updates, and some free time to upload a few of my MOCS.
Janey “Red Brick”
|
Janey, thank you. 5 additional people saw your post and took it upon themselves
to send donations as well. I really appreciate it, everyone... every little bit
helps.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Jason J Railton wrote:
| |
May I make a request about something that has put me off MOCpages so far? It
may be already there, but it’s the way some visitors use their comments that
put me right off.
I know a lot of people want them, but I’d like the ability to turn off
comments on the models I myself submit. Maybe have the option of
comments/votes only/no feedback, both per-model and a default setting for all
new models.
|
You can now delete reviews that were written about your LEGO creations.
It’s a first step. Eventually, when you add your LEGO creations to MOCpages,
you’ll be able to say “Let (1)Anyone, (2) Only MOCpages members, or (3) No one,
review this LEGO creation”. But for now, at least you can delete ones you don’t
like. And as always, MOCpages automatically (and I, manually) :) delete
vuglar, attacking, and rude reviews before you ever see them. :)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In anticipation of the new image
hosting and of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web server
tomorrow (that kicks the pants off the old one).
|
Following up to my last message... The new server will be set up this
afternoon, so I want to apologize ahead of time if there’s any downtime during
the transition.
MOCpages will also be running at reduced speeds during non-peak times over the
next few days... It’s automagically downloading all the photos that had been
linked from MOCpages to Brickshelf... they will be hosted on MOCpages at least
for now. So if you have a MOCpages account, your pictures are safe! No need to
recreate your pages.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sean,
I was just thinking about how cool it would be if MOCpages automatically pull
the images over from BrickShelf. Thanks for doing this!
I also have a few questions:
Will the service be limited to MOC-related pictures? Will we have to use some
other service to store non-MOC related LEGO images? (Such as events, people,
collections, boxes, set reviews, etc.)
Will it be possible to mass-upload images?
Will you allow deeplinks?
Thanks,
Akos
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Akos Kostyan wrote:
| |
Will the service be limited to MOC-related pictures?
|
While MOCpages will always be MOC-centric, I won’t restrict the service to just
MOCs. It would be great if you could casually peruse photos from big events
like Brickworld or of people’s LEGO storage systems, because these things all
tie back to the same thing: doing greatness with the brick.
The MOCpages Directory has changed a bit to better support the categorization of
things like set reviews and events. Let me know what else you think should be
there.
| |
Will it be possible to mass-upload images?
|
Mass-upload: Yes, but not immediately. (Read: Not within the next 2 weeks.)
The upload feature was written on a lot of coffee over the past 36 hours, and
right now it only supports JPG files. First on the priority list to expand it
to include other images formats (GIF, PNG, BMP, etc), as well as LDRAW and LDD
formats.
| |
Will you allow deeplinks?
|
For now, yes, deep links will work. But this might not remain permanent,
because I want MOCpages to remain a LEGO community... and not become a file
server. Deep linking increases traffic while decreasing exposure to monetizing
features like onscreen ads or other things. That said, it might be possible to
enable deep linking for members subscribing to the “full” service... I’d like to
see how traffic flows over the coming weeks before committing to an answer on
this.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
First on the priority list to expand
it to include other images formats (GIF, PNG, BMP, etc), as well as LDRAW and
LDD formats.
|
Please don’t allow BMP. It annoys me greatly when I ocassionally see those
space and bandwidth waster on Brickshelf.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Ka-On Lee wrote:
| |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
First on the priority list to expand
it to include other images formats (GIF, PNG, BMP, etc), as well as LDRAW
and LDD formats.
|
Please don’t allow BMP. It annoys me greatly when I ocassionally see those
space and bandwidth waster on Brickshelf.
|
Well, MOCpages will allow you to UPLOAD bmp files, but it will convert them to
JPGs for web viewing. No sense making the site’s traffic go up (and your wait
time go down)!
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
In anticipation of the new image
hosting and of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web
server tomorrow (that kicks the pants off the old one).
|
Following up to my last message... The new server will be set up this
afternoon, so I want to apologize ahead of time if there’s any downtime
during the transition.
