| 44 messages found. Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies | Author: | Sanderv19v  | | Posted: | Jul 14, 2021 09:19 | | Subject: | Stud.io keeps crashing and freezing. | | Viewed: | 24 times | | Topic: | Technical Issues | |
|
| Hello,
I build my projects in stud.io and they tend to get quite big (10.000 pieces).
But every time I build a bigger project the program becomes unbearable and unusable.
The program freezes after every brick I put in and has a full crash every half
an hour. If I don't save my project I lose it all, because the recovering
function or autosave doesn't work at all.
The recover function get stuck on ''Parsing a File'' but I hope
never to need to use this function every 20min.
I have a good pc: 1660Ti + 6GB, 28 GB of Ram, i7-7800K and 2 TB free storage.
I tried to reinstall the program but the program still had the same problems.
I searched the Internet for solutions but all of them ended with a link to the
help forum main page. Can you please help me (And pls don't send me a
link to nowhere).
Kind regards,
Sander van Gent
|
 |
| Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jul 2, 2021 08:20 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink and the new VAT system | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
|
| In Payment Methods, Erikmax writes:
| | […]
Hi
Thanks, this does not solve the question of how to ship from the EU to outside
the EU.(in particular GB, as we get a BL invoice to attach) See my post about
attaching the BL invoice on the envelope. It must be quite confusing, we attach
a label with value indication, description of goods etc. on which we can't
indicate tax have bneen paid by as third party..and hope the customs understand
that addotional info of the paid tax can be found on the letter attached on the
flipside of the letter?
|
Okay, but the EU VAT rules are for import into EU.
For import into UK, it’s UK VAT rules: https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2511
& https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2514
And AFAICT, UK hasn’t set up their own electronic IOSS-VAT-ID stuff, so it’s
paper and attached-invoice.
|
|
| Author: | Erikmax | | Posted: | Jul 2, 2021 08:03 | | Subject: | Re: Bricklink and the new VAT system | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Payment Methods | |
|
| In Payment Methods, peregrinator writes:
| | In Payment Methods, Erikmax writes:
| | Sorry I don't understand, we use the PostNL online 'business' system
but there is nothing about a IOSS in these formulars.
|
I could be wrong but I believe that's for orders to the EU from outside the
EU
|
Hi
Thanks, this does not solve the question of how to ship from the EU to outside
the EU.(in particular GB, as we get a BL invoice to attach) See my post about
attaching the BL invoice on the envelope. It must be quite confusing, we attach
a label with value indication, description of goods etc. on which we can't
indicate tax have bneen paid by as third party..and hope the customs understand
that addotional info of the paid tax can be found on the letter attached on the
flipside of the letter?
|
|
| Author: | Erikmax | | Posted: | Jul 2, 2021 07:24 | | Subject: | Bricklink invoices attached to letters to the | | Viewed: | 129 times | | Topic: | Shipping | |
|
| I had to ship a small sticker to the GB.
To do this, I need to make a adress sticker in the PostNL sysyem, indicating
the value.
And I got an invoice from Bricklink to attach ON the shipment. On this invoice
the payment of the Britsch VAT is indicated.
PostNL has plastic envelopes to attach invoices to the shipment, These have a
A4 format.
So I have to use a 80 gram A4 box or very large envelope, and even then I can't
attach both the sticker and the invoice on one side. This meanspostage is 4x
what normally should have been.
I hope customs understand the combination of the value indication on the adress
label and the attached document that VAT has been paid.
I wonder if this all goes smoothly and if there are cases of double taxation.
|
|
| Author: | TheBrickGuys | | Posted: | Jun 25, 2021 16:23 | | Subject: | Re: Lego Stores get AFOL makeover? | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | LEGO products | |
|
| In LEGO, LegoLDK writes:
The above highlighted story also has a link to another story about how Lego has
made bricks (2x4 bricks for now) from recycled plastic bottles and hopes start
including them inside sets in around 2 years. Very Interesting!
Jim.
|
|
| Author: | Stuart9 | | Posted: | May 31, 2021 07:25 | | Subject: | Selling collectable minifigures | | Viewed: | 110 times | | Topic: | General | |
|
| Looking for views on collectable minifigures.
I have a large number of these, estimated at 1000+ in new condition, plus others
in used.
These are from nearly all series so far including series 1 unopened and opened
Team GB.
Just accumulating them at present.
