| |
Ever wished there were a Fabuland newsgroup? Got a soft spot for DUPLO Toolo?
How about Pirates? Wild West? Castle?
All of these (and more) are definitely in the plan -- it's just a matter of
giving them names and positions in the larger newsgroup hierarchy.
Here's your chance to put in your $.02 on the naming scheme...
If you want to get up to speed on past discussions, here are some links:
http://www.lugnet.com/general/?n=3917&t=i&v=a
http://www.lugnet.com/cad/dev/?n=850
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/bn/?n=15
http://www.lugnet.com/admin/general/?n=2379
http://www.lugnet.com/admin/general/?n=1244&t=i&v=a
http://www.lugnet.com/admin/general/?n=1193&t=i&v=a
Of, if you just want to jump in here, I'll summarize everything below.
Basically, we need a new branch of the newsgroup hierarchy to handle the
entire LEGO product line. This will serve several purposes:
1. As you may know, every LUGNET newsgroup has an associated homepage on
the www.lugnet.com website, for example:
lugnet.general <==> http://www.lugnet.com/general/
lugnet.cad.dev <==> http://www.lugnet.com/cad/dev/
lugnet.loc.us.ca.sf <==> http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/ca/sf/
Because of this, all of the newsgroups (and their associated
information, such as links and later FAQ entries) can be browsed
interactively simply by clicking links in the light blue bands at the
tops of the pages, similar to the way sites like Yahoo! work.
The LUGNET/Pause database of LEGO sets isn't currently tailored toward
hiearchical browsing like this, but IMHO it should be -- and the best
way to do that is to integrate the theme-browsing experience with the
newsgroup-browsing experience, bringing dicussions and data one step
closer together.
2. There needs to be a good way to organize stuff (links, information,
etc.) along product line boundaries, because it's one of the main ways
that people browse and retrieve LEGO information.
3. There needs to be a way to organize people around thematic interests --
not just in offering discussion areas to talk, but in actually allowing
people to associate themselves (in a database way) with a theme or
themes. This won't come automatically as a by-product of the newsgroups
but will come later as a by-product of the web sub-areas.
4. Last (but not least!), just about everyone seems has a favorite theme
that they enjoy talking and/or reading about. IMHO, special interest
groups for Fabuland, Technic, and DUPLO Toolo are long overdue!
If you point your browser here:
http://www.lugnet.com/sitemap.cgi?/lego/
you can see about 30 categories from the official product line (not
everything, of course, but most of the more popular ones). These are broken
down along the official boundaries -- meaning that, for example, Space is
listed under LEGO SYSTEM, DUPLO Toolo is listed under LEGO DUPLO, and
Slizer/ThrowBots is listed under LEGO TECHNIC.
I think there are a couple problems with that list as currently shown. I
believe that Belville was moved out of LEGO SYSTEM and into its own system
about a year ago. And Suzanne pointed out to me the other day that
Basic/Classic isn't actually part of SYSTEM (even though FreeStyle is).
These and other examples present a bit of a quandry. First of all, TLG isn't
always consistent about whether a given theme is a system or a theme within a
system. Second, how many people really think about LEGO SYSTEM when they
think about, say, Space or Castle or Pirates?
Since FreeStyle is part of LEGO SYSTEM but Basic/Classic isn't, I'd *like* to
think that what LEGO SYSTEM means is "minifig-scale stuff." (FreeStyle has
always had minifigs, after all.) But Model Team and Radio Control don't have
minifigs, but *are* LEGO SYSTEM. :-(
Does anyone want to type 'system' in the middle of a newsgroup name? I don't
think so. On the other hand, flattening out that part of the hierarchy
presents new problems (hierarchical searches, for one). But perhaps these can
be solved with some clever tricks.
There are two main possibilities...one is the anal-retentive structure --
which attempts to match the official product line as closely as possible...
the other is the more intuitive structure -- which still attempts to match the
official product line, but which ignores the fact that there is this little
thing called SYSTEM.
A strong reason *not* to use SYSTEM, by the way, is because LEGO SYSTEM wasn't
always called that; once upon a time (late 70's to late 80's) it was called
LEGOLAND. (But not quite: Boats and Trains are part of LEGO SYSTEM, but as
far as I can tell, they weren't part of LEGOLAND when SYSTEM was called that.
How's that for confusing?) So organizational structures like LEGOLAND and
LEGO SYSTEM aren't fixed for all of time; they're somewhat transitory. To
make things even more confusing, LEGOLAND actually also meant something *else*
during the late 60's to mid-70's. (It's what eventually became LEGOLAND Town,
then later LEGO SYSTEM Town.)
