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Subject: 
Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 19:00:36 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
5968 times
  
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 20:21:17 GMT
Viewed: 
5380 times
  
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven

Ah, crud. This stinks, seriously. I was going to rebuild my Black Falcon's
Fortress next month, too, but I didn't download the instructions yet because I
figured they'd always be there.


However, I have a simple solution: Host the library via BitTorrent. I would very
gladly seed it for a loooong loooong time.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 20:38:08 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
5493 times
  
In lugnet.general, Ron Penton wrote:
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. >
However, I have a simple solution: Host the library via BitTorrent. I would very
gladly seed it for a loooong loooong time.

What about legofan.org picking this up?

Jude


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 20:42:52 GMT
Viewed: 
5520 times
  
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
   The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following message ...

“Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries disappear?

-Steven

I’m trying to not go into a total panic on this. Even if we can shift everything over to Maj.com, it would be a huge hit to the community. For one, not everyone will shift everything over, either because they don’t reallize that the site is dying (I personally never go to the front page of Brickshelf--my bookmark goes directly to “/cgi-bin/recent.cgi”), because they’ve either left the hobby altogether or taken a break (e.g., someone who goes away to school), or, tragically, those AFOLs like Travis Kunce or others that we’ve lost. So a large number of MOCs would be lost to the community. Even if Kevin saved the whole database, or switched it all over to Maj.com, all links would be broken! Therefore any links page, any archived post on Lugnet or some other forum, would become immediately useless.

I don’t think I’m overstating things to say that Lugnet, Peeron, Brickset, 1000Steine.de, Classic-Castle, or just about any major AFOL site could die and the community would recover. Brickshelf, OTOH, is another matter altogether. If we lost that we’d be reeling for a long time.

Is there any foundation to these fears? Is Brickshelf going away, is there anything we can do? I know that I’m always intending to send in a donation but never seem to get to it. I’m sure there are tons of other AFOLs who would similarly be willing to donate. Could we do a fund drive? Has Jake been notified? Is there anything LEGO can do? Or are they the “major sponsor” that has been lost?

Kevin? What is the story? What can we do?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.

Bruce


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 20:56:37 GMT
Viewed: 
5354 times
  
In lugnet.general, Ron Penton wrote:
  
Ah, crud. This stinks, seriously. I was going to rebuild my Black Falcon’s Fortress next month, too, but I didn’t download the instructions yet because I figured they’d always be there.

Have you visited The Brick Factory http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick ?

You can probably find the instructions there.

-Steven


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 21:04:00 GMT
Viewed: 
5159 times
  
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven

What's the traffic for the instructions?  I mean I've been running a little
website for years and if you need hosting space, I'll get a somewhat large HD
installed.  I can't guarantee 100 percent uptime, but for the past 10 years, my
little site's only been down for max 4 hours.

So there's the offer.

Dave K


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 21:04:05 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
6157 times
  
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

Brickshelf.com is not going away, at least not if I can help it.  I am working
with someone to rehost the instruction scans, and they will be in
their new home as soon as we can get them moved and they can get the necessary
permission from LEGO.  I expect the new caretakers will do a better job
than I ever did, and especially better than I have lately.

It is my intent to keep the brickshelf gallery online for the forseeable future,
though performance may be limited and new uploads may be disabled at
some point.

- Kevin


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 21:32:29 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
5758 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Loch wrote:

Brickshelf.com is not going away, at least not if I can help it.  I am working
with someone to rehost the instruction scans, and they will be in
their new home as soon as we can get them moved and they can get the necessary
permission from LEGO.  I expect the new caretakers will do a better job
than I ever did, and especially better than I have lately.

It is my intent to keep the brickshelf gallery online for the forseeable future,
though performance may be limited and new uploads may be disabled at
some point.

- Kevin

Thanks, Kevin!

That message about transferring files to maj.com made it sound like the
galleries were going away, too.

Is there anything we can do to help? I've already donated, but would be happy to
add to my donation if there's a funding crisis.

Also, any way you can warn us before uploading is disabled or keep us up-to-date
on changes to avoid another panic?

Thanks again.

-Steven


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 21:37:46 GMT
Viewed: 
5512 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:

I'm trying to not go into a total panic on this.  Even if we can shift
everything over to Maj.com, it would be a huge hit to the community.  For
one, not everyone will shift everything over, either because they don't
reallize that the site is dying (I personally never go to the front page of
Brickshelf--my bookmark goes directly to "/cgi-bin/recent.cgi"), because
they've either left the hobby altogether or taken a break (e.g., someone who
goes away to school), or, tragically, those AFOLs like Travis Kunce or others
that we've lost.  So a large number of MOCs would be lost to the community.
Even if Kevin saved the whole database, or switched it all over to Maj.com,
all links would be broken! Therefore any links page, any archived post on
Lugnet or some other forum, would become immediately useless.

Raised some good points. I had similar thoughts/feelings on reading the news.
This is big, and it's bad.

Don't forget we've already lost MOCPages (at least for the moment; I've crossed
my fingers) So losing BS would be like losing a fat chunk of the very essence of
the lego community. Who are we as builders without pictures of our creations?

The first thing I tell anyone who is a novice, or shows even a mild interest in
LEGO is to browse Brickshelf-- not LUGNET, since the words here are all but
meaningless to them. But pics? Everyone understands pics. I sincerely hope this
is not the end.

:`-(

Legoswami


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 22:16:21 GMT
Viewed: 
6242 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:

   I’m trying to not go into a total panic on this. Even if Kevin saved the whole database, or switched it all over to Maj.com, all links would be broken! Therefore any links page, any archived post on Lugnet or some other forum, would become immediately useless.

That is not necessarily true; brickshelf.com could run a simple CGI that redirects any queries to the corresponding location on maj.com. Since they seem to be running the same software and have the same URL structure, it would be pretty trivial to do.

But maj.com appears to be run by Brickshelf LLC. So I don’t understand why brickshelf would go down, yet maj.com stay up. The only extra expense for brickshelf, as far as I can see, would be the domain name, which is about $60/year.

To me, maj.com is a pretty poor substitute. Going there today, none of the folders shown on the first couple of recent-folders pages were LEGO. They were a bunch of junk I don’t care to wade through looking for new MOCs. The server code could be reworked a bit to give ALEs (*) their own subdomain or some such, allowing us to see only the LEGO-related pictures, but I’m not too optimistic about that happening.

I’m a software engineer, and this has me looking at it as an engineering problem... if brickshelf does go away, or stop accepting uploads, then we need to replace it with something. We want it to be something reliable, that won’t disappear years from now. That’s tough to do -- people change, big life (and death) events happen, so anything that depends on one person or a small group will ultimately fail.

Two ideas come to mind:

1. We could make an open-source project for the CGI code that runs a site, and set it up so that the code can be run on multiple sites which will mirror each other. Then we would probably get a couple of mirrors going around the world, just to give fast localized service. But then if any one site goes down, the others will take up the slack, and if (for example) there is no longer a site in the U.S., it’s virtually certain that somebody will set one up.

2. We could eschew the web entirely and make a custom (but fairly simple) peer-to-peer file sharing system, like Napster or Gnutella but just for LEGO images (and perhaps other media?). We could write it in something cross-platform like REALbasic, and again, make it open source so that it can’t die as long as at least one programmer is interested in it.

Of the two, option 1 is probably preferable, for several reasons. The open-source project could also have a central “dispatch server” with a stable domain name, which doesn’t serve any files, but merely redirects any queries to the closest mirror site. That way, we could have stable, uniform URLs linking into the gallery, even as individual servers come and go.

If this sounds like a good idea to anyone, I’d certainly participate in the development work. But of course I’d still like to hear more about the future of brickshelf.com before we start scrambling for a replacement.

Best,
- Joe

(*) ALE = Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer term I prefer over AFOL.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away? Or: Can we take action to prevent?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 22:57:32 GMT
Viewed: 
5550 times
  
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:

I'm trying to not go into a total panic on this.  Even if we can shift
everything over to Maj.com, it would be a huge hit to the community.  For
one, not everyone will shift everything over, either because they don't
reallize that the site is dying (I personally never go to the front page of
Brickshelf--my bookmark goes directly to "/cgi-bin/recent.cgi"), because
they've either left the hobby altogether or taken a break (e.g., someone who
goes away to school), or, tragically, those AFOLs like Travis Kunce or others
that we've lost.  So a large number of MOCs would be lost to the community.
Even if Kevin saved the whole database, or switched it all over to Maj.com,
all links would be broken! Therefore any links page, any archived post on
Lugnet or some other forum, would become immediately useless.

Raised some good points. I had similar thoughts/feelings on reading the news.
This is big, and it's bad.

Don't forget we've already lost MOCPages (at least for the moment; I've crossed
my fingers) So losing BS would be like losing a fat chunk of the very essence of
the lego community. Who are we as builders without pictures of our creations?

The first thing I tell anyone who is a novice, or shows even a mild interest in
LEGO is to browse Brickshelf-- not LUGNET, since the words here are all but
meaningless to them. But pics? Everyone understands pics. I sincerely hope this
is not the end.

:`-(

Legoswami


Eeesh, let us hope that this is not the case. Let this only be a duck and cover
drill...

Lugnet, Brickshelf, MOC pages are the three points of conjunction for all LEGO
interests. This would be really bad, as in a death blow to the greater
community. I have already withdrawn my own pics and am planning to host them on
a new site of my own. Which means that my small input of creativity will only be
seen by friends who know my site. Now magnify this by a hundred for all of the
people in this community. The seperate communities I think would find ways to
carry on, but the grand community would be gone.

This is like the burning of the Library of Alexandria (sp), if this happens, it
won't be long before we all de-evolve into primitve, barbaric brick building.

I think that before we sweat any more bullets, we need to hear the full details
of what is happening, and change the subject line to something more fitting,
that is IF Brickshelf is not going away. If it is, then we need to hear how we
AFOLs (ALEs) can take action and prevent the oncoming LEGO dark ages.

We will not go silently into the night!

By the way, as a novice turning moderate, I agree with the perusing Brickshelf
-- long hours of homework done there can do wonders to one's building skills.

Let's hear some news on what is happening, and what is going to happen. We AFOLs
will rally to the cause, I'm sure.

-Avery


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 22:59:23 GMT
Viewed: 
5503 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:

snip 8< snip 8<
  
But maj.com appears to be run by Brickshelf LLC. So I don’t understand why
brickshelf would go down, yet maj.com stay up. The only extra expense for
brickshelf, as far as I can see, would be the domain name, which is about
$60/year.

$60/year? I Never pay that much for a domain! I can’t believe people still do!
Here’s where I shop: http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?e=com
There may be better deals out there.
If you’re looking for a deal on hosting, try this: http://www.powweb.com/

snip 8< snip 8<

   (*) ALE = Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer term I prefer over AFOL.
I like that too. Sounds WAY more to the point.

Scott “Don’t pay too much for domains and hosting” Frischmann


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 23:45:35 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
6044 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Loch wrote:
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

Brickshelf.com is not going away, at least not if I can help it.  I am working
with someone to rehost the instruction scans, and they will be in
their new home as soon as we can get them moved and they can get the necessary
permission from LEGO.  I expect the new caretakers will do a better job
than I ever did, and especially better than I have lately.

It is my intent to keep the brickshelf gallery online for the forseeable future,
though performance may be limited and new uploads may be disabled at
some point.

- Kevin

The web is wonderful but it ain't permanent or free. If the people who use
brickshelf think so much of it (and I have always been impressed with it), then
they should be willing to pay for a subscription to upload and download images.
Or have a fundraiser to endow it with enough money to keep it going in
perpetuity. And host it with a hosting company that will be around. Just my
thoughts. If someone can make a profit or at least break even, then it is much
less likely for it to go away.

Tommy ARmstrong


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 23:52:10 GMT
Viewed: 
5810 times
  
As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go here:

The Brick Factory <http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick>

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both
bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.



"Steven Asbury" <stevenasbury@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:IH5wt0.1nGx@lugnet.com...
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the
following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are
no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new
home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to
maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf
going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 01:54:41 GMT
Viewed: 
5992 times
  
In lugnet.general, Tony Kilaras wrote:
   As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go here:

The Brick Factory http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.

Just out of curiosity, how much data is that? Could it fit on a single DVD?

David “Fuzzy” Gregory


Subject: 
Re: MOC Pages is OK, just down temporarily
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 02:02:47 GMT
Viewed: 
5496 times
  
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
   Don’t forget we’ve already lost MOCPages (at least for the moment; I’ve crossed my fingers) So losing BS would be like losing a fat chunk of the very essence of the lego community. Who are we as builders without pictures of our creations?

Jake said that MOC Pages is OK (see here); it’s just that Sean Kenney is away on his honeymoon, so he can’t fix the glitch that’s got the site down.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 04:08:45 GMT
Viewed: 
6270 times
  
Yeah, I'd be interested in instruction scans on a DVD.  I never slogged through
Brickshelf to build a DVD, because I didn't want to chew up KL's bandwidth.


David \"Fuzzy\" Gregory wrote:

In lugnet.general, Tony Kilaras wrote:
As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go here:

The Brick Factory <http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick>

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both
bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.

Just out of curiosity, how much data is that?  Could it fit on a single DVD?

David "Fuzzy" Gregory

--
Tom Stangl
*http://www.vfaq.com/
*DSM Visual FAQ home
*http://www.vfaq.net/
*Prius Visual FAQ Home


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 04:22:37 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
6298 times
  
In lugnet.general, Tommy Armstrong wrote:

The web is wonderful but it ain't permanent or free. If the people who use
brickshelf think so much of it (and I have always been impressed with it), then
they should be willing to pay for a subscription to upload and download images.

I'd certainly be for micropayments for uploading images. I don't know how many
images are uploaded each day/week/month, but at $.01 each, I should think the
income might add up, yet wouldn't break anybody.