Too many to check individually on the sales info, certainly at the moment for
me due to relocation.
Do these still sell well ?
May start listing some when I reopen in 2022.
|
|
| Author: | iprice | | Posted: | May 18, 2021 23:07 | | Subject: | Re: A chance for new Ecto-1?? | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | New Sets | |
|
| In New Sets, Morph writes:
| | With Ghostbusters Afterlife being delayed a few times and finally set to release
this fall; do you think we might see a chance for a “regular” ecto to align with
the movie?
I have the other two and was hoping for the third, but was a bit disheartened
after seeing release the monster sized one.
|
There's always a chance for a version with minifigs (like the previous two)
and Lego have the license. I will probably depend on how well GB: Afterlife does
at the box office and online and perhaps what other sets they can produce that
will go with it.
|
|
| Author: | DeLuca | | Posted: | Jan 10, 2021 15:59 | | Subject: | Re: Please Change Name of Part (973pb4140c01) | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog Requests, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog Requests, DeLuca writes:
| | I usually try to keep names
as similar to their original versions as is possible
|
Really no need to worry about that. You do good catalog work. If you can improve
on a title, go for it.
|
Thank you. 👍
I utterly despise inconsistency, however, so I will either make a single
small change to one entry, or I will rework the names for all related
parts. Additionally, I dislike having to reformat names that I have already changed,
because I find that the style that I used on one part/Minifig does not work on
the related ones. 😕
| | | | In this case, "Classic" is part of the search term "Classic Space", which is a recognised subtheme of Space.
|
Right, but it shouldn't be. Because classic is classic, but to whom? In another 40 years, Galaxy Squad will be classic space. As, at some point, will Star Wars.
|
The difference, to me, is that those other themes actually have TLG-given names,
while "Classic Space" never did (the first properly-named Space theme was Futuron
(though Blacktron was the first to have their name explicitly stated in a catalogue,
from what I have seen, so "Futuron" may be somewhat of a retcon)).
| | Classic Space, Classic Town, Classic Castle, etc. were poorly-thought-out terms by short-sighted people focusing solely upon themselves and their own experiences with LEGO toys.
Instead, what should have been done is to frame the era by year. So:
Classic Space
becomes
Space, 1979-1988
|
While I agree, I think that the name "Classic Space" is now so firmly entrenched
(more so than "Classic Castle"/"Classic Pirates"/"Classic Town") that changing
it to "Space, 1979-1988" would make these items more difficult to find.
As an illustration of how established "Classic Space" is as the unofficial-official
name of the theme: I Googled "Classic Space" (without any references to LEGO),
and got nothing but "Space, 1979-1988" and MOCs based on the theme: https://www.google.com/search?q=classic+space&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjboK_ynZLuAhWLslkKHS5zAdIQ_AUoAnoECA4QAg&biw=1024&bih=665&dpr=2
| | | | Additionally, what do you propose that the planet-with-ship-orbiting insignia
that appears on numerous non-Space pieces (torsos, particularly) be called, then?
|
Not entirely sure. But I recommend calling it what it is. That's what we try to do for most everything else.
|
I agree that the insignia should be described, but I think that "Classic Space"
should also be included, just as "Blacktron" is included in the descriptions
of pieces that contain said logo.
|
|
| Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jul 9, 2020 11:43 | | Subject: | Re: Collecting the parts catalog | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | […]
I've never visited, but from reviews I've read and pictures I've
seen this facility does not match the definition of a true LEGO museum in the
way we've been discussing.
That is, it does not display the entire range of LEGO products as pieces and
sets. In fact, from what I've seen in pictures, it doesn't even come
close.
|
There’s an onlive live tour (part 3 was today)
https://legohouse.com/en-gb/what-s-on/lego-house-live-tours/
Not sure if they will make them available for download sometime.
Anyway, I’d say you’re right on your assesment: it’s not a museum, just a few
toys.
|
|
| Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Jun 15, 2020 04:54 | | Subject: | Re: Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, randyf writes:
| | In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | No thoughts on this from anyone? It really must be just me then?
|
Item numbers for figures are a mess. We're working on it.
See this forum post for a poetically eloquent description of the mess:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1187433
|
Yes I can see it’s definitely a challenge especially since many minifg codes
have become well established with people even though they may not make too much
sense structure wise!
I guess the reason I asked was mainly because I could see some Ideas codes had
been changed to Ghostbuster codes whilst Dimensions Ghostbuster minifgs and the
Ideas Pirate minifigs hadn’t been altered in the same way?