MOCpages will also be running at reduced speeds during non-peak times over
the next few days... It’s automagically downloading all the photos that had
been linked from MOCpages to Brickshelf... they will be hosted on MOCpages at
least for now. So if you have a MOCpages account, your pictures are safe!
No need to recreate your pages.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
|
That is such great news. While I don’t mind creating new pages using a different
image host, the thought of changing my existing page was a bit forbidding. When
I read the same info on the site I just thought, behind that simple message
there’s been a lot of consideration and hard work. Thanks
Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
| |
In anticipation of the new image
hosting and of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web
server tomorrow (that kicks the pants off the old one).
|
|
MOCpages’ new server was installed at our data center yesterday (Tue) afternoon.
Later today (Wed) the database will be migrated to the new server... Hopefully
there won’t be any downtime, but there might be some slowness while everything
is being copied over. It’s all for the better :)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
Of course, you can also always use MOCpages with flickr, photobucket, maj, or
any other popular image hosting service... it supports full HTML in your
pages (and there are some tips on the help pages if you don’t know HTML.)
Now that Brickshelf is going I would be very sad if there weren’t a place for
everyone to gather and see what’s new. MOCpages has that great
one-stop-shopping, and I’m actively working on making it even better for
everyone (kids and adults alike). My vision has always been for the site to
be a place where people can share their ideas with each other and learn from
each other.
Over the past 4 years, MOCpages has grown, a lot... it currently gets about
20% the visitors that Brickshelf does. In anticipation of the new image
hosting and of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web server
tomorrow (that kicks the pants off the old one). They’ll both run together
to balance the site’s traffic. I also am interested in recruiting some
moderators to help keep posts, uploads, and other user-generated content
appropriate. Anyone interested?
I want to assure you that MOCpages won’t suffer the same fate as Brickshelf.
MOCpages has been covering its costs for a few years now, and I plan on
implementing new revenue streams to keep the site running strong with the new
added services. I’d like to implement a (quota/capped) free hosting service,
coupled with a subscription service for greater (or unlimited) service. (a
la flickr). Right now the new image hosting service is free... but that’s
just because I wanted to get it ready for everyone as quickly as possible! :)
The subscription service will be supplemented with sponsorhip and other
partnerships to keep revenue balanced. LEGO activities are my full time job,
and MOCpages is a major chunk of my business operations. It’s not going
anywhere, and neither am I.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
|
Sean, You’re a hero. I’ve had most of my stuff on MOCpages for a few years now,
and while comments people write about my MOCs sometimes annoy me, overall I’ve
been really happy with it. Being able to add a little information to the
pictures and being able to get some feedback is just great.
I was very worried that the demise of brickshelf would have a knock-on effect on
MOCpages as well. Fortunately it hasn’t. Thanks to your quick actions, my
creations are still safe on MOCpages and available for everybody to see:
http://www.mocpages.com/home.php/2168
Many thanks,
Ralph
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
Of course, you can also always use MOCpages with flickr, photobucket, maj, or
any other popular image hosting service... it supports full HTML in your
pages (and there are some tips on the help pages if you don’t know HTML.)
Now that Brickshelf is going I would be very sad if there weren’t a place for
everyone to gather and see what’s new. MOCpages has that great
one-stop-shopping, and I’m actively working on making it even better for
everyone (kids and adults alike). My vision has always been for the site to
be a place where people can share their ideas with each other and learn from
each other.
Over the past 4 years, MOCpages has grown, a lot... it currently gets about
20% the visitors that Brickshelf does. In anticipation of the new image
hosting and of lots of new users, MOCpages is getting a spiffy new web server
tomorrow (that kicks the pants off the old one). They’ll both run together
to balance the site’s traffic. I also am interested in recruiting some
moderators to help keep posts, uploads, and other user-generated content
appropriate. Anyone interested?
I want to assure you that MOCpages won’t suffer the same fate as Brickshelf.