It'd be nice to keep the ability to view images free, though, since it opens up
the building community to the rest of the world.

Rick C.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 08:43:29 GMT
Viewed: 
5496 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
But maj.com appears to be run by Brickshelf LLC.  So I don't understand why
brickshelf would go down, yet maj.com stay up.  The only extra expense for
brickshelf, as far as I can see, would be the domain name, which is about
$60/year.

maj.com probably gets more ad revenue since its audience is wider and the ads
are more varied.  I'm not sure why that couldn't subsidize BS though...
--Bram


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 16:19:57 GMT
Viewed: 
5521 times
  
   What about legofan.org picking this up?

I totally agree. It appears from the spolighting of your post, others do as well...

I’ve carried your suggestion to LEGOFan.org

Felix


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 21:39:57 GMT
Viewed: 
7356 times
  
The total is about 1 DVD and 3 CD's, if anyone is interested, please contact
me by email
the lot is also downloadable at:

ftp://ftp.hobby.nl/pub/brick/scans

Bert
http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick


"Tom Stangl, VFAQman" <talonts@vfaq.com> schreef in bericht
news:4297EECD.7B077A1F@vfaq.com...
Yeah, I'd be interested in instruction scans on a DVD.  I never slogged
through
Brickshelf to build a DVD, because I didn't want to chew up KL's
bandwidth.


David \"Fuzzy\" Gregory wrote:

In lugnet.general, Tony Kilaras wrote:
As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go
here:

The Brick Factory <http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick>

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both
bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.

Just out of curiosity, how much data is that?  Could it fit on a single
DVD?

David "Fuzzy" Gregory

--
Tom Stangl
*http://www.vfaq.com/
*DSM Visual FAQ home
*http://www.vfaq.net/
*Prius Visual FAQ Home




Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 29 May 2005 02:25:53 GMT
Viewed: 
6032 times
  
Instructions: 6.5 gigs (all zip files). Some of these files also have box
art.
Catalogs: 1.25 gigs (all zip files)

Most DVDs store 4.7 gigs. A double layer DVD (8+ gigs) would fit this all.

"David "Fuzzy" Gregory" <crazylegoman@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:IH6Fz5.KL0@lugnet.com...
In lugnet.general, Tony Kilaras wrote:
As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go
here:

The Brick Factory <http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick>

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both
bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.

Just out of curiosity, how much data is that?  Could it fit on a single
DVD?

David "Fuzzy" Gregory


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 29 May 2005 02:37:05 GMT
Viewed: 
6378 times
  
I started downloading the instructions back in 1999. Whenever something new
became available, I would download it. Slow and steady. Easy like Sunday
mornin'. I doubt this bothered Kevin :)

Along the way, I would replace brickshelf scans with better versions when
they became available (ie the Brickfactory and lego.com) and supplement the
instructions with box art and sticker scans. I'm not happy with some of the
scans and will eventually get around to replacing these from my own
instructions, maybe when my kids are grown and I have more free time :)

I also have a some Megabloks instructions, (330 megs, mostly pdf files) from
the megabloks website.

One of the best ways to learn how to biuld is to study the masters. Short of
sitting down with a masterbuilder, poring over instructions are the next
best thing (especially TECHNIC instructions).

"Tom Stangl, VFAQman" <talonts@vfaq.com> wrote in message
news:4297EECD.7B077A1F@vfaq.com...
Yeah, I'd be interested in instruction scans on a DVD.  I never slogged
through
Brickshelf to build a DVD, because I didn't want to chew up KL's
bandwidth.


David \"Fuzzy\" Gregory wrote:

In lugnet.general, Tony Kilaras wrote:
As a heads up, anyone in need of instructions or catalog scans can go
here:

The Brick Factory <http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick>

I have also downloaded every catalog and instructions scan from both
bricksehlf and the Brick Factory. E-mail me with a request.

Just out of curiosity, how much data is that?  Could it fit on a single
DVD?

David "Fuzzy" Gregory

--
Tom Stangl
*http://www.vfaq.com/
*DSM Visual FAQ home
*http://www.vfaq.net/
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Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 30 May 2005 04:37:43 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
5772 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Loch wrote:

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Brickshelf.com is not going away, at least not if I can help it.  I am working
with someone to rehost the instruction scans, and they will be in
their new home as soon as we can get them moved and they can get the necessary
permission from LEGO.  I expect the new caretakers will do a better job
than I ever did, and especially better than I have lately.

It is my intent to keep the brickshelf gallery online for the forseeable future,
though performance may be limited and new uploads may be disabled at
some point.

- Kevin

Is there a reason why the major sponsor was lost? Correct me if I'm wrong, but
wasn't The LEGO Group itself sponsoring or co-sponsoring the instruction scans?
Did this loss come with any warning?


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 30 May 2005 09:03:48 GMT
Viewed: 
6191 times
  
In lugnet.general, Rick Clark wrote:
In lugnet.general, Tommy Armstrong wrote:

The web is wonderful but it ain't permanent or free. If the people who use
brickshelf think so much of it (and I have always been impressed with it), then
they should be willing to pay for a subscription to upload and download images.

I'd certainly be for micropayments for uploading images. I don't know how many
images are uploaded each day/week/month, but at $.01 each, I should think the
income might add up, yet wouldn't break anybody.

It'd be nice to keep the ability to view images free, though, since it opens up
the building community to the rest of the world.

Agreed. I havent looked much at maj.com, but there are tonnes of other pictures
than lego.
Micropayments on Bricklink could be the way.

But - my opinion - it should be by used storages. Some people upload _huge_
pictures of sizes of e.g. 1MB - I resize mine so the fit the screen size, and
take only 50-100 Kb -> 10% of a large image.
And I guess that resizing larger pictures could free a lot of space on the
server.

So, I suggest, that e.g. for every 50 Kb uploaded one should an amount. The
amount to pay is not for me to comment, Kevin knows more.

This way people will pay for how much the actually use, and my point - it would
be more pleasent to view pictures, when you actually can see more than just the
corner of it.

PS: paypal is one solution, but do think of something else for us, who cannot
use paypal!

PPS: I know that newer versions of IE resizes pictures, but keep in mind -
luckily there are other browsers in use ;-)



Kevin, can you comment on this?
Would it help, it people uploaded smaller pictures for the server size?


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 30 May 2005 15:13:35 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
5810 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Loch wrote:

Brickshelf.com is not going away, at least not if I can help it.  I am working
with someone to rehost the instruction scans, and they will be in
their new home as soon as we can get them moved and they can get the necessary
permission from LEGO.  I expect the new caretakers will do a better job
than I ever did, and especially better than I have lately.

It is my intent to keep the brickshelf gallery online for the forseeable future,
though performance may be limited and new uploads may be disabled at
some point.

- Kevin

I seem to be getting some decidely mixed signals.  Should we be migrating our
files?  If Brickshelf is not going away, why tell us to go away?  If uploads go
away, Brickshelf becomes an archive only and is effectively dead for the future.

If this is a warning that Brickshelf may end up dead or (further) crippled, then
I think you may wish to state that more clearly rather than the current
confusion.  Any clarification on the situation would be appreciated.  Thanks,
and best wishes to a great service and all the people involved.

-->Bruce<--


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 07:11:18 GMT
Viewed: 
5464 times
  
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven

Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or
something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has. So
that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.

Thanks,
Saso


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 17:54:56 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
6566 times
  
In lugnet.general, Rick Clark wrote:
I'd certainly be for micropayments for uploading images. I don't know how many
images are uploaded each day/week/month, but at $.01 each, I should think the
income might add up, yet wouldn't break anybody.

It'd be nice to keep the ability to view images free, though, since it opens up
the building community to the rest of the world.

Yes I would also support a free to view, pay to upload system on Brickshelf.

I don't know how much work it would take to implement this, but you could have a
monthly, quarterly, and/or annual subscription fee that may give you (un)limited
uploading priveleges (ok maybe limit the total size of your files depending on
your subscription "package").  Or, users can also choose a "pay as you go"
method, maybe a few cents ($0.02?) per picture with additional restrictions.

Charging users to upload (with file size limits) would do the following two
things (at least):

1) Make users think twice about uploading out of focus (or poorly taken)
pictures, or huge pictures (both in file size and dimensions).  Files that don't
meet the restrictions will be force users to resize and/or convert them.

2) Help pay for maintaining the server, and all other associated costs.

I think that switching over to a pay to upload system would simply "weed out"
the not-so-serious AFOLs/ALEs.  Hopefully, it would encourage Brickshelf users
to transfer/exchange more "standardized" and better quality files.  For those
that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting
services and picture hosting sites out there...

-Bryan


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:18:47 GMT
Viewed: 
6865 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
Charging users to upload (with file size limits) would do the following two
things (at least):

1) Make users think twice about uploading out of focus (or poorly taken)
pictures, or huge pictures (both in file size and dimensions).  Files that don't
meet the restrictions will be force users to resize and/or convert them.

I think that this is a very important point. IMHO big images are just a waste of
bandwidth (people get frustruated anyway when they realise the dimensions of the
image, and hit back in disgust) as well as space.
Also, delete unused accounts, after a set period of time.

I think that switching over to a pay to upload system would simply "weed out"
the not-so-serious AFOLs/ALEs.  Hopefully, it would encourage Brickshelf users

I don't think the point here is to weed people out. If some relative unknown has
a one-off cool idea he wants to share (and, I want to see), he's highly unlikely
to pay for it.

I think a system similar to the one on LUGNET would be great. (Where you can
post messages for free, but by becoming a full member you get a lot of
additional perks.) You could for example, lay down a rules that limit the size
of the picture, and are more stringent toward quality for those who are 'free'
members, and ask for a nominal fee from the rest.

to transfer/exchange more "standardized" and better quality files.  For those
that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting
services and picture hosting sites out there...

True, but I don't want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one
cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

Legoswami


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:31:25 GMT
Viewed: 
6651 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Rick Clark wrote:
   I’d certainly be for micropayments for uploading images. I don’t know how many images are uploaded each day/week/month, but at $.01 each, I should think the income might add up, yet wouldn’t break anybody.

It’d be nice to keep the ability to view images free, though, since it opens up the building community to the rest of the world.

Yes I would also support a free to view, pay to upload system on Brickshelf.

I don’t know how much work it would take to implement this, but you could have a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual subscription fee that may give you (un)limited uploading priveleges (ok maybe limit the total size of your files depending on your subscription “package”). Or, users can also choose a “pay as you go” method, maybe a few cents ($0.02?) per picture with additional restrictions.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I would not be willing to pay $0.02 or even $0.01 per picture I put on Brickshelf. With that pricing scheme, I’d much sooner setup my own domain and pay for a website hosting.

   I think that switching over to a pay to upload system would simply “weed out” the not-so-serious AFOLs/ALEs. Hopefully, it would encourage Brickshelf users to transfer/exchange more “standardized” and better quality files. For those that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting services and picture hosting sites out there...

I’d be suprised if anyone started out as a serious ALE. When I first got into building, I’d have never paid to show pictures on Brickshelf. I just wouldn’t have shared my creations. And not sharing my creations means that I might not have grown as a builder. (Well *I* might have, as I’d probably have gotten feedback from MichLUG members, but not every person getting into the hobby has an active club near them.)

Jason Spears | BrickShelf Gallery | MichLUG | CLB


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:49:50 GMT
Viewed: 
6855 times
  
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
I don't think the point here is to weed people out. If some relative unknown has
a one-off cool idea he wants to share (and, I want to see), he's highly unlikely
to pay for it.

Hmm that's a good point.  But I wasn't really trying to "weed people out" so I
may have sent the wrong message!

I think a system similar to the one on LUGNET would be great. (Where you can
post messages for free, but by becoming a full member you get a lot of
additional perks.) You could for example, lay down a rules that limit the size
of the picture, and are more stringent toward quality for those who are 'free'
members, and ask for a nominal fee from the rest.

Yeah that's a possibility - but the key point is that LUGNET memberships are
lifetime memberships (if I remember correctly).  Would that work for Brickshelf?

True, but I don't want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one
cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

I would think that most people who really want their MOC to be seen would use
Brickshelf then?  Just like someone who wanted to sell an item online would
likely go to eBay...

-Bryan


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:49:55 GMT
Viewed: 
7029 times
  
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
to transfer/exchange more "standardized" and better quality files.  For those
that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting
services and picture hosting sites out there...

True, but I don't want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one
cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

This has already happened.  More and more, when people get serious about the
online community, they get their own website(1).  In order to keep up-to-date on
MOCs, etc, I usually check four or five websites a day.

-Lenny

(1)= For example, http://www.neutronbot.com featuring the work of Soren Roberts,
Kevin Blocksidge, Tim Deering, Lenny Hoffman, Jonesy Heckel, and Roy Grieg.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:49:55 GMT
Viewed: 
6128 times
  
In lugnet.general, Rick Clark wrote:
I'd certainly be for micropayments for uploading images. I don't know how
many images are uploaded each day/week/month, but at $.01 each, I should
think the income might add up, yet wouldn't break anybody.

I think the issue has always been that it just doesn't work in practice. I mean
sure, I wouldn't mind paying a penny per picture, but actually having to go
through both paypal AND the upload process, I dunno. It would create more of a
bother. Same deal with a periodic subscription fee-- having to remember to pay
it, etc, would be difficult, as well as adding extra steps to the process.

Plus, one of the reasons why BrickShelf is so popular is that it's free. There
are plenty of pay services out there already-- and if you've got one, you're
probably using it for your Lego pictures. And if you don't have one, chances are
you'll aim for a free service rather than a pay service.

It seems that the general hinderance to newbies is 1) lack of digital camera 2)
lack of a place to put pictures. So an easy, *free* utility is what people look
for first. Adding money to the process would change things quite a bit.
Particularly for minors who wouldn't have means for payment.