Either way I guess there would need to be a rule of thumb on want constitutes
a minifig range being given its own theme code abbreviation. For instance do
you start giving the ghostbuster minifigs the ‘gb’ code when there are at least
8 minifigs in the range for example?
On the other hand if there are only 2 or 3 ghostbusters minifigs do they perhaps
always just start off with a miscellaneous code which might also include everything
from Santa to ET?
Do we also start to catalog things not necessarily by Legos themes but by what
the community itself classes as the best match for Space, Castle, Pirates etc...
with anything that does'nt fit among the established themes classed as miscellaneous?
For instance do you envisage that stuff like Galaxy Squad might come under space
‘sp’? instead of ‘gs’?
|
As a huge minifigure collector who categorizes their entire collection by the
BrickLink item numbers, I would not be in favor of any renumbering of huge swaths
of the BrickLink catalog as it stands. Small sections, okay, but not lumping
Galaxy Squad into the Classic Space figures, etc. I think having minifigures
classified according to the themes they occur in is how they should be classified
for now, and the catalog manages to currently do that relatively okay for the
majority of the minifigures.
But, once again, this gets back to the database design. We are stuck in a system
that only categorizes things in a flat manner, so moving large amounts of items
around, renumbering large amounts of items, etc., would cause a nightmare for
anyone and everyone involved.
Having a system that allowed tags on items would allow minifigures to be categorized
in more than one way and then all figures could just be given sequential codes
starting from figure000001 all the way up to however many figures there
are and then into the future. So figure009866 might be classified as "Space",
"Galaxy Squad", and "Alien", whereas figure013022 might be classified
as "Licensed", "Space", "Star Wars", and "Alien". No more thinking about how
to structure item numbers, no more worrying about what *specific* category a
minifigure should go in, no more having users even think about numbering since
the system could just assign the next figure number automatically! This is really
where the whole system needs to get to.
Cheers,
Randy
|
To be honest I don’t have too much concern about stuff like Galaxy Squad remaining
‘gs’ and was more interested in other people’s opinions of where we think it
might go though I would just say that if the system remained as it is we could
potentially run out of abbreviations if we continue to use them on every sub-theme
like this but I guess I have bigger issue with the minifigs from both the ‘dim’
and ‘idea’ categories taking precedence over existing categories which are better
suited for them because to me it’s a bit like categorising a Star Wars minifig
from an advent calendar as ‘adv’ or from polybag as ‘pol’ when it should still
be ‘sw’?
On the same token if it goes the way your suggesting then I guess that would
blow everything out the water all together and whilst it could work the only
real issue I would have is with the length of the codes which would also take
away the ability to memorize them for instance without even looking I know that
sw0707 is Yoda and are we going to have more instances where we end up forgetting
which minifig code we came to pick once at the storage location?
As the current system shows a small abbreviation of letters + number combos allows
for codes to be shorter and more memorable
|
|
| Author: | randyf | | Posted: | Jun 14, 2020 22:18 | | Subject: | Re: Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | No thoughts on this from anyone? It really must be just me then?
|
Item numbers for figures are a mess. We're working on it.
See this forum post for a poetically eloquent description of the mess:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1187433
|
Yes I can see it’s definitely a challenge especially since many minifg codes
have become well established with people even though they may not make too much
sense structure wise!
I guess the reason I asked was mainly because I could see some Ideas codes had
been changed to Ghostbuster codes whilst Dimensions Ghostbuster minifgs and the
Ideas Pirate minifigs hadn’t been altered in the same way?
Either way I guess there would need to be a rule of thumb on want constitutes
a minifig range being given its own theme code abbreviation. For instance do
you start giving the ghostbuster minifigs the ‘gb’ code when there are at least
8 minifigs in the range for example?
On the other hand if there are only 2 or 3 ghostbusters minifigs do they perhaps
always just start off with a miscellaneous code which might also include everything
from Santa to ET?
Do we also start to catalog things not necessarily by Legos themes but by what
the community itself classes as the best match for Space, Castle, Pirates etc...
with anything that does'nt fit among the established themes classed as miscellaneous?