MOCpages has been covering its costs for a few years now, and I plan on
implementing new revenue streams to keep the site running strong with the new
added services. I’d like to implement a (quota/capped) free hosting service,
coupled with a subscription service for greater (or unlimited) service. (a
la flickr). Right now the new image hosting service is free... but that’s
just because I wanted to get it ready for everyone as quickly as possible! :)
The subscription service will be supplemented with sponsorhip and other
partnerships to keep revenue balanced. LEGO activities are my full time job,
and MOCpages is a major chunk of my business operations. It’s not going
anywhere, and neither am I.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
|
Thanks for hooking this up, Sean. Looking forward to a new and improved
MOCpages.
Very much appreciated!
Best,
Jonathan
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
This is something I was hoping would happen as a result of the discontinuation
of Brickshelf. I for one would gladly pay to use MOC pages -- although my
concern is that that would make it difficult for kids to use the site. As for
the MOC comments, I am weary about allowing people who are not members of MOC
pages to leave comments. As someone who has gotten threatening emails because of
my Lego models I would like to know who is commenting on my stuff.
I would like to thank MOC pages for standing up and offering a solution to what
I think is a serious crisis to the AFOL community. If there is anything I can do
to help (I’ve got skilz) let me know.
Thanks,
Brent
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Sean -
It looks great. Thanks for that new feature.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
snip> Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
|
Sean,
Thank you very much.
Brian Darrow
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.announce, Sean Kenney wrote:
| |
Hi, everyone...
With the looming shut-down of Brickshelf, I would like to offer
MOCpages as a safe alternative for everyone to
continue posting their LEGO creations. In light of this, MOCpages now offers
free image hosting.
...
I want to assure you that MOCpages won’t suffer the same fate as Brickshelf.
MOCpages has been covering its costs for a few years now, and I plan on
implementing new revenue streams to keep the site running strong with the new
added services. I’d like to implement a (quota/capped) free hosting service,
coupled with a subscription service for greater (or unlimited) service. (a
la flickr). Right now the new image hosting service is free... but that’s
just because I wanted to get it ready for everyone as quickly as possible! :)
The subscription service will be supplemented with sponsorhip and other
partnerships to keep revenue balanced. LEGO activities are my full time job,
and MOCpages is a major chunk of my business operations. It’s not going
anywhere, and neither am I.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
LEGO Certified Professional
guy on LUGNET since 1997
Friend
And lots more I’m sure...
|
First of all, thank you for providing mocpages.
When I posted my Fisher Building MOC on your site, a person from MichLUG left a
review and that is how I found out about that club of which I am now a member.
I would support your idea of a two tier system similar to flickr.com that would
be free for low to medium resolution images up to a maximum number of MOCs or
photos and a premium service that provides unlimited (or at least more) space.
Without the free entry level tier, many kids would not get started with sharing
their mocs and potentially becoming part of the community. I think that at this
point I have spent enough on Lego that I could spare some money to pay for a
premium service.
Without a solution like yours, the use of flickr or photo bucket would just
result in the disapation of the Lego community in the wider world of photography
no matter how many tags we attach to the pictures.
Thanks for coming to the rescue.
-Jim (DecoJim) Garrett
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
Hi, everybody.
With all that’s been going on, a lot of people have been asking me things like:
“what should I do?”
“Should I stay on Brickshelf or move to MOCpages?”
“How do I know if any of these services are safe?”
Let me start by saying that Kevin did an amazing job offering Brickshelf to all
of us for free, and it’s always been a valuable core to the fan communities. I
have hundreds of pictures there, myself. And I know from my own experience
running MOCpages that what he’s done has not been easy.
This is my plan, and what I intend to do for the good of all you guys.
MOCpages is, and always has been, a place to share your LEGO creations.
Pictures are a very important part of sharing a LEGO creation, but what’s even
better that just browsing files is being about to read about creations, to hear
what people think, to get ideas, and to learn and grow from each other. And
I’ve always believed very strongly in that. That’s why I started MOCpages, and
I firmly believe that’s why you guys all use it.
