Subject:
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Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:19:19 GMT
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Hello everyone.
While many may not recognize my name, I am a long time AFOL. And while I barely
post, I am an active and appreciative member who has watched the Lego community
grow from it’s infancy since the mid 90s (wow, I really feel old now).
Like many of you, I was really thrown for a loop by the posting I found today
regarding the (possible) discontinuance of Brickshelf.com. While I do not post
much to Lugnet, and rarely post images to Brickshelf, I recognize the true value
this resource has to our community. I cannot tell you the number of times I
have used the pages as inspiration for building ideas, looked at images of the
newest products to decide whether a set was a wise investment, and/or just
appreciated to imagination and entertainment value a simple piece of
interlocking plastic can bring so many people over the years.
So, I feel it’s time to step up, provide a catalyst to ensure this never stops
for all of us – continuing the operation of Brickshelf. And not just for
backing up images of personal creations of the website for archival purposes.
That’s not the true value of Brickshelf. It is the ultimate medium for sharing
our ideas, improving the brand, and growing the community. I ask for you to
help, and together, we can turn this scare into something positive.
First of, I need to address the criticism I saw in postings. Please, just stop.
Kevin has been a friend to us all over the years. When a friend falls upon hard
times, we do not criticize and admonish that person. If you do personally, you
need to look inward and reevaluate yourself as a human being.
When our friends fall upon hard times, we share our concerns and offer our help.
Instead of communicating adverse feeling towards someone, we should show our
support. How can we help? What needs to be done to continue, as one person so
truthfully said, “the crown jewel” of our community?”
Saying all of this, I offer a possible solution. If Kevin does not wish to
continue the administration, financing, and operation of Brickshelf, we, as a
TRUE community, should offer to help him transition the webpage to the next
level – a webpage run by the community, much like Lugnet. So, here is my
proposal, and please offer your CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms, as you see fit.
First – Operations (this won’t be in alphabetical order): I know many members
of the AFOL/Lego communities live busy lifestyles. I ask that for that those of
you, who can, please offer your services in this aspect, possibly a group that
switches duties to spread the burden. These people would provide the overall
policies, strategy, and daily administration of the website. It may be a
thankless job, sometimes taking on undue criticism, but the long-term value you
provide is priceless.
Second – Administration: The people that take these ideas and strategies, and
make it a reality. Please correct my naivety, but I see this aspect mainly
being the IT folks, who maintain the website’s operations. They would provide
feedback on who we can improve the service to the community; IT needs for
continued hosting, safeguard against hackers and viruses, and provide day to day
supervision of the website. I know there are many talented members who could
easily do all of this in their sleep. I can’t wait to hear form all of you.
Third – Financing: This can be a sticky subject, because it takes away from such an important aspect of our community – buying Legos!!! ;D Saying that, I call on other members with sufficient resources to help me with ensuring adequate financing for the continued operation of Brickshelf. And no, this should not be left to a few wealthier individuals. Everyone should contribute. For now, those of us with better means should offer what we can to keep the community alive. Eventually, we may initiate a $10-20 a year membership requirement. For the value that Brickshelf provides, this in nothing in comparison.
Again, feedback and sharing of ideas is vital to this effort, as it is with our
building ideas. If I’m short sited, please offer constructive solutions. Don’t
just criticize. That’s useless. For those who put down the technology without
a solution, keep walking. I want to help, and possibly improve one of the
pillars for our community, not start a message board for useless criticism.
I have contacted Kevin via email to see what I can do, mentioning I would send
out this email. Friends, I ask that you work with me to keep Brickshelf alive,
whether this is temporary or not. Even if this a glitch, we should all wake up,
and ask Kevin what we can do. He’s our friend. It’s time we help him.
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Message has 7 Replies:
 | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| (...) Christopher, I've not read all the posts on this topic, so I didn't realize people were disrespecting Kevin for the changes to Brickshelf. This is completely uncalled for and should stop right away. I appreciate your approach to the change, in (...) (17 years ago, 15-Jul-07, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| Hey, Sounds good. Let's look to see what we can do positively rather than sit around and gripe about things. I would be happy to act as a moderator of a resurrected variant on Brickshelf. I'm sure we could easily create a large team of trusted AFOLs (...) (17 years ago, 15-Jul-07, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| (...) Christopher, I agree with your sentiments. I'm not a terribly active AFOL. Still, I've sent $10 via PayPal to Lugnet, and to Brickshelf, and to Peeron. My son and I have certainly gotten more than our money's worth from these great online (...) (17 years ago, 15-Jul-07, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| Chris I completely agree with your response and I just want to add my support & appreciation toward Kevin and all his wonderful work. I am very surprised to see Brickshelf down and I would love to help in any way I can, which isnt a whole lot =( But (...) (17 years ago, 16-Jul-07, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| Why doesn't TLG run a gallery for AFOLs? Yes, there's a (URL) sort of gallery> on LEGO.com, but it's an unbrowsable mess filled with 10-year-olds posting images they stole from Ed Boxer. Have any of the Ambassadors discussed this with the company? I (...) (17 years ago, 16-Jul-07, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| (...) I have noticed on LUGNET that there are a number of sites that are being offered as alternatives to BrickShelf. My concern is the issue of the number of sites now competing to fill the void and splintering the community, rather than one major (...) (17 years ago, 17-Jul-07, to lugnet.general)
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