For instance do you envisage that stuff like Galaxy Squad might come under space
‘sp’? instead of ‘gs’?
|
As a huge minifigure collector who categorizes their entire collection by the
BrickLink item numbers, I would not be in favor of any renumbering of huge swaths
of the BrickLink catalog as it stands. Small sections, okay, but not lumping
Galaxy Squad into the Classic Space figures, etc. I think having minifigures
classified according to the themes they occur in is how they should be classified
for now, and the catalog manages to currently do that relatively okay for the
majority of the minifigures.
But, once again, this gets back to the database design. We are stuck in a system
that only categorizes things in a flat manner, so moving large amounts of items
around, renumbering large amounts of items, etc., would cause a nightmare for
anyone and everyone involved.
Having a system that allowed tags on items would allow minifigures to be categorized
in more than one way and then all figures could just be given sequential codes
starting from figure000001 all the way up to however many figures there
are and then into the future. So figure009866 might be classified as "Space",
"Galaxy Squad", and "Alien", whereas figure013022 might be classified
as "Licensed", "Space", "Star Wars", and "Alien". No more thinking about how
to structure item numbers, no more worrying about what *specific* category a
minifigure should go in, no more having users even think about numbering since
the system could just assign the next figure number automatically! This is really
where the whole system needs to get to.
Cheers,
Randy
|
|
| Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Jun 14, 2020 21:46 | | Subject: | Re: Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | No thoughts on this from anyone? It really must be just me then?
|
Item numbers for figures are a mess. We're working on it.
See this forum post for a poetically eloquent description of the mess:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1187433
|
Yes I can see it’s definitely a challenge especially since many minifg codes
have become well established with people even though they may not make too much
sense structure wise!
I guess the reason I asked was mainly because I could see some Ideas codes had
been changed to Ghostbuster codes whilst Dimensions Ghostbuster minifgs and the
Ideas Pirate minifigs hadn’t been altered in the same way?
Either way I guess there would need to be a rule of thumb on want constitutes
a minifig range being given its own theme code abbreviation. For instance do
you start giving the ghostbuster minifigs the ‘gb’ code when there are at least
8 minifigs in the range for example?
On the other hand if there are only 2 or 3 ghostbusters minifigs do they perhaps
always just start off with a miscellaneous code which might also include everything
from Santa to ET?
Do we also start to catalog things not necessarily by Legos themes but by what
the community itself classes as the best match for Space, Castle, Pirates etc...
with anything that does'nt fit among the established themes classed as miscellaneous?
For instance do you envisage that stuff like Galaxy Squad might come under space
‘sp’? instead of ‘gs’?
|
|
| Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Jun 14, 2020 14:48 | | Subject: | Re: Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 29 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | I don't know if its just me but with regards to the ideas and dimensions
themes would'nt it make sense to only give minifigures the 'idea'
and 'dim' codes if they don't already belong to an established and
existing theme? For instance all the Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay minifigs
should perhaps be given 'pi' numbers instead of 'idea' numbers?
Likewise dimensions Gimli, Gandalf, Legolas should maybe have a 'lor'
number instead of 'dim' same goes for Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow
man which also have 'dim' numbers instead of 'gb'
With the original ghostbusters minifigs from Ecto-1 it looks like they were already
changed from 'idea' numbers to 'gb' numbers with an i on the
end which might be a good way to keep some continuity on the site?
|
No thoughts on this from anyone? It really must be just me then? 
|
I guess no one sort by ID….
|
|
| Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Jun 14, 2020 14:07 | | Subject: | Re: Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | I don't know if its just me but with regards to the ideas and dimensions
themes would'nt it make sense to only give minifigures the 'idea'
and 'dim' codes if they don't already belong to an established and
existing theme? For instance all the Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay minifigs
should perhaps be given 'pi' numbers instead of 'idea' numbers?
Likewise dimensions Gimli, Gandalf, Legolas should maybe have a 'lor'
number instead of 'dim' same goes for Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow
man which also have 'dim' numbers instead of 'gb'
With the original ghostbusters minifigs from Ecto-1 it looks like they were already
changed from 'idea' numbers to 'gb' numbers with an i on the
end which might be a good way to keep some continuity on the site?
|
No thoughts on this from anyone? It really must be just me then?
|
|
| Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Jun 13, 2020 12:39 | | Subject: | Minifigures being given incorrect codes? | | Viewed: | 103 times | | Topic: | Catalog | | Status: | Open | |
|
| I don't know if its just me but with regards to the ideas and dimensions
themes would'nt it make sense to only give minifigures the 'idea'
and 'dim' codes if they don't already belong to an established and
existing theme? For instance all the Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay minifigs
should perhaps be given 'pi' numbers instead of 'idea' numbers?
