Subject:
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Re: 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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Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:37:06 GMT
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Viewed:
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3293 times
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In lugnet.general, Matthew Crandall wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Marc Nelson Jr. wrote:
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Why doesn’t TLG run a gallery for AFOLs? Yes, there’s a
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 know
Brickshelf was an expensive operation for one guy, but it would be a drop in
the bucket for TLG - and some of the cheapest advertising they could buy.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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Marc--
Sounds like a good idea. Heck, it sounds like a great idea at first blush.
However...
TLG is not in the website business. (Nor should they be.) They are working
with NetDevil to create an MMOG (or whatever they call it); and their website
is being redone even now as we speak. (As a long time club member, it’s on
the bottom of the club page: “All New LEGO Club Site Coming Soon!”) LEGO
creates bricks that can be made into things.(I know--duh. Humor me for just a
sec, okay?)
Part of what was a drag on both LEGO’s creativity and bottom line was the
foray into movies, video games, collectible card games, and a lot of stuff
that isn’t bricks. They figured this out, cut their losses, and turned back
to their core product: bricks. A good thing, really. They do “binding bricks”
like nobody else can.
Now, I can see some positives for TLG running an online MOC repository. There
is the ad value, plus showing pics from like NW Brickcon, Brickfest, etc. and
what those of AFOL’s are doing. Great inspiration for younger builders, etc.
It might lead to more sales, and would make a lot of people pretty happy.
Happy customers become repeat business.
But the negatives (For TLG) are much larger. You have to have people
constantly working on the website, updating stuff, possibly rewriting code,
moderating ALL the pictures; there has to be a safe and secure place to host
a rapidly growing world of pictures, powerpoints, Ldraw files, etc. Plus,
because it is LEGO, they would have to make it kid friendly. (Not a bad
thing, but if we as adults want to post “AFOL” gatherings, for example...see
what I’m saying?) And, since they are not in the computer website business,
this could well become an excessive drain on their resources...and their
bottom line. Eventually, it gets too big--and they might have to do what
Kevin did with BrickShelf: pull the plug.
Furthermore, every picture, powerpoint, Ldraw file, and so forth that gets
uploaded to a website that they own/run may well become their property.
(Many corporations do this; it protects their rights.) While that may not be
a bad thing short term, in the long run many people may not want to sign
their rights away. I’m not sure I would; while I don’t sell many of my
pictures of anything, I do make certain pictures available for those that
want to purchase them...and so, I don’t want to sign away my rights quite
so quickly.
No...I feel it may be better that a respository for MOC pictures, etc is best
left in the hands of the AFOL’s. I can see a yearly fee for such a service;
depending on the cost (I’m GUESSING!!! between $10-$20 USD/year for x
amount of gig storage space) and I would more than likely pay it.
Still--a good idea, and one that could possibly happen, if TLG has an
interest.
Play Well and Prosper,
Matthew
“The Brick Detective”
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You’re right on about a gallery site being outside of TLG’s core business. But
what if the site wasn’t run by TLG, but just funded by it? Actually, if
Brickshelf is gone, then this might be the sort of thing that the new, improved
LEGOFan.org could take on. It’s already a fan-run, TLG-supported operation.
I’m also willing to pay for image storage. In fact, I just signed up for Flickr
Pro. I have a fairly high trust level with Yahoo - I’ve got some 10-year-old
emails still floating around in my Yahoo Mail account. I never contributed to
Brickshelf because I just knew something like this was going to happen. I’m
actually surprised it took this long.
I don’t know what kind of trust I would have in a pay site run by AFOLs. It
would depend on who was involved. I’m coming up on seven years with BrickLink,
so that’s someone I would feel confident giving my money to. I guess we’ll just
have to wait and see.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Brickshelf.com – A Possible Solution
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| (...) Marc-- Sounds like a good idea. Heck, it sounds like a great idea at first blush. However... TLG is not in the website business. (Nor should they be.) They are working with NetDevil to create an MMOG (or whatever they call it); and their (...) (17 years ago, 16-Jul-07, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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