The changes I’ve made to MOCpages this week are here to stay. In fact, I will
continue to expand MOCpages’ services so that it can continue to grow with the
community and be a strong and solid core for fans everywhere, for years to come.
This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, but only recently has it become
obvious to me that it’s really needed.
“Who is Sean? Can I trust this guy?”
For those of you that don’t know me, I’ve been heavily involved in the community
for a long time. I’ve been collaborating on LUGNET and RTL for over 10 years. I
helped launch LEGO Factory with The LEGO Company back in 2003. I build town,
sculpture, and micro, although few know I have a huge ‘80s space collection. :)
Together with folks like Robin Sather, I helped create the LEGO Ambassadors
program. (I designed that logo!) :) I have good working professional
relationships with many, many LEGO Company employees, and speak with them daily.
And I’m one of the world’s five LEGO Certified Professionals; my full-time,
self-employed, day-job is creating LEGO sculptures and running MOCpages. Before
I became a full-time “LEGO guy” I worked for 10 years designing humane,
approachable, and purposeful solutions for web applications.
Money?
As a business owner, I know that the only way to keep any service alive is to
run it with a solid financial plan. For years now, MOCpages has been paying its
own bills, covering the cost of servers, upgrades, moderation, and maintinence.
But as the site grows, these will expenses grow, and I will be rolling out three
additional revenue streams: 1) membership, 2) sponsorship, and 3) affilliations.
The purpose of diversified income is so that there is no failure point; if one
pulls in less money for some reason, the others can cover it. I’ll have more
details on the specifics of these later, because right now I’m still putting the
business plan togther.
Because “paid memberships” have been a sticking point here in the forums lately,
I want to address it specifically. I’ve been analyzing how people use sites
like MOCpages and Brickshelf, and how they share their creations. The continued
free MOCpages service will be designed so that most of you can still use (and be
very happy with) the service not having to pay anything. Those who want to flex
their virutal muscles can sign up for a paid membership, of which there will be
two levels. (Basic and Premium, for example.) The two paid levels will get you
all sorts of really cool features in addition to just more storage or other
“basic nessecities”. I’m excited about them, frankly, and I’ll share more when
development of these cool new features is underway and price points are
available. I want to stress again that MOCpages will stay fundamentally free,
much as it is today.
AFOLs rock
But it all comes back to you guys. MOCpages is only a success because of the of
people use it. Last month, over 1.2 million people came to see your creations.
And 85% of the regulars show up every day. It fills me with joy to hear things
like DecoJim’s story, who found a club
and made friends, all because of MOCpages. (And he’s one of my favorite
builders, to boot!)
So to answer those questions, “what should I do?” ... I’d personally love to see
you guys come to MOCpages. It’s up to you, of course, but we’re going to have a
great time there and it’s only going to get better.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Sean Kenney wrote:
Hi Sean, and thank you for MOCPages.
| |
“Who is Sean? Can I trust this guy?”
|
Basically, I trust people.
I trust people from the start.
But who runs MOCPages? You and you alone? Not a team?
Without the ldraw.org team, Ldraw would have died with Jesse. And that’s
basically the same problem with BS.
The deal is not “can I trust this guy” but “can I trust this website”.
Tell me there is a team behind you.
Didier
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, Didier Enjary wrote:
| |
Without the ldraw.org team, Ldraw would have died with Jesse. And that’s
basically the same problem with BS.
|
Is this true? Didn’t Tim Courtney establish the LDRAW committee in 1999, well
after (and due to) James Jessiman’s passing in 1997? Furthermore, James was
developing an open standard, he wasn’t providing a service or a selling a
product. These are two very different things.
Brickshelf isn’t having problems because it is run by one person; it’s having
problems because it can’t cover its operating costs. That can happen anywhere.
Ford Motor Company can’t cover its operating costs either, and it has hundreds
of thousands of employees.
| |
But who runs MOCPages? You and you alone? Not a team?
The deal is not “can I trust this guy” but “can I trust this website”.