Another mess is the different types of Trains. 9v Trains are part of LEGO
SYSTEM (as far as I can tell), but 4.5v Trains and 12v Trains aren't/weren't
(as far as I can tell). :-p
Anyway, here's what things would look like with the SYSTEM layer removed/
flattened:
Newsgroup name URL off the website root
======================================= ==================================
lugnet.lego.* /lego/
lugnet.lego.adventurers /lego/adventurers/
lugnet.lego.aquazone /lego/aquazone/
lugnet.lego.basic /lego/basic/
lugnet.lego.belville /lego/belville/
lugnet.lego.books /lego/books/
lugnet.lego.boats /lego/boats/
lugnet.lego.castle /lego/castle/
lugnet.lego.dacta /lego/dacta/
lugnet.lego.duplo /lego/duplo/
lugnet.lego.duplo.dinosaur /lego/duplo/dinosaur/
lugnet.lego.duplo.little-forest-friends /lego/duplo/little-forest-friends/
lugnet.lego.duplo.toolo /lego/duplo/toolo/
lugnet.lego.duplo.winnie-the-pooh /lego/duplo/winnie-the-pooh/
lugnet.lego.fabuland /lego/fabuland/
lugnet.lego.freestyle /lego/freestyle/
lugnet.lego.lifestyle /lego/lifestyle/ [1]
lugnet.lego.media.* /lego/media/ [2]
lugnet.lego.media.chess /lego/media/chess/
lugnet.lego.media.creator /lego/media/creator/
lugnet.lego.media.friends /lego/media/friends/
lugnet.lego.media.legoland /lego/media/legoland/
lugnet.lego.media.loco /lego/media/loco/
lugnet.lego.media.racers /lego/media/racers/
lugnet.lego.media.rockraiders /lego/media/rockraiders/
lugnet.lego.mindstorms /lego/mindstorms/
lugnet.lego.modelteam /lego/modelteam/
lugnet.lego.pirates /lego/pirates/
lugnet.lego.primo /lego/primo/
lugnet.lego.promo /lego/promo/ [3]
lugnet.lego.radiocontrol /lego/radiocontrol/ [4]
lugnet.lego.scala /lego/scala/
lugnet.lego.scala.dolls /lego/scala/dolls/ [5]
lugnet.lego.scala.jewelry /lego/scala/jewelry/ [5]
lugnet.lego.service /lego/service/ [6]
lugnet.lego.space /lego/space/
lugnet.lego.starwars /lego/starwars/
lugnet.lego.technic /lego/technic/
lugnet.lego.technic.competition /lego/technic/competition/ [7]
lugnet.lego.technic.slizer /lego/technic/slizer/ [8]
lugnet.lego.town /lego/town/
lugnet.lego.trains /lego/trains/
lugnet.lego.underground /lego/underground/
lugnet.lego.western /lego/western/ [9]
lugnet.lego.znap /lego/znap/
That makes about 28 subcategories off the main /lego/ category then. I think
that's still quite manageable browsing-wise. Sure beats having to click on
SYSTEM every time. By comparison, there are about 23 categories in the Quick
Links section of LouZ's intro page <http://www.lugnet.com/pause/>, and that
always worked well.
Notes:
1. As I understand it, "Lifestyle" is a relatively new part of the TLG
product line dealing with clothing, bedding, backpacks, etc.
2. lego.media.* is more closely in line with the official product line
but another option might be lego.software.*, since "software" gets the
true meaning across clearer (like "books" would).
3. Perhaps Promotional (unofficial category) includes Holiday (another
unofficial category).
4. "Radio Control" actually might be part of "Model Team"; not sure.
5. "Dolls" and "Jewelry" aren't official sub-categories of LEGO SCALA,
but there has to be some way to separate the two.
6. Dunno if "Service" really deserves a category; just threw it in for
completeness.
7. "Competition" is called "CyberSlam" in the U.S.
8. "Slizer" is called "ThrowBots" in the U.S.
9. "Western" is called "Wild West" in the U.S.
Open issues:
* In the above scheme of things, where do obsolete product lines like
Homemaker, Hobby Sets, Enviro-Model, Samsonite, and Universal Building
Set belong? (Expert Builder probably belongs with Technic, since, for
the most part, that was just a renaming.)
* Should the newsgroup names (and their corresponding URL components) use
the U.S. names (ThrowBots, Wild West, CyberSlam) or the non-U.S. names
(Slizer, Western, Competition)?
* There is potential duplication between
lugnet.lego.trains and lugnet.trains
lugnet.lego.starwars and lugnet.starwars
lugnet.lego.mindstorms and lugnet.robotics
depending on how the groups are structured. If these new groups are
tailored more toward discussing the product line offerings (set numbers,
availability, reviews, etc.) and less toward building, then the duplication
becomes less of an issue. The idea behind these conversation-flow of these
new groups is (a) to have places to talk about the product lines and (b)
to have places to post a question or opinion about a set *right from the DB
pages for a set*, which will be waycool.
--Todd
|
|
Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: CFD: lugnet.lego.* newsgroup hierarchy
|
| (...) When I said there were "two main possibilities," I really meant that there were only two apparently feasable possibilities. But there's actually a third feasable possibility -- it was right under my nose and I didn't see it! (...) Here's the (...) (25 years ago, 9-Aug-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
| | | Re: CFD: lugnet.lego.* newsgroup hierarchy
|
| There are two ways to do this. One is completely subjective with broad categories like "space" "Town" "Trains" "Technic" etc and specific sub-themes below them, the other way is strict fact-based, with no assumptions. only If it has the system logo (...) (25 years ago, 9-Aug-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
| | | Re: lugnet.lego.* newsgroup hierarchy
|
| Hello Todd, I think your organizational structure looks just fine. I look forward to a Technic-related newsgroup. :) As far as whether to use U.S. or non-U.S. product names, well... I think that should be left at the discretion of the person doing (...) (25 years ago, 10-Aug-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
| | | Re: CFD: lugnet.lego.* newsgroup hierarchy
|
| (...) I'm a big fan of throwing away TLG's naming scheme and using something logical instead. :) I'd go further than just throwing out "system" -- I'd reorganize the whole mess. I realize this comment may not be so helpful, because it doesn't fit (...) (25 years ago, 18-Aug-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
|
13 Messages in This Thread:
  
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
