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Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 27 May 2005 23:52:10 GMT
Viewed: 
5866 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: 
6053 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: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Sat, 28 May 2005 04:08:45 GMT
Viewed: 
6328 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 21:39:57 GMT
Viewed: 
7414 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: 
6095 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: 
6446 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/
*Prius Visual FAQ Home




Subject: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 18:11:03 GMT
Viewed: 
6709 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: 
6734 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: 
Re: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 19:38:21 GMT
Viewed: 
6615 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: Brickshelf going away???
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 2 Jun 2005 20:03:34 GMT
Viewed: 
6664 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: 
Fri, 3 Jun 2005 07:19:50 GMT
Viewed: 
6712 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


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