Tell me there is a team behind you.
|
MOCpages doesn’t need a staff of employees to keep it running. I’m not without
some help, though...
At our datacenter, a team of people are paid to back up the data every day,
monitor the systems, repair or upgrade the computers, keep the power running,
install security patches, and so on. Content, like reviews, are auto-moderated
by MOCpages by detecting bad content (vulgar, attacking, etc). It forwards
anything it’s not sure about to me for manual moderation. Soon, pages and image
uploads will require moderation before becoming public... about 10 volunteers
have offered to help do this.
Am I central to MOCpages? Of course! Running MOCpages part of my
full time job. Could MOCpages transition to
someone else if I got hit by a bus? Of course.
In this regard, MOCpages is much like LUGNET. LUGNET was run by by Todd &
Suzanne for years... And they were able to disinvolve themselves and
successfully transistioned the community to Rene.
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
Am I central to MOCpages? Of course! Running MOCpages part of my
full time job.
|
| |
Could MOCpages transition
to someone else if I got hit by a bus?
Of course.
|
That’s exactly what I wanted to read. Take care of you and beware of the bus.
Didier
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
You have said that old postings on MOCpages that use Brickshelf for image
hosting will automatically have the images copied to MOCpages and the pages
updated to use your hosting. Two questions about this:
1. Is this still true, now that Kevin has given a reprieve for Brickshelf?
2. What happens if someone posts a NEW entry on MOCpages that references
Brickshelf? Will it copy the images in that case as well?
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.publish, William R. Ward wrote:
| |
You have said that old postings on MOCpages that use Brickshelf for image
hosting will automatically have the images copied to MOCpages and the pages
updated to use your hosting. Two questions about this:
1. Is this still true, now that Kevin has given a reprieve for Brickshelf?
|
Yes. There are about 130,000 images that were linked to Brickshelf from all the
pages on MOCpages. I’ve now copied all 130,000 of them over to MOCpages and
they’ll be linked to your pages very soon.
This applies to all the images that were linked via the “main photo” or if you
pointed your page to a brickshelf gallery, (and/or adding captions to those
photos). If, however, you used HTML in your pages to embed pictures with <img>
tags you’ll have to find those images and save them manually. I’d actually like
to parse through, find them all, and save them also -- but given the initial
2-week deadline I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough time.
| |
2. What happens if someone posts a NEW entry on MOCpages that references
Brickshelf? Will it copy the images in that case as well?
|
No, the copying process was a one-time thing. I’d reccomend you use MOCpages’
new image uploader going fowards. You can always manually link to images (with
HTML <img> tags) to Brickshelf (or Photobucket, or flickr, or wherever else)
but you do so at your own risk. :)
Sean
- - -
MOCpages admin
www.mocpages.com
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
Sean,
Firstly, thank you very much for adding image hosting to MOCPages and for
automatically pulling over our photos from Brickshelf!
For some time now, I’ve had to look through both Brickshelf and MOCPages and
update both. I can’t thank Kevin enough for hosting Brickshelf all of these
years, but I will be glad to see both services under one roof.
As I’ve offered Kevin, I’d certainly be willing to pay for continued service
(like LUGNET and flikr). I’m sure that most of the AFOLs would; especially if
there was more of a community-type aspect that was suggested in another
response.
I’d like to see a main screen similar to Bricklink (good use of space and icon
driven) that would take you to where you want to go. I’m into trains, and don’t
want to see Bionicles and Guns. It would be nice, to immediately click on a
train icon, or to have the site remember my preference.
I have built several websites, and would be happy to help.
I would also like to address another concern. Many of us create amazing
creations. In fact, if you search for trains, cars, bionicles, or whatever, you
are going to find a very large number of excellent models. My concern is, how
soon will it be before TLG is no longer able to come up with something that
someone else already has? Would it be a good idea to have some kind of checkbox
when images are uploaded that states that it is OK for TLG to use my design in
part or in full?
Again, thank you so much for doing this!
Scott
http://www.mocpages.com/home.php/6556
| | | | | | |