I do recall advocating "premium service", however-- Like, allowing your pictures
to be public before being moderated, or giving you more detailed stats on your
images. Or maybe allowing some always-desired features like moving
folders/images around while maintaining the "viewed" statistics. Maybe even
(this is ugly) giving your folder/images a slightly higher precedence for
BrickShelf searches. But all of that requires lots of coding-- Boooo!

I would be interested to see how much traffic is generated thanks to avatars and
the like, however. From what I remember, the vast majority of files on
BrickShelf are little avatars and whatnot, NOT people's Lego creations. Granted
the avatars are smaller files than huge images, but they are probably pulled
quite a lot.

DaveE


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 18:59:55 GMT
Viewed: 
7022 times
  
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
Charging users to upload (with file size limits) would do the following two
things (at least):

1) Make users think twice about uploading out of focus (or poorly taken)
pictures, or huge pictures (both in file size and dimensions).  Files that don't
meet the restrictions will be force users to resize and/or convert them.

I think that this is a very important point. IMHO big images are just a waste of
bandwidth (people get frustruated anyway when they realise the dimensions of the
image, and hit back in disgust) as well as space.

I agree, but for a slightly different reason. Try living where broadband simply
isn't available. There are still places in the US (and other countries I'm sure)
that have not yet received broadband rollout. Try clicking on one of those
'overly-large, not cropped, maximum resolution' images when connected via 49k
dialup. Not fun. Being on a slow connection, with a not-quite-the-fastest system
makes me appreciate smaller images much more than the average person.

Asking folks to (1) crop and (2) go with lower-quality might enhance the
experience for everyone and yield a reduced bandwidth requirement.

Ray


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 19:00:39 GMT
Viewed: 
6639 times
  
In lugnet.general, Jason Spears wrote:
   Maybe I’m in the minority, but I would not be willing to pay $0.02 or even $0.01 per picture I put on Brickshelf. With that pricing scheme, I’d much sooner setup my own domain and pay for a website hosting.

I guess the main point I’m trying to make (and not doing such a good job about it) is that we’re trying to come up with ways to help pay for Brickshelf without having all of the costs coming out of the owner’s pocket directly. The ideal system I envision would hopefully be cheaper and easier/less technical than getting a domain name & paying for website hosting.

   I’d be suprised if anyone started out as a serious ALE. When I first got into building, I’d have never paid to show pictures on Brickshelf. I just wouldn’t have shared my creations. And not sharing my creations means that I might not have grown as a builder. (Well *I* might have, as I’d probably have gotten feedback from MichLUG members, but not every person getting into the hobby has an active club near them.)

Ok, then to accomodate a wider audience, maybe one of the packages you could get from Brickshelf would be free - with a smaller storage limit and none of the “special” features obviously.

Well, I’m not Kevin so I can’t say what will be included and what won’t be, but let’s just keep tossing ideas around!

-Bryan


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 19:47:45 GMT
Viewed: 
5337 times
  
In lugnet.general, Ron Penton wrote:
In lugnet.general, Steven Asbury wrote:
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to maj.com.

Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven

Ah, crud. This stinks, seriously. I was going to rebuild my Black Falcon's
Fortress next month, too, but I didn't download the instructions yet because I
figured they'd always be there.

Or you could go to:

  http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brick/

Greetz,
  Anton


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 19:51:07 GMT
Viewed: 
7125 times
  
In lugnet.general, Ray Sanders wrote:
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
Charging users to upload (with file size limits) would do the following two
things (at least):

1) Make users think twice about uploading out of focus (or poorly taken)
pictures, or huge pictures (both in file size and dimensions).  Files that don't
meet the restrictions will be force users to resize and/or convert them.

I think that this is a very important point. IMHO big images are just a waste of
bandwidth (people get frustruated anyway when they realise the dimensions of the
image, and hit back in disgust) as well as space.

I agree, but for a slightly different reason. Try living where broadband simply
isn't available. There are still places in the US (and other countries I'm sure)
that have not yet received broadband rollout. Try clicking on one of those
'overly-large, not cropped, maximum resolution' images when connected via 49k
dialup. Not fun. Being on a slow connection, with a not-quite-the-fastest system
makes me appreciate smaller images much more than the average person.

I can see some times when people will want a high-resolution version
available... but for the most part, when browsing (a big purpose for
Brickshelf), it's best to have an optimized image, say no bigger than 800 pixels
in any dimension. There are several software packages available to do this on
the fly (I use ImageMagick with Ghostscript) which could save lots of bandwidth.
Having the ability to deep-link to a larger-size version would be a good
compromise. This fulfills both the casual visitor browsing, and the end user who
wants to have a big version available.

- Kelly


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 21:03:21 GMT
Viewed: 
7177 times
  
In lugnet.general, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
   True, but I don’t want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

This has already happened. More and more, when people get serious about the online community, they get their own website(1). In order to keep up-to-date on MOCs, etc, I usually check four or five websites a day.

That’s very unfortunate, though. As Jason pointed out, it’s easy enough to host your own pictures -- but there are great advantages to having them all in one place. When I want to find a good idea for making a sofa, for example, I go to BrickShelf and type in “sofa” (along with “couch” and maybe “furniture” if I get desperate). That doesn’t work when people host their pics elsewhere.

Just brainstorming here, maybe what we need is a service that doesn’t actually host pictures, but indexes them. It would provide search capability as well as features like recent additions. Then people could host their pics on BrickShelf, or maj.com, or one of the dozens of other photo sites, or on their own personal site, and others could find their pics regardless.

Such a server wouldn’t have gross resource needs, either. I would advocate an open-source model, with the server code hosted someplace like SourceForge, so that if whoever’s running it loses interest, somebody else can pick it up.

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 21:18:24 GMT
Viewed: 
7404 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
   True, but I don’t want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

This has already happened. More and more, when people get serious about the online community, they get their own website(1). In order to keep up-to-date on MOCs, etc, I usually check four or five websites a day.

That’s very unfortunate, though. As Jason pointed out, it’s easy enough to host your own pictures -- but there are great advantages to having them all in one place. When I want to find a good idea for making a sofa, for example, I go to BrickShelf and type in “sofa” (along with “couch” and maybe “furniture” if I get desperate). That doesn’t work when people host their pics elsewhere.


I swore not to get into this discussion, but...

I am one of the persons who fall into the catagory of someone who owns their own LEGO-related website (http://www.humboldt1.com/~hlwells/). I made this site when I wanted something easier to customize than MOCpages or LUGNET. My site is mostly a MOC site, containing links to all my MOCs and usually a description accompanies that MOC. I announce new MOCs on the front page, and archive all my other MOCs, but I also announce my new MOC to LUGNET, Classic-Castle, and Classic-Space, depending on the type of MOC. I also host my pictures on Brickshelf. This way, my MOC gets exposure from a maximum of four different sites. Though my site has little add-ons like descriptions of my MOCs, Brickshelf is still the core of my site when it comes to the actual pictures. I suggest that people who have personal LEGO websites to host their images on Brickshelf (keeping LEGO-related images centralized), while they feature their MOCs on their personal sites.

Just my two bricks,

-- Nathan Wells


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 22:20:11 GMT
Viewed: 
7305 times
  
In lugnet.general, Nathan Wells wrote:

   I am one of the persons who fall into the catagory of someone who owns their own LEGO-related website (http://www.humboldt1.com/~hlwells/). I made this site when I wanted something easier to customize than MOCpages or LUGNET. My site is mostly a MOC site, containing links to all my MOCs and usually a description accompanies that MOC. I announce new MOCs on the front page, and archive all my other MOCs, but I also announce my new MOC to LUGNET, Classic-Castle, and Classic-Space, depending on the type of MOC. I also host my pictures on Brickshelf. This way, my MOC gets exposure from a maximum of four different sites. Though my site has little add-ons like descriptions of my MOCs, Brickshelf is still the core of my site when it comes to the actual pictures. I suggest that people who have personal LEGO websites to host their images on Brickshelf (keeping LEGO-related images centralized), while they feature their MOCs on their personal sites.

Well, that’s a fine policy, unless BrickShelf is going away (or going to stop accepting new pictures or whatever). Kevin still hasn’t been very clear on that. But if it does, then we need to think up a new solution.

Best,
Joe


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 31 May 2005 22:40:42 GMT
Viewed: 
7058 times
  
In lugnet.general, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
to transfer/exchange more "standardized" and better quality files.  For those
that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting
services and picture hosting sites out there...

True, but I don't want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one
cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

This has already happened.  More and more, when people get serious about the
online community, they get their own website.

That's true, but I for one still put my pics on Brickshelf, and link there from
my site. This is partly because Northstar's free web hosting has a 100MB limit,
but mostly because I like the idea of people being able to also search my
gallery from Brickshelf.

ROSCO


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Wed, 1 Jun 2005 04:39:58 GMT
Viewed: 
7147 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:

Just brainstorming here, maybe what we need is a service that doesn't
actually host pictures, but indexes them.  It would provide search capability
as well as features like recent additions.  Then people could host their pics
on BrickShelf, or maj.com, or one of the dozens of other photo sites, or on
their own personal site, and others could find their pics regardless.

Actually, http://www.bricksonthebrain.com/instructions sort of already does
that, but in a much less comprehensive way.

Legoswami


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Wed, 1 Jun 2005 18:43:02 GMT
Viewed: 
7275 times
  
My comments for now:

ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

How about a free account with a certain amount of free pictures?
That way one can have some few pictures there, and sort them if one wants to
keep the account "free"?
That would also be an option for new users to try it.

Later, when "addicted", one can pay and get more - e.g. statistics etc.
Maybe a limitation for what kind of files can be accepted?
Larger limit for picture sizes?
Maybe only 10 pictures per folder? And max 5 folders? That gives quite many
options.

I still believe, there should be paid by the file sizes

I strongly agree that we should have pictures on a central place, it is easy to
browse etc. Looking for 352345234 pages on the net is not what I want.
I have a site myself (http://my.tele2.ee/sonnich/lego/ ), but for later projects
I have preferred to upload to bricklink and link to them.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=sonnich

I would not be agains paying for hosting my pictures as long as it is a small
amount, and it is by the file size.
I have a limited amount of pictures (but 3+ mocs to be added), so it would not
kill me. And, I would have to host them elsewhere, if it was not for BS.

I wrote it, and here it is again - I wonder how much disk space can be saved, if
all of us would resize pictures. Pictures 2048x1536 takes app. 10 times as much
as 640x480. My point - limit your pictures and leave room for e.g. instruction
scannings.
I would like to know from Kevin whether my theory holds water :-)

Best regards
Sonnich







In lugnet.general, Samarth Moray wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bryan Wong wrote:
Charging users to upload (with file size limits) would do the following two
things (at least):

1) Make users think twice about uploading out of focus (or poorly taken)
pictures, or huge pictures (both in file size and dimensions).  Files that don't
meet the restrictions will be force users to resize and/or convert them.

I think that this is a very important point. IMHO big images are just a waste of
bandwidth (people get frustruated anyway when they realise the dimensions of the
image, and hit back in disgust) as well as space.
Also, delete unused accounts, after a set period of time.

I think that switching over to a pay to upload system would simply "weed out"
the not-so-serious AFOLs/ALEs.  Hopefully, it would encourage Brickshelf users

I don't think the point here is to weed people out. If some relative unknown has
a one-off cool idea he wants to share (and, I want to see), he's highly unlikely
to pay for it.

I think a system similar to the one on LUGNET would be great. (Where you can
post messages for free, but by becoming a full member you get a lot of
additional perks.) You could for example, lay down a rules that limit the size
of the picture, and are more stringent toward quality for those who are 'free'
members, and ask for a nominal fee from the rest.

to transfer/exchange more "standardized" and better quality files.  For those
that are unwilling to pay to use this service, there are other (free) hosting
services and picture hosting sites out there...

True, but I don't want to have to go through a hundred other sites to find one
cool MOC a day. A centralised place is much better.

Legoswami


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Wed, 1 Jun 2005 21:53:54 GMT
Viewed: 
7435 times
  
In lugnet.general, Sonnich Jensen wrote:
ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

It's a new acronym that's being tossed around to replace 'AFOL'-- ALE = "Adult
Lego Enthusiast"

I wrote it, and here it is again - I wonder how much disk space can be saved,
if all of us would resize pictures. Pictures 2048x1536 takes app. 10 times as
much as 640x480. My point - limit your pictures and leave room for e.g.
instruction scannings.

I don't think disk space is really the issue so much as bandwidth. IIRC he
filled up 2 T1's easily, which ain't cheap. People use BrickShelf a LOT. And I
think the vast majority of files are things like Bionicle avatars that get hit
like mad. But since they're small, they might not soak up as proportionally
large portion of the bandwidth, I dunno.

Certainly, you'd save some bandwidth by making the "default" image size be
800x600 or something (with an option to display the full-res), but I'm not sure
how much it'd save you.

I would like to know from Kevin whether my theory holds water :-)

I think the issue is mostly maintenance and new code. A new payment system is
tricky, especially when dealing with "Hey, I paid, how come I have a problem"
type things that inevitably happen. Money makes it tricky. It's a fine idea in
that it's feasible and all, but first you need to find someone who's willing to
DO it :)

Plus, if it cost money, there's always the risk of making it chase people away
who would otherwise use it. If it were a pay service, it obviously wouldn't get
used as much. I kinda like the idea of a "free basic service" with a "premium
package" or something so that it's still free, but can generate income.

DaveE


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 18:11:03 GMT
Viewed: 
6625 times
  
Ok, Lego does its own job of hosting instructions at:
http://www.lego.com/eng/buildinginstructions/

If TLG was funding BrickShelf, I can see why they would drop this duplicate
expense.

My questions are:

What instructions on BrickShelf are not duplicates of the TLG ones?

Is TLG committed to keeping theirs online?

Can peeron.com legally link to lego.com pdf's instead?

Did someone have a BitTorrent to download these? As it is 8+ gig would it be
broken down by product year?

