Subject:
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Re: Brickshelf empty?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:53:47 GMT
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Viewed:
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10998 times
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In lugnet.general, Jordan Schwarz wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Tobbe Arnesson wrote:
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Seems I was not the only one to leave this place. :(
Can’t see how flickr and possibility to edit posts and masking
mail-addresses can be the reason for this. Does not matter if the system is
slightly flawed if the crowd and quality of builds and posts is maintained.
Did this decline happen suddenly as a reaction to some change (I left partly
due to all the negative energy in here when TLG changed the shade of gray)
or has it been a slow downfall?
Where is everybody now?
To me it seems the quality of the products is still high with the creator
series and others. And I’d personally would love to buy an 8258. :D
Used to “hang” mostly in Technic and lurk in rtlToronto and Mecha. All seems
equally dead. :(
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At Brickworld 2009, the fragmentation of the AFOL online community was the
subject of several discussions. This fact seems to be well-known to AFOLs at
this point. Even the LEGO Community Team knew about this. As you pointed
out, one question is: where has everybody gone, and why? A second question -
and the subject of discussion at Brickworld - was: how can this fragmentation
be addressed?
As to where everyone has gone - I think the most popular answers are Flickr,
Eurobricks, and a few theme-specific sites such as FBTB and Classic-Castle.
It also seems like there are now a million different LEGO blogs - perhaps
some fans are spending their time reading or writing blogs instead of
participating in forums. The bottom line here is that the fan community is
no longer centered around any single site; they are scattered over half a
dozen or more different sites.
In my observation, LUGNET’s traffic underwent a slow - but sustained -
decline to the point where instead of there being regular news to read, you
were lucky to manage a few new posts per day. As new posts waned, so did
interest and traffic - and vice versa. It didn’t seem like there was a mass
exodus... just an ever-increasing lack of new posts.
It’s hard to come up with an answer to the issues of AFOL community
fragmentation. I’m open to suggestions! It seems like LUGNET is a good
resource, and it’s a shame that the community isn’t making better use of it.
-Jordan
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I think part of the reason why things have fragmented such as they have, but not
as a conscious decision by any one group or individual, is the lack of
redundancy that is Lugnet. There was a period of time many years ago when
Lugnet’s server would go offline on a weekly basis, and not come back for hours
or even days. With only one website to visit and converse on, we had no way of
sharing or converse, except through email contacts - if you had any.
With the community more fragmented, with more redundancy, if any one website
goes down, there are many other places to visit. Such is the case with
Classic-Castle. Several years ago the forum had to be shut down, I can’t
remember the cause, and Eurobricks became the temporary home for many of the
refugees (in fact they gave all the new members on their forum that specific
forum title - Classic-Castle Refugee).
On a personal level I stopped visiting Lugnet on a regular basis not only
because of the bad karma I felt while here, but there was no policing. Trolling
went unfiltered, and it took the power of Congress to get someone in power to
intervene. Arguments have always been made that to edit someone’s post here on
Lugnet violates the 1st amendment, but the 1st amendment does not cover this
website, and free speech is only guaranteed to those who own the website. A
website can have a policy that states they will respect free speech rights,
that’s an entirely different thing, but there is no government mandated law
stating that anyone outside of the owner/operators of Lugnet may post here.
This is why I liked going to websites that DID police their forum for such
things - it made for a better, more enjoyable experience.
I don’t think there is a “solution” to the fragmentation of the community - it’s
the natural evolution of all things. The first of anything can always do
multiple things well, but subsequent generations go off and specialize. Early
trains were mixed freight and passenger, and then trains split into freight
trains and passenger trains, and then passenger trains split into long distance
and commuter. Airplanes the same way (to a lesser degree). The Space Shuttle,
capable of carrying payloads and personnel, is being replaced with several types
of rockets to do specific jobs.
I believe Lugnet is a great place, and it served its’ time well, but I cannot
foresee a time when it will regain its’ position as the center of the universe.
The last, best hope for Lugnet, I believe, is to transform itself into what
LEGOFan.org was meant to be - a jumping off point to the greater AFOL universe.
Just my two cents.
--Tony
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Brickshelf empty?
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| (...) I don't believe LUGNET needs to return to what it was to once again be the centre of the LEGO universe. I signed up only relatively recently after reading LUGNET for some years and participating in the robotics section through an external (...) (15 years ago, 17-Jul-09, to lugnet.general, FTX)
| | | Re: Brickshelf empty?
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| I think both policing and specializing is a bad thing. Policing, hiding stuff never solves the problems. Better bash it out in the open and deal with it. Sure, pure trolls need to go and there are limits. I moderate in Swedens largest bicycle forum (...) (15 years ago, 17-Jul-09, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Brickshelf empty?
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| (...) At Brickworld 2009, the fragmentation of the AFOL online community was the subject of several discussions. This fact seems to be well-known to AFOLs at this point. Even the LEGO Community Team knew about this. As you pointed out, one question (...) (15 years ago, 16-Jul-09, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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