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In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Chris Magno wrote:
>
> > oh look down there... a shark
>
> Are you trying to say LUGNET has "jumped the shark"? That's a serious question,
> please answer seriously... if you are, you may not be the only person thinking
> that, not by a wide margin.
I wouldn't say that. However, the Lego community has changed. It's no longer
what it was when I joined in like 1995--it's...I dunno, more mainstream. Key
items that happened:
1. Todd and Suzanne create Lugnet. Key outputs:
-Now people have an organized, segmented, unified place to participate. There
are others, but Lugnet was the first.
-A semblance of moderation, even if it's very sparingly used. Because we're on
private, controlled, territory, means people were a bit more civil, at least on
the surface. A flaming gay man or a staunch churchie could be as obtuse as they
wanted to be on rtl. You took it or left it. Lugnet changed that--both sides
had to tone it down, and suddenly it wasn't front and center, it was offlined
into OTD while smoothed over by the fear of administration.*
* Note, I'm not saying administration is good or bad--I'm actually quite happy
for Lugnet, for without Lugnet, I don't think we had ever been able to bring
rtlToronto together the way it's now. I'm just saying unlike the lawlessness of
Usenet (for example, read Iain's favourite rec.roller-coaster, or my favourite
rec.aviation.military) had a different set of behaviour. Todd has been
INCREDIBLY even keeled with Lugnet's administration, which is admirable. And
I'm not saying that to blow sunshine up his or anyone else's ass, I think I
would have lost it on MANY a Lugnetter by now if I ran the place.
-Splintering of hobby, or "compartmentalized dork"ism. I guess this was bound
to happen sooner or later. While in the early years, we were all just happy to
find other Lego fans, soon, it was obvious just being happy to be find other
people who liked Lego wasn't enough to keep people talking. We realized this
about two years into rtlToronto, and gave up trying to be useful or appealing to
those weirdos in Toronto who like Space and Castle and the like. Ick. :) It
wasn't just themes, but geographically as well: There wasn't the kind of
geographical aggregation we see with Italy, Germany or here in the GTA.
Lugnet had something to do with it, if only for the fact it wasn't all one giant
room where everyone was chatting. Was it good? Well, I don't know. Yes in the
sense that we probably would have never gotten something like rtlToronto off the
ground. No in that I think I miss reading about Castle or Space creations from
time to time. There isn't that whimsical joy of seeing outside your area
anymore.
2. Ebay. In 1996 or 1997, a woman named Jodi found a 4030 Cargo Carrier and
sent it to me at cost plus a finders fee. In return, I mailed her all the bits
of my old 6080 Castle I could find. We were both happy and all was good.
Today, with eBay, that would never happen. eBay, BrickLink and the like have
changed the game around. What used to be a few guys who could pretty well trust
each other to be good, is now a big marketplace.
If there was any one thing that ruined Lego for me (and by ruined, meaning, a
little less irritating that a Camry driver cutting me off in the morning, and
more irritating than having to load more paper into the laser printer because
someone else didn't bother) was eBay. Suddenly there was a new species of Lego
"fan", the "speculator" or business man. I ran into such a person one day here
in the GTA, and I couldn't comprehend it at first: He knew about rtl and Lugnet,
but wasn't interested in Lego. He just wanted to make money from it.
What does this mean? Well, it means every retarded hick from the South is
currently scouring your favourite store for "Deals", aiming to strike it rich as
he (or she) posts his "finds" at "auction prices". You'll never get that set
you always wanted, unless you're willing to pay. And pay people will.
Because in this game, there's always someone with more money than you.
Either way, good or bad, eBay changed it all.
3. Star Wars. I'm not a SW fan. I think the movies are dreadful (well, the
originals are okay) but I like the sets because they're in general, great models
and good piece values. SW brought along a mainstream audience of young men to
Lego, those who suddenly were interested in "collecting". These are the same
people who push little kids aside at the Walmart and harass the stock-boy into
opening the crate of new figures so he can stuff his cart full of all the new
Natalie-Portman-Princess-Naboolama-With-Hot-Grits MISB and into collector's acid
free archival bags.
Suddenly Lego turned into a "collectable" which was different. I've always
treasured certain sets (the aforementioned 4030, the Metroliner etc) but I've
always opened them, built them, etc. I don't really remember anyone back in
1995 saying they'd be really angry if Lego didn't iterate the SKU number so
their original would stay "worth something" or "limited edition". Most were
happy to get more of something that wasn't widely available, or for the more
obsessive, would accept that there was another variation to get and that they'd
have to update their XML and PHP driven online set database at home with a new
entry now. No one was displeased about it.