Thanks,
Andy Cross


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 18:45:13 GMT
Viewed: 
6655 times
  
In lugnet.general, Andrew Cross wrote:

Ok, Lego does its own job of hosting instructions at:
http://www.lego.com/eng/buildinginstructions/

If TLG was funding BrickShelf, I can see why they would drop this duplicate
expense.

TLG's instruction database is pretty incomplete, though.  For example, their
themes list doesn't contain Pirates at all, and when I tested a particular
Pirate set (6285, Black Seas Barracuda), they had no instructions for it.

I think it's great that they're providing their own instructions, but I hope
they'll make the database complete.

What instructions on BrickShelf are not duplicates of the TLG ones?

Well, at least the above.  I suspect much more.

Is TLG committed to keeping theirs online?

There will be no way to get an informed answer to this.

Still, to me, BrickShelf was never about instruction scans.  I've rarely needed
instructions for a set I don't own, and of course I keep all the instructions
for those myself.

What Brickshelf is about (IMHO) is a place to search for creations of other ALEs
by keyword, or just to browse recently added creations.  Hosting MOCs on widely
scattered servers elsewhere is not nearly as useful, because it's not searchable
(nor can you easily see what's new).

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 18:58:13 GMT
Viewed: 
7525 times
  
In lugnet.general, Sonnich Jensen wrote:

ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

ALE is Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer (and preferred by at least some) term over
AFOL.  It's easier to pronounce as an acronym, sounds less stilted when you say
it in words, and is generally more accurate too.  See
<http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=50836> for the thread where it was proposed.
It's also in the Wikipedia entry, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFOL>.

Obviously the acronym FAQ hasn't been updated yet -- I'll send a note to Shiri.

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
RE: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:06:34 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
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In lugnet.general, Sonnich Jensen wrote:
My comments for now:

ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.  I don't drink much,
so I don't know the difference between, say.. Stout, Ale, Beer, etc..

Scott


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:15:14 GMT
Viewed: 
7693 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
In lugnet.general, Sonnich Jensen wrote:

ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

ALE is Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer (and preferred by at least some) term over
AFOL.

I dare say in some cases it could possibly mean "Adult LEGO Extremist"...

Scott


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:34:15 GMT
Viewed: 
7812 times
  
In lugnet.general, David Eaton wrote:

I don't think disk space is really the issue so much as bandwidth. IIRC he
filled up 2 T1's easily, which ain't cheap. People use BrickShelf a LOT. And I
think the vast majority of files are things like Bionicle avatars that get hit
like mad. But since they're small, they might not soak up as proportionally
large portion of the bandwidth, I dunno.

I'm not sure what a Bionicle avatar is, but I do agree that bandwidth is likely
the major expense.

I think the issue is mostly maintenance and new code. A new payment system is
tricky, especially when dealing with "Hey, I paid, how come I have a problem"
type things that inevitably happen. Money makes it tricky. It's a fine idea in
that it's feasible and all, but first you need to find someone who's willing to
DO it :)

Right.  And, while I'm not disparaging Kevin's efforts -- Brickshelf has been a
valuable service to the community for years -- its functionality is pretty
limited, and I've never seen its behavior change.  Such major changes to the
code may simply be more than Kevin can afford to do.

Plus, if it cost money, there's always the risk of making it chase people away
who would otherwise use it. If it were a pay service, it obviously wouldn't get
used as much. I kinda like the idea of a "free basic service" with a "premium
package" or something so that it's still free, but can generate income.

Even better I think would be a truly free service, using the open-source model.
Anyone with the skills and motivation could contribute to the code -- and I
think we'd always have at least a couple dozen such folks in the ALE community.

And the bandwidth problem could be solved by not actually hosting the images on
the site, but instead, making it responsible only for the indexing and
reporting.  The actual images would go elsewhere.  Those of us who have our own
web sites could put them there; others could use any of the dozens of other
photo sites, or use a free web host, or whatever.

Such a system should scale very well, I would think, and couldn't really
disappear as long as anyone was still interested in it.

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:34:42 GMT
Viewed: 
7601 times
  
ALE is Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer (and preferred by at least some) term
over
AFOL.  It's easier to pronounce as an acronym, sounds less stilted when you
say
it in words, and is generally more accurate too.  See
<http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=50836> for the thread where it was
proposed.
It's also in the Wikipedia entry, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFOL>.


Easier to pronounce is a good thing.  Now all we need is one that is easier
to pronounce than MOC (which apparently some people called "mock" and others
call M-O-C).

Rob


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:38:21 GMT
Viewed: 
6534 times
  
In lugnet.general, Andrew Cross wrote:
Ok, Lego does its own job of hosting instructions at:
http://www.lego.com/eng/buildinginstructions/

If TLG was funding BrickShelf, I can see why they would drop this duplicate
expense.

Actually, the instructions on LEGO's website only represent recent sets.  These
instructions compliment those hosted on Brickshelf because of Brickshelf's self
imposed rule of not accepting instruction scans from current and recent (1-2
years old?) sets.  This would encourage people to actually go out and buy the
sets while they're still available.

Brickshelf was more interested in maintaining a historical archive of all LEGO
sets ever released.  Not too long ago, LEGO extended a helping hand by providing
Brickshelf with a large number of instructions in PDF format, improving the
quality of some of the scans, I guess.

My questions are:

What instructions on BrickShelf are not duplicates of the TLG ones?

I think that because of the rule mentioned above, all of the instructions at
TLG, you will not find at Brickshelf.

Is TLG committed to keeping theirs online?

I don't think TLG has a need to keep an archive of instructions on their own
servers - especially available to the public.  It's probably better left in the
hands of AFOLs/ALEs anyway.  The only reason I see why the ones that are
currently on TLG's own website are there is as a Consumer Affairs resource -
referring customers that have lost their instructions to the website instead.

Can peeron.com legally link to lego.com pdf's instead?

I don't see why not, as long as proper credit is given, and you don't d/l the
PDFs and host them on your own server.

Did someone have a BitTorrent to download these? As it is 8+ gig would it be
broken down by product year?

No I don't think any BT files have been set up for these scans...

-Bryan


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Followup-To: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:42:47 GMT
Viewed: 
7773 times
  
In lugnet.general, Rob Hendrix wrote:
   ALE is Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer (and preferred by at least some) term over AFOL.

Renaming be damned! I like old-school, old-time. (Eddie Shore!)

Signed,

An AFOL who builds MOCs who also may be a Curmudgeon,

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:02:17 GMT
Viewed: 
7739 times
  
In lugnet.general, Rob Hendrix wrote:
Easier to pronounce is a good thing.  Now all we need is one that is easier
to pronounce than MOC (which apparently some people called "mock" and others
call M-O-C).

"mock" is already a word, so I propose we pronounce it like "smoke" and "choke"

~Kevoh


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:03:34 GMT
Viewed: 
6579 times
  
In lugnet.general, Andrew Cross wrote:
Ok, Lego does its own job of hosting instructions at:
http://www.lego.com/eng/buildinginstructions/

If TLG was funding BrickShelf, I can see why they would drop this duplicate
expense.

As Joe said, I don't think the issue would be with the instructions themselves--
plus, the gallery is what generates the heaping swaths of traffic from what I
understand. Not that the instructions don't generate their own heaping swath,
it's just less heaping. I just doubt the savings would be that noticeable.

What instructions on BrickShelf are not duplicates of the TLG ones?

As answered, not many duplicates relative to the number BrickShelf has.
BrickShelf has a lot more historical instructions, whereas TLC's site is just
more recent stuff.

Is TLG committed to keeping theirs online?

That's the big problem. Sure, TLC might think it's nifty for now, but going
forward? And integrating with other fan sites? Tough. There's nothing to stop
them from changing the formatting, interface, urls, etc. Plus, what's the
inscentive for them to retro-fill instructions historically? There's not really
any money in it, so why bother? At least if they sell currently available sets
they can avoid sending *some* replacement instructions by saying "these are
available on our website".

The community, however, is much more dedicated to getting accurate historical
records for their own sake.

Kinda like that old Fibblesnork survey question: 'How would you rate the
official Lego website?' One of the answers was 'It will never be as good as fan
sites' or something. It's just true. There's always some fan out there who's got
more dedication to the hobby than the company itself does. And since the Lego
community consists of people who are both creative and constructive by the very
NATURE of the hobby, I've always thought Lego's ultimately doomed to never have
as good of a site as fan sites. Lego COULD do it, but there's just no business
case, so it's often just best left to fans.

Can peeron.com legally link to lego.com pdf's instead?

I don't think it'd be a question of legality, but feasibility. Certainly Lego
could force referers to be coming from lego.com, change their URLs, or whatever.
But even more annoying, even *WITH* consistant URLs, there's no way to tell when
updates have been made (versus BrickShelf where I think there was some automatic
checking to verify that BrickShelf *HAS* the instructions before Peeron shows
the link).

Plus, there's not necessarily a good concept of "set ID". Like set 6075, which
could be Wolfpack Tower or the original yellow castle. Lego.com would need a
rapport with fan sites that it doesn't have. The fan community on the other
hand, generally has a good rapport with itself. The Lego ID may be totally
different, and not on record with Lugnet/Peeron/BrickSet/BrickLink.

DaveE


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:05:32 GMT
Highlighted: 
! (details)
Viewed: 
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   Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has. So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip


About:

A program used to back up your Brickshelf.com directory. Set the destination directory, enter the user ID name or the folder ID and press the get button. All the sub folders and files in the folders will be downloaded to your local drive.


Features: - Adjustable pause between downloads to be bandwidth friendly
  1. Delay start so downloads can be scheduled at a time of day with less

  2. Download by user ID or folder ID

  3. Grabs all file types in a directory and searches sub directories

  4. Will not download duplicates (If a file already exist then it will not re


bob


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:07:02 GMT
Viewed: 
8798 times
  
In lugnet.general, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Rob Hendrix wrote:
   ALE is Adult Lego Enthusiast, a newer (and preferred by at least some) term over AFOL.

Renaming be damned! I like old-school, old-time.

To purists, I barely qualify as an “AFOL,” but even I agree that that term is preferable to “ALE.” AFOL has history behind it, and its creation was organic, rather than deliberate, and it therefore has greater aesthetic appeal to me on those grounds alone.

I don’t care if either is “easier” to pronounce--no one I know “pronounces” ETA, RSVP, or USA. “AFOL” is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an “enthusiast” is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish. Heck, if we really want to sound self-important, why don’t we just call ourselves “Brights?”

   An AFOL who builds MOCs who also may be a Curmudgeon,

That’s “An AFOLWBMWAMBAC,” to you.

Dave!


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:29:47 GMT
Viewed: 
8906 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

   To purists, I barely qualify as an “AFOL,” but even I agree that that term is preferable to “ALE.” AFOL has history behind it, and its creation was organic, rather than deliberate, and it therefore has greater aesthetic appeal to me on those grounds alone.

So, you like it better because there was little thought behind it? Next you’ll be saying you voted for Bush. :)

   I don’t care if either is “easier” to pronounce--no one I know “pronounces” ETA, RSVP, or USA. “AFOL” is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

Some people spell it out, but even that isn’t very euphonic -- unlike the other initialisms you mention, AFOL when spelled quickly sounds more like a word (ayafoal) than a string of letters.

But the real problem isn’t when speaking to other ALEs (or whatever you choose to call them), but when speaking to people who aren’t into LEGO. I’ve tried this on a number of occasions since coming out of my dark ages: “I’m an adult fan of LEGO...” The result is almost always a “you’re joking, right?” sort of grin, because it sounds so ridiculously pompous. It’s like saying “I’m a drinker of wines.” It’s stilted and sounds silly. When have you ever heard a train enthusiast describe themselves as an “adult fan of trains”?

So, from now on, I’ll be introducing my passion this way: “I’m an adult LEGO enthusiast” -- “LEGO enthusiast” just like “train enthusiast,” plus “adult” since (unlike the train hobby) LEGO is still seen by most people as a toy for children. Adding “adult” defines adult LEGO enthusiasts as a group, implying that there are others, and that the speaker isn’t just having maturity issues.

   IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an “enthusiast” is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish.

Nonsense; it’s a standard term -- there are train enthusiasts, wine enthusiasts, music enthusiasts and so on. If you want effete and snobbish, use “afficionado” instead. (And if you want crass, use “buff” -- enthusiast is comfortably in the middle.)

Laugh all you want, but I think this is a small but important part of getting the society we live in to accept and understand the LEGO hobby.

Best, - Joe

P.S. Is this really off-topic?


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:37:44 GMT
Viewed: 
5862 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:
  
   Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has. So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip


Interesting idea! I’ll check it out tonight.

You know, I was thinking that it might be smart for all of us to do some spring cleaning on our Brickshelf galleries. I’d be willing to bet that we all have some extraneous images in our galleries that don’t really serve any purpose in being online. Every little bit helps, right?

Jake
---
Jake McKee
Webmaster - BIP
Jake’s blog


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:55:56 GMT
Viewed: 
8975 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

   To purists, I barely qualify as an “AFOL,” but even I agree that that term is preferable to “ALE.” AFOL has history behind it, and its creation was organic, rather than deliberate, and it therefore has greater aesthetic appeal to me on those grounds alone.

So, you like it better because there was little thought behind it? Next you’ll be saying you voted for Bush. :)

   I don’t care if either is “easier” to pronounce--no one I know “pronounces” ETA, RSVP, or USA. “AFOL” is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

Some people spell it out, but even that isn’t very euphonic -- unlike the other initialisms you mention, AFOL when spelled quickly sounds more like a word (ayafoal) than a string of letters.

But the real problem isn’t when speaking to other ALEs (or whatever you choose to call them), but when speaking to people who aren’t into LEGO. I’ve tried this on a number of occasions since coming out of my dark ages: “I’m an adult fan of LEGO...” The result is almost always a “you’re joking, right?” sort of grin, because it sounds so ridiculously pompous.

Ahem, Joe, but they were mocking your hobby choice, not your title! :-)

   It’s like saying “I’m a drinker of wines.”

I’ve always preferred “lush”, but “wine taster” isn’t much better.

   It’s stilted and sounds silly. When have you ever heard a train enthusiast describe themselves as an “adult fan of trains”?

So, from now on, I’ll be introducing my passion this way: “I’m an adult LEGO enthusiast” -- “LEGO enthusiast” just like “train enthusiast,” plus “adult” since (unlike the train hobby) LEGO is still seen by most people as a toy for children. Adding “adult” defines adult LEGO enthusiasts as a group, implying that there are others, and that the speaker isn’t just having maturity issues.

Don’t be surprised if they still laugh:-)

  
   IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an “enthusiast” is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish.

Nonsense; it’s a standard term -- there are train enthusiasts, wine enthusiasts, music enthusiasts and so on. If you want effete and snobbish, use “afficionado” instead. (And if you want crass, use “buff” -- enthusiast is comfortably in the middle.)

Laugh all you want, but I think this is a small but important part of getting the society we live in to accept and understand the LEGO hobby.

Joe, terms like “AFOL” are “in-house”, part of our jargon, and not intended for the unwashed GP. The fact is that the GP won’t accept you whatever acro you decide to call yourself-- you will be shunned, and you will only find solice back here with us.

We are geeks, pathetically playing with toys, and we must learn to accept it, and not try to pander to the unenlightened. We are the Neoilluminati!

   P.S. Is this really off-topic?

Yes and no;-)

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:59:03 GMT
Viewed: 
5695 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:

Someone asked: (how can one back up one’s entire gallery on BrickShelf?)

   give this a try:

http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip

Wow, what a great idea and what a nice thing to do for the community.

Where do you want bug reports?


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Followup-To: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 21:07:36 GMT
Viewed: 
9046 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

   To purists, I barely qualify as an “AFOL,” but even I agree that that term is preferable to “ALE.” AFOL has history behind it, and its creation was organic, rather than deliberate, and it therefore has greater aesthetic appeal to me on those grounds alone.

So, you like it better because there was little thought behind it? Next you’ll be saying you voted for Bush. :)

Holy moley, them’s fightin’ words!

  
   I don’t care if either is “easier” to pronounce--no one I know “pronounces” ETA, RSVP, or USA. “AFOL” is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

Some people spell it out, but even that isn’t very euphonic -- unlike the other initialisms you mention, AFOL when spelled quickly sounds more like a word (ayafoal) than a string of letters.

I don’t know. I can think of all kinds of abbreviations that don’t snuggle into the ear all that pleasantly. The Society for Creative Anachronisms (The SCA, which sounds like ESS-YAY) is one such example. Participants in that group are called “SCAdians,” though.

   But the real problem isn’t when speaking to other ALEs (or whatever you choose to call them), but when speaking to people who aren’t into LEGO. I’ve tried this on a number of occasions since coming out of my dark ages: “I’m an adult fan of LEGO...” The result is almost always a “you’re joking, right?” sort of grin, because it sounds so ridiculously pompous. It’s like saying “I’m a drinker of wines.” It’s stilted and sounds silly. When have you ever heard a train enthusiast describe themselves as an “adult fan of trains”?

To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone describe himself as an enthusiast of any hobby. Even if he did, he wouldn’t say “I’m an adult train enthusiast,” because that sounds like he’s only into burlesque trains (which he may be, but that’s beside the point...)

If you’re really invested in the term, I’d suggest dropping “Adult” from the acronym because it serves no purpose other than compartmentalization. If you’re speaking to non-LEGO savvy listeners, chances are good that they’ll recognize you as an adult, right? And if you’re discussing it in writing, you’d have to explain the acronym the first time you use it anyway, thusly:

“Hi all, I’m an Adult Lego Enthusiast (ALE), and here’s my story. I’ve been an ALE for several years, and...”

In euphonic terms, pronouncing the word “ALE” isn’t much better or different from spelling the abbreviation “LE,” and the latter is (IMO) superior by virtue of being less arbitrarily subdivided.

   So, from now on, I’ll be introducing my passion this way: “I’m an adult LEGO enthusiast” -- “LEGO enthusiast” just like “train enthusiast,” plus “adult” since (unlike the train hobby) LEGO is still seen by most people as a toy for children. Adding “adult” defines adult LEGO enthusiasts as a group, implying that there are others, and that the speaker isn’t just having maturity issues.

Well, that’s a good explanation, but even insofar as I’ve never heard anyone self-described as an enthusiast, I’ve never heard any non-adult described as an “enthusiast” by anyone!

  
   IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an “enthusiast” is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish.

Nonsense; it’s a standard term -- there are train enthusiasts, wine enthusiasts, music enthusiasts and so on. If you want effete and snobbish, use “afficionado” instead. (And if you want crass, use “buff” -- enthusiast is comfortably in the middle.)

What’s wrong with “Hobbyist” as a term? We all participate in LEGO as a hobby, right? Do we all participate in LEGO as an enthusiasm? I know, it’s not a 100% precise comparison, but I think it underscores my point that “enthusiast,” though certainly part of the lexicon, just sounds tritely artificial to me. Like referring to a “Bottle Shoppe” for no particular reason.

   Laugh all you want, but I think this is a small but important part of getting the society we live in to accept and understand the LEGO hobby.

Jeez, is it as serious as all that? I couldn’t care less if society accepts or understand my involvement in the hobby. And, judging from the huge response that LEGO train shows seem to garner, society welcomes “us” as well as it welcomes any subculture of hobbyists. Even the aforementioned SCA, haven for ubergeeks of all stripes, attracts a huge crowd whenever it puts on a public demonstration.

   P.S. Is this really off-topic?

I wondered the same thing. Curse that scoundrel John Neal and his willy-nilly FUT-ing!

Dave!

FUT lugnet.general


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 21:09:37 GMT
Viewed: 
8974 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joe Strout wrote:
   But the real problem isn’t when speaking to other ALEs (or whatever you choose to call them), but when speaking to people who aren’t into LEGO. I’ve tried this on a number of occasions since coming out of my dark ages: “I’m an adult fan of LEGO...”

Huh-- I almost never say “fan of Lego” or “AFOL” to people who aren’t in the hobby, because it just doesn’t give them a good frame of reference. I think I’ve always said “Lego Hobbyist” because that’s what people understand.

Usually “fan” is used in reference to things like sports teams, music artists, actors, etc. Something that denotes “I’m cheering for you” or “I love watching you do your thing”.

A hobbyist or enthusiast is typically *involved* in an activity, rather than a spectator. At least, that’s how I’ve come to understand the use of the word in common speak. So I usually say “hobbyist” because I think it’s a little more descriptive to the general public of what I do. IE, it’s something I’m involved with that I’m not doing “professionally”, that I do in my spare time. Essentially, I think the connatations of “Lego Hobbyist” are much more meaningful to people OUTSIDE the hobby than “Lego Fan” or “Lego Enthusiast”.

However, INSIDE the hobby is a different story. I think “fan” is something that caught on just like “Lego Maniac” sorta used to be. It might not be true (because we’re not ACTUALLY maniacs or anything), but it’s that kind of amusing slant on ourselves that exaggerates the point. Like saying “I’m just crazy enough to buy that”. Are you actually saying you’re crazy? Nah. You’re just sort of having a bit of joking fun at the notion of needing to be crazy. Poking fun at yourself. In that same way, I think “fan” took off as a descriptor within the community. Enough so as to become the ‘norm’ for how we describe ourselves.

Within the community, we reference ourselves a lot. Having a name for ourselves just makes sense-- but the actual name itself means little to me, personally. We could’ve called ourselves Fibblesnorks (the paleolithic ancestor of Fleebnorks) for all I care. To me, an “AFOL” isn’t necessarily a “fan”, or even an “adult”. It’s a person who’s ‘serious’ about the Lego hobby, insofar as they appreciate more than just the play aspects that children enjoy. A person who enjoys Lego for its modeling, utilitarian, nostalgic, or collectable value, and who isn’t likely to abandon it lightly.

Whatever we call ourselves, that’s probably the name I’ll use. For now, I think “AFOL” is still going to be the accepted norm, but if “ALE” catches on more, I might start using that. To me, the actual name means little. I’ll likely understand the name as who we really are as a community, not by the constituent words or the connotation of whatever it is we call ourselves.

DaveE


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Followup-To: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 21:39:20 GMT
Viewed: 
7738 times
  
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

  
   So, you like it better because there was little thought behind it? Next you’ll be saying you voted for Bush. :)

Holy moley, them’s fightin’ words!

Methinks he doth protest too much. Out with it-- that dirty little secret will eat you alive, Dave!

<snip>

   I wondered the same thing. Curse that scoundrel John Neal and his willy-nilly FUT-ing!

It may have been a little wily, but I categorically deny any nilly!

If it ain’t OT yet, I’ll make it so, number 1! (FUTOTF)


JOHN


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 22:27:03 GMT
Viewed: 
5990 times
  
In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:
  
   Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has. So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip


Interesting idea! I’ll check it out tonight.

You know, I was thinking that it might be smart for all of us to do some spring cleaning on our Brickshelf galleries. I’d be willing to bet that we all have some extraneous images in our galleries that don’t really serve any purpose in being online. Every little bit helps, right?

I personally don’t like it when people clean out their galleries. What you think is unimportant might be something really cool to me. I’m getting in the habit of saving pictures of stuff I like, but usually I just bookmark the link. Right now 20% of my Brickshelf bookmarks don’t work because the owner deleted the picture.

I also like having my old crappy MOCs available to show my evolution as a builder. Anyone can go to be Bshelf gallery and see how aweful my early MOCs were, and hopefully learn from my mistakes.

I personally think that the 2400x1600 pictures should go - or be resized. One 2400x1600 picture is equivalent to four normal sized pics - they use up as much space and bandwidth as legitimate sized photos. Even if there is a legitimate reason for having a huge picture (like up close detail) - if it is that important to you, you can use another image hosting service or pay for a web server.

My .02

-Lenny


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 22:34:59 GMT
Viewed: 
8830 times
  
   I don’t care if either is “easier” to pronounce--no one I know “pronounces” ETA, RSVP, or USA. “AFOL” is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

I’ve often had to descibe myself and what I do in my class to school administrators, and I always use “Adult LEGO Fan”, which I suppose would be ALF - but I know you guys don’t wanna be ALFs! Usually when I describe the community (especially the LDraw community) to others in the CAD field I use the term “Crazy LEGO People.” This seems to go over well with non-ALFs. :)

I don’t really understand why people don’t want to consider themselves “fans” or “fanatics” - if you look up the definition of the word “fanatic” I think it applies to a lot of us, me included. Maybe because it has a sports connotation and many here aren’t into sports? Whatever.. ALE has other (far stronger) connotations that I think detract from what the abbreviation is supposed to be about. I think AFOL just one of those things that’s here to stay.

BTW, LUG is also used by the Autodesk CAD Community for “Local User Group” - I haven’t bothered to correct them yet..

Darrell

ALF or, I suppose,

(Nut Brown) ALE.

mmmm... Newcastle!


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 22:58:01 GMT
Viewed: 
6165 times
  
In lugnet.general, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:
Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or
something like that? For example I want to download everything one user
has. So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

<http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip>


Interesting idea! I'll check it out tonight.

You know, I was thinking that it might be smart for all of us to do some
spring cleaning on our Brickshelf galleries. I'd be willing to bet that we
all have some extraneous images in our galleries that don't really serve any
purpose in being online. Every little bit helps, right?

I personally don't like it when people clean out their galleries.  What you
think is unimportant might be something really cool to me.  I'm getting in
the habit of saving pictures of stuff I like, but usually I just bookmark the
link. Right now 20% of my Brickshelf bookmarks don't work because the owner
deleted the picture.

I also like having my old crappy MOCs available to show my evolution as a
builder.  Anyone can go to be Bshelf gallery and see how aweful my early MOCs
were, and hopefully learn from my mistakes.

I personally think that the 2400x1600 pictures should go - or be resized.
One 2400x1600 picture is equivalent to four normal sized pics - they use up
as much space and bandwidth as legitimate sized photos.  Even if there is a
legitimate reason for having a huge picture (like up close detail) - if it is
that important to you, you can use another image hosting service or pay for a
web server.

Yeah, valid points. And I'm not really talking about cleaning out good stuff, or
even ugly stuff. But upon inspection of my gallery, I may discover that I have 4
photos of basically the same shot. 3 of those could go away easily.

Jake
---
Jake McKee
Webmaster - BIP
http://www.bricksonthebrain.com


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 23:19:52 GMT
Viewed: 
8806 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
(snip)
   IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an “enthusiast” is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish. Heck, if we really want to sound self-important, why don’t we just call ourselves “Brights?”
(snip)

Whenever I read “IMO” I pronounce it in my noggin as “ih-my-oh” all fluidlike, one word. Ihmyoh. The “ih” is like the beginning of “idiot”, the “my” is just like the word, and the “oh” is like the beginning of “ohio”

IMHO is “ih-my-ho”, FYI ( <-- but that is just said letter by letter)

ROFL is “rofl” just as it is spelled, though...

~KEVOH <-- pronounced letter by letter ;)


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 01:55:02 GMT
Viewed: 
7915 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

  
   So, you like it better because there was little thought behind it? Next you’ll be saying you voted for Bush. :)

Holy moley, them’s fightin’ words!

OK, that was a low blow, I apologize!

   To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone describe himself as an enthusiast of any hobby. Even if he did, he wouldn’t say “I’m an adult train enthusiast,” because that sounds like he’s only into burlesque trains (which he may be, but that’s beside the point...)

Heh, true in that case, but that’s because trains have become widely accepted as an adult hobby. LEGO has not.

   If you’re really invested in the term, I’d suggest dropping “Adult” from the acronym because it serves no purpose other than compartmentalization. If you’re speaking to non-LEGO savvy listeners, chances are good that they’ll recognize you as an adult, right?