What I've noticed was that there was a shift where "building" was the currency
of credibility in the Lego community to one where it was about actual money or
collections.
4. Brad Justus and Lego Direct. This one was probably the biggest change of
all. I've mentioned it here a lot, but all of a sudden Lego went from being
this monolith to opening up and showering us with unique views into the company:
Asking us to vote on sets to rerelease, Lego Master Builders who post in
progress photos to BrickShelf, and having Q&A's and webchats with us.
I don't know what changed with Brad, but overall this was very positive. We got
a lot of amazing new stuff, new portals into this formerly closed company. Jake
has carried on this torch, in his own way. He's a lot more open than Brad, and
he's tried even harder to reach out. Perhaps this has been part of the problem:
He's so nice, everyone takes advantage of his honesty. Because of that,
suddenly people felt they had some sort of right or privilege to demand things.
The openness was misconstrued as an invitation to criticize.*
* - I once read a quote that said criticism is the weakest form of intellectual
activity. Maybe that's true.
So in summary, like a teenager writing a poor essay without the benefit of
diagrams of eating batteries, I will attempt to summarize and extend this post
with a forward looking direction. All in all, the Lego enthusiast world:
-Got bigger
-Joined the mainstream
-Became more commercial
Yesterday I read the lament of a "gamer" who said the new "gamers" were in fact
frat jocks who played Madden Football on their XBOXes in their dorm rooms, not
pale nerds with wallet chains who knew all the level cheats on Counterstrike.
That videogames had been taken over by the entertainment industry and that the
Video Game Awards were proof that their cool niche was no longer hip but in
fact, co-opted by the Man.
I made fun of that guy and flamed him. You can't stop money and you can't stop
something from gaining popularity. Boo hoo that he doesn't feel special anymore.
Yet today (and only today, perhaps because I ventured to read that 10152 thread)
I find myself as the sullen Lego enthusiast, wondering where the good ol days
have gone. For me, the company has gotten a lot better (giving us stuff like
Creator, Designer (Model Team), FLL, new trains, Maersk ships, increasing
commmunication via ILTCO, Jake, etc) but the community has started to sour me.
The colour changes, the ongoing whining, the accusations, the rehashes. Lego
(products, company) has never been so good, yet Lego (enthusiasts, general
behaviour) has never been so bad.
The future I see with the Lego community, at least from my view, is that we'll
probably end up in more regional groups. It's happened already: The rtlToronto
NG is filled with in-jokes that people only get if you're with us at dinner at
Swiss Chalet every second Friday of the month.
It's no longer special just to like Lego, because that's pretty common. That's
only the foundation. The rest is friendship and banter, and that's just
starting to get good.
Jesus, it's 3AM.
Calum
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: Whatever happened...
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| (...) Well put Calum.... I feel the same way. Personally, all I ever read nowadays is rtlToronto, loc.ca, and technic sub-groups. Everytime I have ventured into the main group, and scanned some of the topics (the great dumb grey debate, people (...) (20 years ago, 21-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
| | | Re: Whatever happened...
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| In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Calum Tsang wrote: <snip> (...) Calum "The Yellow Dart!" Tsang. That'll earn you +5, maybe +10... And I think that, once again, Calum put into one wonderful post exactly what I'm feeling. TLC is getting better with their (...) (20 years ago, 21-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
| | | Re: Whatever happened...
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| Getting back to the point... Calum Tsang wrote: <snip a lot of note worthy stuff> I was just thinking, what are the things I like on Lugnet. It comes down to two things. rtl and excellent MOCs. Maybe I haven't explored the extents of lugnet to the (...) (20 years ago, 21-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto) !
| | | Re: Whatever happened...
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| In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Calum Tsang wrote: SNIP! (...) Apart from your non-sensical posts that confuse the heck out of non-rtltoronto people (haha), I find that I usually agree with your more serious postings. Well said, Calum. -Bryan (20 years ago, 21-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
| | | Re: Whatever happened...
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| You missed the biggest change of all since the beginning of LUGNET: Todd's Burnout. When Todd & Suz broke up, LUGNET became a near-anarchy. Suz came in as a sort of moderator for a while, but was very sporadic. Then she left, and Todd came back, but (...) (20 years ago, 22-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Whatever happened...
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| (...) Are you trying to say LUGNET has "jumped the shark"? That's a serious question, please answer seriously... if you are, you may not be the only person thinking that, not by a wide margin. (20 years ago, 21-Dec-04, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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