Yes, and they’ll be thinking: “This guy plays with LEGOs? Does he still live with his mother and collect stickers too?”

Or worse, if the context is such that it’s clear I’m a member of some sort of group of LEGO hobbyists, they’ll be thinking: “This guy hangs out with kids that are into LEGO? What is he, some sort of pedophile?” These images all come from the commonly-held assumption that LEGO is a kids’ toy, and a group of LEGO enthusiasts is therefore a group of kids -- apart from the speaker, who must therefore be some sort of freak.

That’s why “adult” needs to be in the group term -- it makes it clear that the group you’re a part of is not a bunch of kids, but fully grown men and women like yourself (er, the speaker that is).

   What’s wrong with “Hobbyist” as a term? We all participate in LEGO as a hobby, right?

Yes, and “hobbyist” certainly isn’t terrible. Adult LEGO Hobbyist doesn’t make for much of an acronym, though. But I’d readily admit that it’s better than AFOL.

   Do we all participate in LEGO as an enthusiasm? I know, it’s not a 100% precise comparison, but I think it underscores my point that “enthusiast,” though certainly part of the lexicon, just sounds tritely artificial to me. Like referring to a “Bottle Shoppe” for no particular reason.

Hmm, very interesting -- my experience with the language is quite different. People describe themselves as enthusiasts of this or that all the time. Perhaps it’s a regional thing? (FWIW, I grew up in the midwest and also lived for a number of years in San Diego.)

   Jeez, is it as serious as all that? I couldn’t care less if society accepts or understand my involvement in the hobby.

Well, suit yourself then, but I do care. Perfectly normal, grown men can play with little toy trains all day long and nobody thinks them eccentric, but tell somebody you collect and build with LEGO, and they look at you like you’re trying to recapture your youth or some such nonsense. This annoys me. No, it’s not important in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll do my bit to change it as I can. We’ll knock those “World’s Greatest Hobby” train guys off their pedestal yet!

   And, judging from the huge response that LEGO train shows seem to garner, society welcomes “us” as well as it welcomes any subculture of hobbyists. Even the aforementioned SCA, haven for ubergeeks of all stripes, attracts a huge crowd whenever it puts on a public demonstration.

So do bearded ladies and snake charmers -- people love a spectacle. It hardly indicates acceptance (of the sort I’m after, anyway).

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 02:59:40 GMT
Viewed: 
8738 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

   why don’t we just call ourselves “Brights?”

lol I’m trying to push “neoilluminati” but it isn’t taking:-( Maybe “Legoluminati”?

Just trying to help.

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 04:26:33 GMT
Viewed: 
7976 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
   Jeez, is it as serious as all that? I couldn’t care less if society accepts or understand my involvement in the hobby.

Well, suit yourself then, but I do care. Perfectly normal, grown men can play with little toy trains all day long and nobody thinks them eccentric, but tell somebody you collect and build with LEGO, and they look at you like you’re trying to recapture your youth or some such nonsense. This annoys me. No, it’s not important in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll do my bit to change it as I can. We’ll knock those “World’s Greatest Hobby” train guys off their pedestal yet!

Best,
- Joe

It certainly is interesting following this thread..... I was a secret “AFOL/ALE” from 1980-86. No internet, no knowledge of any other adult who even cared about Lego. I was in the proverbial “Lego Closet” for all those years. Then 4 things happened all within 6 months in 1986-87. Because I put a couple of my buildings in a toy store window display, I suddenly got into a metro Detroit newspaper. Then TLG sent someone over to interview me, and then I was on a Canadian TV news type show (The Journal), which was doing a special on 25 years of Lego in Canada (1987). And finally I got a call from Henry Wiencik, the author of The World Of Lego Toys who interviewed me over the phone (page 30 of the book).

Well I was sorta scared, cuz I didn’t know what most of my friends and family would think if they knew I was an AFOL!!! I had kept all of my Lego at my buddy’s house, the friend who played with Lego with me when we were 7 years old. Would I be a laughing stock at work? Would my friends think I was immature? Would my family think I was in need of therapy? I felt like I was in my own Woody Allen movie, but with Lego.

As it turned out, my angst turned to pleasure when they all thought it was way cool. I even got a call from my 6th grade school teacher saying how proud she was (I was about 30 years old at this time).

So I can really respect some people being sensitive to what others might think of them. The word “ADULT” should stay in the acronym. At least for a few more years....

Gary Istok


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 05:35:05 GMT
Viewed: 
6133 times
  
In lugnet.general, Jake McKee wrote:
I personally think that the 2400x1600 pictures should go - or be resized.
One 2400x1600 picture is equivalent to four normal sized pics - they use up
as much space and bandwidth as legitimate sized photos.  Even if there is a
legitimate reason for having a huge picture (like up close detail) - if it is
that important to you, you can use another image hosting service or pay for a
web server.

Yeah, valid points. And I'm not really talking about cleaning out good stuff, or
even ugly stuff. But upon inspection of my gallery, I may discover that I have 4
photos of basically the same shot. 3 of those could go away easily.

IMHO another thing that I forgot to mention that gulps down a lot of space are
pictures of official LEGO sets. I have got no idea why this is REALLY neccessary
, since, if you want to inventory your collection, you've already got LUGNET,
AND Peeron. Some people just take images of sets they have from the scan library
and upload them into their gallery. That is just a space chewer! I HATE blurry
Bionicle pics, and would love to see them go away (1), but they are anyday
better than this.

Legoswami

(1) Although I know that would be stifling of creativity, and that's just not
the right way to go....


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 07:18:47 GMT
Viewed: 
7748 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Blocksidge wrote:
In lugnet.general, Rob Hendrix wrote:
Easier to pronounce is a good thing.  Now all we need is one that is easier
to pronounce than MOC (which apparently some people called "mock" and others
call M-O-C).

"mock" is already a word, so I propose we pronounce it like "smoke" and "choke"

~Kevoh

I could write:
AFOL whose LEGOs are MOC'ed

And my spell check gives:
A fool whose legs are mocked.


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 07:19:50 GMT
Viewed: 
6649 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
Still, to me, BrickShelf was never about instruction scans.  I've rarely needed
instructions for a set I don't own, and of course I keep all the instructions
for those myself.

Heh. I actually bought my kids about 50 pounds of legos off eBay. This was to
let them have building blocks that were not Daddy's toys, er, Star Wars
"Models". But we didn't have many instructions books. My son and I figured out
which sets matched our treasure trove of pieces. A quick jump to Brickshelf and
we were making that set.

I'll agree that I visit BrickShelf almost daily to see the new MOCs.

Andy Cross


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 07:42:33 GMT
Viewed: 
7654 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
In lugnet.general, David Eaton wrote:

I don't think disk space is really the issue so much as bandwidth. IIRC he
filled up 2 T1's easily, which ain't cheap. People use BrickShelf a LOT. And I
think the vast majority of files are things like Bionicle avatars that get hit
like mad. But since they're small, they might not soak up as proportionally
large portion of the bandwidth, I dunno.

Outside linking to images could be something to cut out.

I think the issue is mostly maintenance and new code. A new payment system is
tricky, especially when dealing with "Hey, I paid, how come I have a problem"
type things that inevitably happen. Money makes it tricky. It's a fine idea in
that it's feasible and all, but first you need to find someone who's willing to
DO it :)

What about a free will funds drive like Peeron did? That seemed to work out for
them. Is it feasible?

And the bandwidth problem could be solved by not actually hosting the images on
the site, but instead, making it responsible only for the indexing and
reporting.  The actual images would go elsewhere.  Those of us who have our own
web sites could put them there; others could use any of the dozens of other
photo sites, or use a free web host, or whatever.

Such a system should scale very well, I would think, and couldn't really
disappear as long as anyone was still interested in it.

This would definitely drop the BandWidth cost. Most internet providers give you
so many MB. Sure, posting a new set of pictures would cause a hit for a few
days, but that drops of quick. Also, how many people are posting new folders
every other day. Most MOCs probably take two to four weeks to make.

Some problems:
1. The external pictures could be unavailable for many reasons.
That server is down, etc.

2. Moderation would be less guaranteed.
A user could replace their images with less than desirable content. But, only
showing a logged on user's content after they post something worthwhile should
make this fairly guaranteed.

3. The pictures could disappear forever.
The user cancels their service, the user removes the pictures, etc. When people
switch to other endeavors they clear out their old clutter. Some here would
consider this a loss to the community.

Andy Cross


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 14:18:33 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
8027 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:

  
   To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone describe himself as an enthusiast of any hobby. Even if he did, he wouldn’t say “I’m an adult train enthusiast,” because that sounds like he’s only into burlesque trains (which he may be, but that’s beside the point...)

Heh, true in that case, but that’s because trains have become widely accepted as an adult hobby. LEGO has not.

That’s a good point. If I were to hear a child described as “into trains,” I would just assume that it meant Thomas, or maybe that he liked to watch his parents’ train sets. More than being “accepted” as an adult hobby, I’d guess that it’s a primarily adult hobby.

   if the context is such that it’s clear I’m a member of some sort of group of LEGO hobbyists, they’ll be thinking: “This guy hangs out with kids that are into LEGO? What is he, some sort of pedophile?” These images all come from the commonly-held assumption that LEGO is a kids’ toy, and a group of LEGO enthusiasts is therefore a group of kids -- apart from the speaker, who must therefore be some sort of freak.

That’s why “adult” needs to be in the group term -- it makes it clear that the group you’re a part of is not a bunch of kids, but fully grown men and women like yourself (er, the speaker that is).

Not a bad argument. I have to admit that I’ve felt the discomfort of suspicious stares while browsing the shelves in a particular store (in which any guy who wasn’t clearly tethered to a responsible-seeming woman was, I felt, assumed to be some kind of deviant). I guess that this same discomfort may arise in other settings. too.

   Hmm, very interesting -- my experience with the language is quite different. People describe themselves as enthusiasts of this or that all the time. Perhaps it’s a regional thing? (FWIW, I grew up in the midwest and also lived for a number of years in San Diego.)

I’ve lived in eastern, central, and western Pennsylvania for just about all of my life, and I’ve never really come across “enthusiast” except to describe a “gun enthusiast” or a “wine enthusiast,” and each term is laden with the sterotypical political baggage that one can probably infer. Maybe that’s why “enthusiast” as a self-descriptor leaves me cold?

  
   Jeez, is it as serious as all that? I couldn’t care less if society accepts or understand my involvement in the hobby.

Well, suit yourself then, but I do care. Perfectly normal, grown men can play with little toy trains all day long and nobody thinks them eccentric, but tell somebody you collect and build with LEGO, and they look at you like you’re trying to recapture your youth or some such nonsense. This annoys me. No, it’s not important in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll do my bit to change it as I can.

This part of your post (and Gerhard’s reply) opened my eyes a bit. Honestly, I don’t care what the outside world thinks of my hobby, but it’s wrong of me to think that other LEGO hobbyists/enthusiasts don’t or shouldn’t care. I’m content to share my involvement in the hobby online (and in this forum in particular), but for those with a greater desire for outreach, a wider stage may be desirable.

Maybe part of my attitude stems from my fondness for clone brands, which sort of isolates me even here on LUGNET. Not that I’m complaining--the .off-topic.clone-brands group is fine with me, but I think it’s helped me to develop an attitude of “if anyone else does or doesn’t like it, that’s fine.”

   We’ll knock those “World’s Greatest Hobby” train guys off their pedestal yet!

And let’s start with John “I love 8-wide” Neal. He’s nothing but trouble.

  
   And, judging from the huge response that LEGO train shows seem to garner, society welcomes “us” as well as it welcomes any subculture of hobbyists. Even the aforementioned SCA, haven for ubergeeks of all stripes, attracts a huge crowd whenever it puts on a public demonstration.

So do bearded ladies and snake charmers -- people love a spectacle. It hardly indicates acceptance (of the sort I’m after, anyway).

Hee-hee! That wasn’t quite how I intended it. I meant that the “spectacle” of a LEGO train show seems (IMO) sufficiently cool--even for the uninitiated--to engage their interest without inviting derision. Sure, you’ll get detractors, but there are jerks in every group (like that 8-wide-loving so-and-so... (just kidding)), but that’s how it goes.

For comparison, I’ve built a bunch of shirts and/or coats of chain mail. When they’re displayed, someone will invariably say “you need to get a life,” rather than “you connected 70,000 links by hand? That’s cool.” Oh, well. I can let it bother me, or I can dismiss the detractor as a knucklehead(1).

Dave!

(1) That same knucklehead will, approximately 87.46% of the time, observe that “this won’t stop a bullet.” Thanks for the ballistics lesson, you knob. And I note that your ceramic/composite flak jacket won’t stop a weapon from 800 years in the future, either.


Subject: 
Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 15:23:52 GMT
Viewed: 
7776 times
  
In lugnet.general, Andrew Cross wrote:
What about a free will funds drive like Peeron did? That seemed to work out
for them. Is it feasible?

Brickshelf is already set up to accept monetary contributions. Details here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/contrib.html

You may donate with Paypal or mailed payment. Kevin even gives contributors some
perks:

1) No adverts are shown to any veiwers of your folders ever.
   No adverts are shown to you on any page while you are logged in.
   (requires a minimum contribution level)

2) You get an icon on your pages recognizing the level of your support.

So, put your pennies where your pictures are, and post a payment to BS.

Clark
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=8642


Subject: 
Re: Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 16:29:17 GMT
Viewed: 
7940 times
  
In lugnet.general, Clark Stephens wrote:

Brickshelf is already set up to accept monetary contributions. Details here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/contrib.html
...

So, put your pennies where your pictures are, and post a payment to BS.

That's assuming that money is the problem.  I'm not convinced of that, and Kevin
certainly hasn't said so.  In fact, he's said very little of anything at all,
except that he may stop accepting uploads at some point.

Of course I am only guessing, but it looks to me like Kevin may be lacking the
time or interest to maintain Brickshelf.  This is a pretty common occurrence in
any one-person project.  Money can help for a little while, if there's enough of
it, but ultimately it's likely to fail unless the project turns into a full-time
business or an open-source, user-driven one.

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:00:42 GMT
Viewed: 
5640 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:
Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or
something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has.
So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

<http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip>


<snip>

Another great and extremely useful application from Bob Kojima.  I use his parts
catalog program all the time.

--
Thomas Main
thomasmain@myrealbox.com


Subject: 
Re: Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:03:54 GMT
Viewed: 
8027 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
In lugnet.general, Clark Stephens wrote:

Brickshelf is already set up to accept monetary contributions. Details here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/contrib.html
...

So, put your pennies where your pictures are, and post a payment to BS.

That's assuming that money is the problem. <snip>
and Kevin certainly hasn't said so.
In fact, he's said very little of anything at all,

Umm, excuse me? To quote from here:
http://library.brickshelf.com/scans/

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor,..."

Exactly what English definition of sponsor are you using?

Clark


PS As for 'interest', the galleries are still online, the approvals of member's
pictures are still being made in a timely matter, and until recently, even the
instruction gallery was gaining new pdf files directly from Lego. I'd assume
your references to both 'a won man show' and a 'loss of interest' derive from
very few facts.


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:10:43 GMT
Viewed: 
7909 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dave Schuler wrote:
   For comparison, I’ve built a bunch of shirts and/or coats of chain mail. When they’re displayed, someone will invariably say “you need to get a life,” rather than “you connected 70,000 links by hand? That’s cool.” Oh, well. I can let it bother me, or I can dismiss the detractor as a knucklehead(1).

Dave!

(1) That same knucklehead will, approximately 87.46% of the time, observe that “this won’t stop a bullet.” Thanks for the ballistics lesson, you knob. And I note that your ceramic/composite flak jacket won’t stop a weapon from 800 years in the future, either.

Dave, I got a good chuckle out of your knucklehead comments. Very funny!

Eric


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:21:05 GMT
Viewed: 
7922 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dave Schuler wrote:
  
(1) That same knucklehead will, approximately 87.46% of the time, observe that “this won’t stop a bullet.” Thanks for the ballistics lesson, you knob. And I note that your ceramic/composite flak jacket won’t stop a weapon from 800 years in the future, either.

LOL, probably won’t help much against a good sharp broadsword either...

ROSCO


Subject: 
Re: Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 22:27:59 GMT
Viewed: 
8205 times
  
In lugnet.general, Clark Stephens wrote:

That's assuming that money is the problem. <snip>
and Kevin certainly hasn't said so.
In fact, he's said very little of anything at all,

Umm, excuse me? To quote from here:
http://library.brickshelf.com/scans/

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor,..."

Exactly what English definition of sponsor are you using?

Let's fill in the rest, shall we?

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com."

That says absolutely nothing about the (IMHO) more important issue of user
pictures on Brickshelf, which I consider its primary purpose.  The instructions
and catalog scans are available elsewhere, and could pretty easily be re-hosted
someplace new if necessary.

The crisis at hand is whether Brickshelf itself is going away, or is going to be
frozen (not accepting new uploads), as Kevin said might be the case.  And
despite numerous calls here in the last week along the lines of "Let's have a
funding drive," Kevin has utterly failed to say anything like "Yes, that would
help, thank you very much."

If money were the primary problem (with keeping Brickshelf alive for
user-contributed content), I'd think he would have spoken up by now.

Best,
- Joe


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:08:52 GMT
Viewed: 
7241 times
  
In lugnet.general, Scott Lyttle wrote:
In lugnet.general, Sonnich Jensen wrote:
My comments for now:

ALE - it is not here - http://www.lugnet.com/~88/acronym_faq/all
no idea what ALE is, I do know what a AFOL is.

I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.  I don't drink much,
so I don't know the difference between, say.. Stout, Ale, Beer, etc..

Scott

Scott, you've just pointed out why I don't care for that acronym. AFOL is fine
by me!

-Dave


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Followup-To: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:18:09 GMT
Viewed: 
7426 times
  
In lugnet.general, Scott Lyttle wrote:

   I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.

I thought ALE was a warm place reserved for agnostics like Dave!

JOHN (trying to keep up with your barbarisms, Dave!)


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 00:44:57 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
9470 times
  
In lugnet.general, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Scott Lyttle wrote:

   I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.

I thought ALE was a warm place reserved for agnostics like Dave!

JOHN (trying to keep up with your barbarisms, Dave!)

Why don’t we use “Adult Hobbyist Of Lego” or AHOL! After all we are all AHOLs once in a while! :-p

Gary Istok


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 01:07:41 GMT
Viewed: 
9450 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Gerhard R. Istok wrote:
   In lugnet.general, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Scott Lyttle wrote:

   I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.

I thought ALE was a warm place reserved for agnostics like Dave!

JOHN (trying to keep up with your barbarisms, Dave!)

Why don’t we use “Adult Hobbyist Of Lego” or AHOL! After all we are all AHOLs once in a while! :-p

Gary Istok

That is the best yet!!!!!!!

Adr.


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 01:26:18 GMT
Viewed: 
9475 times
  
In lugnet.general, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Scott Lyttle wrote:

   I thought ALE was a particular type of alcoholic libation.

I thought ALE was a warm place reserved for agnostics like Dave!

JOHN (trying to keep up with your barbarisms, Dave!)

Hey, leave my haircut out of this.

Dave!


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 02:04:03 GMT
Viewed: 
9467 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Dave Schuler wrote:
  
Hey, leave my haircut out of this.

Shear thing, Dave!

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: What is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 02:09:03 GMT
Viewed: 
9469 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Gerhard R. Istok wrote:

   Why don’t we use “Adult Hobbyist Of Lego” or AHOL! After all we are all AHOLs once in a while! :-p


ROTFLMAHOLO!

Good one, Gary! :-)

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE? (was Re: Brickshelf going away???)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 4 Jun 2005 19:28:02 GMT
Viewed: 
7673 times
  
In lugnet.general, Kevin Blocksidge wrote:
   In lugnet.general, Rob Hendrix wrote:
   Easier to pronounce is a good thing. Now all we need is one that is easier to pronounce than MOC (which apparently some people called “mock” and others call M-O-C).

“mock” is already a word, so I propose we pronounce it like “smoke” and “choke”



Moke is also already a word, its a type of open Mini

tim


Subject: 
Re: Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 16:16:54 GMT
Viewed: 
8276 times
  
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are no
longer available at Brickshelf.com."

That says absolutely nothing about the (IMHO) more important issue of user
pictures on Brickshelf, which I consider its primary purpose.  The
instructions and catalog scans are available elsewhere, and could pretty
easily be re-hosted someplace new if necessary.

The crisis at hand is whether Brickshelf itself is going away, or is going
to be frozen (not accepting new uploads), as Kevin said might be the case.
And despite numerous calls here in the last week along the lines of "Let's
have a funding drive," Kevin has utterly failed to say anything like "Yes,
that would help, thank you very much."

If money were the primary problem (with keeping Brickshelf alive for
user-contributed content), I'd think he would have spoken up by now.

Best,
- Joe

He has:

http://news.lugnet.com/announce/brickshelf/?n=125

http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=46097

"While I don’t think fundrasing drives are a viable long-term option (we need
somewhat reliable monthly cashflow), we certainly will not turn away impromptu
sponsors!"

Clark


Subject: 
Re: Supporting Brickshelf so it doesn't go away!!!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 17:00:35 GMT
Viewed: 
8304 times
  
In lugnet.general, Clark Stephens wrote:
In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
If money were the primary problem (with keeping Brickshelf alive for
user-contributed content), I'd think he would have spoken up by now.

Best,
- Joe

He has:

http://news.lugnet.com/announce/brickshelf/?n=125

http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=46097

"While I don’t think fundrasing drives are a viable long-term option (we need
somewhat reliable monthly cashflow), we certainly will not turn away impromptu
sponsors!"

Clark

Both of those are passive requests.  In the same vein, I'm always interested in
getting free money, but that isn't the same like saying 'I'm broke and need to
get some cash.  I'm going to sell my Collection to make money.' I think what Joe
is looking for is for Brickshelf and Kevin to explicitly state that they need
help to raise the money and provide BrickShelf with regular income.

Right now I can buy a Brickshelf membership, but the only benefit is that I
don't have to look at ads while browsing if I am signed in.  I must sign in
every time I visit Brickshelf, rather than saving my signed-in status like most
sites do these days.  Also, membership must be renewed in January.  Right now, I
could pay $20 for a yearly membership, and only get 6 months of service.

Not that I don't think Brickshelf is a worthy cause as-is, but if benefits
aren't more substantial, it will remain a pure charity case.

-Lenny


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate, lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 17:54:43 GMT
Viewed: 
9813 times
  
Hello!


I don't care if either is "easier" to pronounce--no one I know "pronounces"
[ETA,] [RSVP,] or [USA.]  "AFOL" is an abbreviation, not an acronym.

I say "eta" (That's a terror organization in the Spanish Basque region.) or
E-T-A (meaning "estimated time of arrival"), R-S-V-P (what the heck is it?) and
U-S-A. But I say "afol" and "mock" and "burp" because:

unlike the
other initialisms you mention, AFOL when spelled quickly sounds more like a
word (ayafoal) than a string of letters.

Or does anybody say B-U-R-P to a BURP? Or S-N-O-T to SNOT?


So, from now on, I'll be introducing my passion this way: "I'm an adult LEGO
enthusiast"

When discribing my hobby to non-LEGO-fans I usually say "I build with LEGO."
Telling them any Acronym wouldn't help them much. And they often see for
themselves that I am an adult.


IMO (also an abbreviation rather than an acronym!), to call oneself an
"enthusiast" is to make oneself sound hopelessly effete and snobbish.

That's what I think, too.
Also, in German "enthusiast" is considered a "foreign word" (dunno how the
situation is in English), not everybody is able to spell it correctly, many
people don't know what it means or don't even know the word at all. Words like
this are merely used by advanced users of language (AUOLs).

How I understand it: An enthusiast is somebody who gets always glistering eyes
when speaking about his hobby. - That's truely not the case with me, so I am not
an enthusiast. Therefore "ALE" wouldn't apply to me at all. I am an adult friend
of LEGO (LEGO the bricks, not LEGO the company). That's best aconym-ed in
"AFOL".


Bye
Jojo


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate, lugnet.general
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:08:21 GMT
Viewed: 
9834 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Johannes Koehler wrote:
Hello!

Hi JoJo!

I say "eta" (That's a terror organization in the Spanish Basque region.) or
E-T-A (meaning "estimated time of arrival"), R-S-V-P (what the heck is it?)

Respondez Sil Vous Plait (1) HTH!

++Lar (can we pick one FUT? I think .people but what do I know?)

1 - IIRC(2)... it's French or something for "get back to me whether you are
coming to my party or not because I need to know how much beer to order" or
something...
2 - Which I never say as "irk", I always say Eye Eye Are Cee...


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:28:46 GMT
Viewed: 
10172 times
  
Hello!


In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
Respondez Sil Vous Plait (1) HTH!

Merci beaucoup!


(can we pick one FUT?)

I posted to .general because I wrote about something LEGO-related. And to
.debate because it was debate-ish.


1 - IIRC(2)... it's French or something for "get back to me whether you are
coming to my party or not because I need to know how much beer to order"

Yeah, thanks, I'm coming to that party! Would you pay for my taxi?


2 - Which I never say as "irk", I always say Eye Eye Are Cee...

How do you pronounce "LOL"? Better asked: Does anybody ever pronounce it? Ain't
www-acronyms like that only used in written communication?


Bye
Jojo


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:46:55 GMT
Viewed: 
10175 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Johannes Koehler wrote:

Yeah, thanks, I'm coming to that party! Would you pay for my taxi?

Taxi OR beer, whichever's less. I guess... Assuming I have any money left after
BF... Apparently some rumor got started that I'm buying rounds at Rocklands???
Gonna be hard to pull off because Nik'll be with me again this year and I don't
think I can sneak him in the way I did 2 years ago...

Anyway, not gonna happen.

Well maybe I'll buy rounds just for the people that actually like me (and can
prove it... somehow...), that should be a lot cheaper...

2 - Which I never say as "irk", I always say Eye Eye Are Cee...

How do you pronounce "LOL"? Better asked: Does anybody ever pronounce it? Ain't
www-acronyms like that only used in written communication?

Ya I think so, except in rare circumstances. But the question still comes up,
how do you say it "in your head" when you're reading it, even if you don't voice
it... I actually say LOL "loll" in my head, believe it or not, unlike IIRC...


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:56:01 GMT
Viewed: 
10190 times
  
Well maybe I'll buy rounds just for the people that actually like me (and
can
prove it... somehow...), that should be a lot cheaper...


Crap, there's always a catch isn't there?

Rob


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 21:15:01 GMT
Viewed: 
10219 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Larry Pieniazek wrote:

   In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Johannes Koehler wrote:
   How do you pronounce “LOL”? Better asked: Does anybody ever pronounce it? Ain’t www-acronyms like that only used in written communication?

Ya I think so, except in rare circumstances. But the question still comes up, how do you say it “in your head” when you’re reading it, even if you don’t voice it... I actually say LOL “loll” in my head, believe it or not, unlike IIRC...

What a strange person! Acros are to save time typing, neh? So, why wouldn’t one voice it out “in one’s head”? Whenever I read an acro, I unsuffit.

Unless a person is too important and their time too valuable to take that extra nanosecond or two to do it? ;-)

JOHN


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 6 Jun 2005 21:34:09 GMT
Viewed: 
10389 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.fun, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Larry Pieniazek wrote:

   In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Johannes Koehler wrote:
   How do you pronounce “LOL”? Better asked: Does anybody ever pronounce it? Ain’t www-acronyms like that only used in written communication?

Ya I think so, except in rare circumstances. But the question still comes up, how do you say it “in your head” when you’re reading it, even if you don’t voice it... I actually say LOL “loll” in my head, believe it or not, unlike IIRC...

What a strange person! Acros are to save time typing, neh? So, why wouldn’t one voice it out “in one’s head”? Whenever I read an acro, I unsuffit.

The voices in my head talk slowly, so that I can understand what they are saying... apparently yours don’t, and talk so fast that you’re getting garbled messages?

That certainly would explain a lot!

   Unless a person is too important and their time too valuable to take that extra nanosecond or two to do it? ;-)

Yep, that’s me all right...


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 7 Jun 2005 15:36:34 GMT
Viewed: 
5196 times
  
"Steven Asbury" <stevenasbury@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:IH5wt0.1nGx@lugnet.com...
The instruction and catalog scans have been removed. Kevin posted the • following
message ...

"Due to the loss of our major sponsor, Instruction and Catalog scans are • no
longer available at Brickshelf.com. We are working to find them a new • home. When
we do, we will post a link here. We apologize for any inconvenience."

I also see there is a message asking users to transfer their files to
maj.com.

Ok, I have now used maj.com since this message appeared. But I will not use
maj.com anymore, the reason is that I am used to checking brickshelf for new
uploads ("Recent") almost daily since I'm intrested in geting new ideas for
my LEGO creations. But on maj.com there are too much other stuff that I not
intrested in at all.
So if Brickshelf is going away it will be a sad day. Even if Brickshelf
stays up stops supporting any new uploads.

I have now deleted my files at maj.com and will continue to use brickshelf
until it stops...
Then I will put my LEGO-photos together with my other photos on my private
photo gallery that I have online. Or if there will come a new service for
LEGO-entustiast like the people on lugnet and brickshelf I will consider
moving to this place.

Please Kevin, Keep the Brickshelf alive in the future!


Regards
Øyvind Steinnes


Kevin (or anyone), can you give us some more information? Is Brickshelf • going
away immediately? If so, what timetable do we have before our galleries
disappear?

-Steven


Subject: 
Re: what is ALE?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Tue, 7 Jun 2005 16:18:52 GMT
Viewed: 
10336 times
  
Unless a person is too important and their time too valuable to take that
extra nanosecond or two to do it?  ;-)

Yep, that's me all right...

Of all the people who *could* have responded to [JOHN], I knew you would be
the first (if not the only) to chime in and say that.  You're becoming too
easy to read.  Time to change your modus operandi...

Rob


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Tue, 7 Jun 2005 16:52:26 GMT
Viewed: 
5196 times
  
In lugnet.general, Øyvind Steinnes wrote:


   Ok, I have now used maj.com since this message appeared. But I will not use maj.com anymore, the reason is that I am used to checking brickshelf for new uploads (“Recent”) almost daily since I’m intrested in geting new ideas for my LEGO creations. But on maj.com there are too much other stuff that I not intrested in at all.

Perhaps if Kevin included a “LEGO” category on Maj.com along with the other categories, it might be more palatable for those only interested in LEGO.

JOHN


Subject: 
New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general, lugnet.announce.peeron, lugnet.announce.brickshelf, lugnet.publish
Followup-To: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:44:05 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
16932 times
  
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:58:08 GMT
Viewed: 
8645 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

This is EXCELLENT news, and a real releif!

HOORAY!

Legoswami


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:51:34 GMT
Viewed: 
8681 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
   I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming back online soon. Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at Peeron.com. Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

Great news! (^.^) Much thanks to Dan, Jenn, and others.

-Suz


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:54:49 GMT
Viewed: 
8961 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

          Great news! Thanks much! Will (does) that include the catalouge scans?

              Thanks and God Bless,

                       Nathan


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 22:06:02 GMT
Viewed: 
8830 times
  
On Fri, Jun 17, 2005 at 08:54:49PM +0000, Nathan Todd wrote:
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will
be coming back online soon. Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed,
to host it at Peeron.com. Since we have to write a new interface for
the library, it is not ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be
available soon.

Great news! Thanks much! Will (does) that include the catalouge scans?

Yes, but not immediately.

--
Dan Boger
dan@peeron.com


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Fri, 17 Jun 2005 22:57:26 GMT
Viewed: 
8683 times
  
Great news! Thank you Peeron.

e


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Sat, 18 Jun 2005 00:42:14 GMT
Viewed: 
8729 times
  
Hello!


In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

That's indeed good news. Thanks for taking that over, Peeron!

Now that this matter is resolved: What's happening to the MOC galleries on
BrickShelf now?


Bye
Jojo


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Sat, 18 Jun 2005 04:15:49 GMT
Viewed: 
8654 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.

That is great news, I am very glad The instructions Have found a new home.


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Sat, 18 Jun 2005 19:28:53 GMT
Viewed: 
8689 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

And there will be much rejoicing!


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish, lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 19 Jun 2005 18:39:10 GMT
Viewed: 
9722 times
  
ok

this still leaves me with.... should I move my pictures or let them stay at
BS?

Sonnich


"Dan Boger" <dan@peeron.com> wrote in message news:II8GxH.1KEE@lugnet.com...
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be • coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is • not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish, lugnet.general
Date: 
Sun, 19 Jun 2005 20:24:17 GMT
Viewed: 
9570 times
  
In lugnet.publish, Sonnich Jensen wrote:
ok

this still leaves me with.... should I move my pictures or let them stay at
BS?

AFAIK, Kevin has no plans to shut down the gallery - so I would say certainly
keep them there.

I think people forget that the best thing about hosting pictures on BS isn't the
free hosting (which is still cool), but the fact that that's the ONE PLACE
people go to find new LEGO creations.

Dan


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:23:31 GMT
Viewed: 
8883 times
  
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

I am glad to hear the good news.

With Peeron becoming an even more valuable resource for the community (not that
it wasn't valuable already), are there any plans for redundancy so if there were
problems with Peeron (God forbid) that we would not be stuck as a community?

Jude


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:57:13 GMT
Viewed: 
8732 times
  
In lugnet.publish, Jude Beaudin wrote:
In lugnet.general, Dan Boger wrote:
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

I am glad to hear the good news.

With Peeron becoming an even more valuable resource for the community (not that
it wasn't valuable already), are there any plans for redundancy so if there were
problems with Peeron (God forbid) that we would not be stuck as a community?

Well, I assume that by "problem with Peeron" you mean a problem with Jennifer
and myself :)  But there are other members of the community that have access to
the server, the code, and the data.  So even if we were to go away, the site
could continue to run.  We also keep Peeron funds seperate, pay for hosting a
year at a time (which means there will be time to find a new host if need be),
and the site does support it's own expenses, meaning it's not a burden to
continue running it.

So while that's not quite redundant, I'd say it's fairly safe.

Dan


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:54:10 GMT
Viewed: 
8637 times
  
"Dan Boger" <dan@peeron.com> schreef in bericht
news:II8GxH.1KEE@lugnet.com...
I am happy to announce that the Brickshelf Instuction Library will be
coming
back online soon.  Kevin Loch has asked us, and we agreed, to host it at
Peeron.com.  Since we have to write a new interface for the library, it is
not
ready yet to go live, but we hope it will be available soon.

Now there's some great news!
Thanks for all the efforts.

Jaco


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 03:57:27 GMT
Highlighted: 
(details)
Viewed: 
8694 times
  
It took a little bit longer than we had hoped, but the scans are now available
again.  We still need to add the PDF instructions, and the catalogs, but we felt
that releasing what we have already would be better than waiting for everything
to be ready.

Try it out - The Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library (PICSL)[1].

If you have any comments or suggestions, be it new features or ways to make the
user interface better, or bug reports, please let us know!

We would like to thank Kevin for hosting this important resource for all these
years, and The LEGO Group and LEGOFan for allowing us to publish the Library
online

Dan and Jennifer Boger.

[1] http://www.peeron.com/scans/


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish, lugnet.announce.peeron, lugnet.announce, lugnet.general
Followup-To: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 03:59:27 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
Viewed: 
17252 times
  
It took a little bit longer than we had hoped, but the scans are now available
again.  We still need to add the PDF instructions, and the catalogs, but we felt
that releasing what we have already would be better than waiting for everything
to be ready.

Try it out - The Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library (PICSL)[1].

If you have any comments or suggestions, be it new features or ways to make the
user interface better, or bug reports, please let us know!

We would like to thank Kevin for hosting this important resource for all these
years, and The LEGO Group and LEGOFan for allowing us to publish the Library
online

Dan and Jennifer Boger.

[1] http://www.peeron.com/scans/

(reposting to the right groups :)


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 05:32:25 GMT
Viewed: 
11051 times
  
In lugnet.announce, Dan Boger wrote:
It took a little bit longer than we had hoped, but the scans are now available
again.  We still need to add the PDF instructions, and the catalogs, but we felt
that releasing what we have already would be better than waiting for everything
to be ready.

Try it out - The Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library (PICSL)[1].

If you have any comments or suggestions, be it new features or ways to make the
user interface better, or bug reports, please let us know!

That's excellent Dan! You got that up & going ultra quick, thanks!

I do have a query though - I couldn't find set 8040. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a
PDF because it's pretty old, and I had page 13 bookmarked because of the
infamous 5x9 plate :) So I'm just wondering if you definitely have all the
non-PDF scans there?

ROSCO


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:44:37 GMT
Viewed: 
9464 times
  
On Tue, Jun 28, 2005 at 05:32:25AM +0000, Ross Crawford wrote:
I do have a query though - I couldn't find set 8040. I'm pretty sure
it wasn't a PDF because it's pretty old, and I had page 13 bookmarked
because of the infamous 5x9 plate :) So I'm just wondering if you
definitely have all the non-PDF scans there?

I knew I forgot to mention something!  Some of the older scans were
actually invalid pictures, so they didn't import cleanly.  I still need
to go through the ones that were rejected, and import them manually.

I just found 8040, and it was one of those scans...  But it's imported
now.

Sorry for the confusion!

--
Dan Boger
dan@peeron.com


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:52:04 GMT
Viewed: 
9199 times
  
In lugnet.publish, Dan Boger wrote:
It took a little bit longer than we had hoped, but the scans are now available
again.  We still need to add the PDF instructions, and the catalogs, but we felt
that releasing what we have already would be better than waiting for everything
to be ready.

Try it out - The Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library (PICSL)[1].

If you have any comments or suggestions, be it new features or ways to make the
user interface better, or bug reports, please let us know!

Wowsers, that rocks! Thanks!

A suggestion I have is to integrate the scan lib into the search.

If you want to find a particular set now, I think you have to search for the set
inventory, then follow the link to the scan. Although you have pics turned off
by default for the inventory, that extra step does add a few secs (and
presumably some server load?), so can you allow "scans" as a search type and if
selected, skip the set inventory step? I'd default to "scans" while in the PICSL
but not while elsewhere, if that makes sense.

I dunno if scans is the right term but "sets" is already used... perhaps change
that so you have "set inventory" and "set instructions" as choices?


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:45:09 GMT
Viewed: 
9176 times
  
Inventories and Scans together at last. I am really glad to see that you were
able to carry the torch here Dan, thank you very much.

Scott

In lugnet.publish, Dan Boger wrote:
It took a little bit longer than we had hoped, but the scans are now available
again.  We still need to add the PDF instructions, and the catalogs, but we felt
that releasing what we have already would be better than waiting for everything
to be ready.

Try it out - The Peeron Instruction and Catalog Scans Library (PICSL)[1].

If you have any comments or suggestions, be it new features or ways to make the
user interface better, or bug reports, please let us know!

We would like to thank Kevin for hosting this important resource for all these
years, and The LEGO Group and LEGOFan for allowing us to publish the Library
online

Dan and Jennifer Boger.

[1] http://www.peeron.com/scans/

(reposting to the right groups :)


Subject: 
Re: New home for Brickshelf Scan Library
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.publish
Date: 
Wed, 29 Jun 2005 04:03:35 GMT
Viewed: 
9669 times
  
In lugnet.publish, Dan Boger wrote:
On Tue, Jun 28, 2005 at 05:32:25AM +0000, Ross Crawford wrote:
I do have a query though - I couldn't find set 8040. I'm pretty sure
it wasn't a PDF because it's pretty old, and I had page 13 bookmarked
because of the infamous 5x9 plate :) So I'm just wondering if you
definitely have all the non-PDF scans there?

I knew I forgot to mention something!  Some of the older scans were
actually invalid pictures, so they didn't import cleanly.  I still need
to go through the ones that were rejected, and import them manually.

I just found 8040, and it was one of those scans...  But it's imported
now.

Sorry for the confusion!

No problem at all! Ahhhhh there it is http://www.peeron.com/scans/8040-1/13

ROSCO


Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away??? **bsbackup
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 12 Jan 2006 01:15:53 GMT
Viewed: 
6776 times
  
In lugnet.general, Bob Kojima wrote:
  
   Is there a way to download ALL files with folders in one single command or something like that? For example I want to download everything one user has. So that files can easily be transferred to maj.com.


give this a try:

http://klickitat.fial.com/bob/download/BSBackup_004.zip


About:

A program used to back up your Brickshelf.com directory. Set the destination directory, enter the user ID name or the folder ID and press the get button. All the sub folders and files in the folders will be downloaded to your local drive.


Features: - Adjustable pause between downloads to be bandwidth friendly
  1. Delay start so downloads can be scheduled at a time of day with less

  2. Download by user ID or folder ID

  3. Grabs all file types in a directory and searches sub directories

  4. Will not download duplicates (If a file already exist then it will not


bob

Does anyone know if bsbackup still works? I have used this in the past with great success and I loved it. But for some reason I can not get it to run now.

But now I get “Forbidden You don’t have permission to access ...”

If this has been disabled is there any other way to backup my / others brickshelf accounts.

thanks

Mike Gallagher


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