Likewise dimensions Gimli, Gandalf, Legolas should maybe have a 'lor'
number instead of 'dim' same goes for Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow
man which also have 'dim' numbers instead of 'gb'
With the original ghostbusters minifigs from Ecto-1 it looks like they were already
changed from 'idea' numbers to 'gb' numbers with an i on the
end which might be a good way to keep some continuity on the site?
|
|
| Author: | StormChaser | | Posted: | Apr 17, 2020 13:15 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions - Update 1 | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| Thank you all so much for the feedback! It has been most helpful.
bje: Split page into separate categories.
Response: This page is intended to function like a dictionary. Words
in a dictionary are not split into categories except by letter. That's what
I've done here. It is the simplest arrangement of category definitions possible
and I think we'd be wise to stick with it.
bje: Define the type of English used.
Response: This is a good point. Obviously the site is written in English
at this point, although just as obviously it should be accessible to everyone.
There are multiple versions of English usage and spelling, but the catalog's
unwritten policy is to use American spelling and meaning.
bje: There is a problem with the Tail category.
Response: Agreed. It should be Aircraft, Tail or something similar.
But right now we're not cleaning up item categories. We're just trying
to define what categories include or should include. There are multiple problems
with categories that need to be addressed and we can get into that later. The
category definitions page we're discussing will be a living document in the
sense that it will need to be regularly updated, so don't think these definitions
are fixed in stone.
bje: There is overlap with Card, Collector Card and Card, Trading Card categories.
Response: Agreed. Again, we're not addressing category issues at
the moment.
bje: The definition of Container is not accurate.
Response: Agreed and fixed.
bje: The definition of Technic is not clear.
Response: Technic is one of the categories that is used to mean multiple
things (sets, parts, etc.). I believe the current definition is sufficient.
bje: Why is xtra a separate category?
Response: Because it is a themed line defined on the package as "xtra"
by TLG. Technically, these are just service packs. When we start talking about
how things are categorized, it may be worth looking into a way to have all the
service packs (Bulk Bricks is another) under one parent category.
bje: There is a problem with the Team GB definition.
Response: Fixed.
bje: The definition of Service Packs need to be clarified.
Response: Fixed.
yorbrick: Do we really need years of release for so many categories?
Response: No, we don't. I'll fix these as necessary before the
page becomes official.
yorbrick: We should split this page into multiple pages.
Response: Please see my response to bje above. I strongly believe one
list is the best format.
yorbrick: We should remove the phrase "intended to appeal to girls."
Response: Agreed and fixed. I will say, however, that regardless of what
anyone says about certain themes such as Scala, Clikits, Paradisa, Belville,
and Friends, we're all intelligent enough to know what's going on.
yorbrick: Changes should be made to LOTR, POTC, and Battle of the Five Armies
definitions.
Response: Agreed and fixed.
hpoort: It is still difficult to determine the difference between Plate, Modified
and Tile, Modified.
Response: Somewhat, yes. I've updated the definition of Plate to
make this clearer.
hpoort: There is overlap between Minifigure, Hair and Mini Doll, Hair.
Response: Agreed. However, we're not working with categories right
now. We're only trying to define what existing categories contain or should
contain. Ideally we would do both things at the same time, but I believe that's
just too much going on at once.
Miro78: The difference between Brick, Modified and Slope, Curved is not clear
enough.
Response: Agreed and fixed (I think). See if the difference is clearer
now.
infinibrix: We should update the category tree.
Response: Agreed. But not right now. We're only trying to define
categories in this thread.
_________________________________________________________________________
And that's all the feedback so far. Please send more!
By the way, Randy was exceptionally kind to us all and coded in some remarkably
helpful navigation tools. Check them out!
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2479
|
|
| Author: | bje | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:54 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | In Catalog, bje writes:
| |
You not heard of Brexit?
Team GB - For a series of 9 collectible minifigures and related items which were
released in 2012 and featured an Olympic team from Europe.
|
Just because we've left the European Union it does not mean we do not belong
to the continent of Europe or are you suggesting we are now part of the America's
or perhaps we will just create our own newly named continent?
Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine are also not part of the EU but they are still based
in Europe!
|
Was never part of the European continent - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Europe
Was the whole point not that you must become your own thingie?
|
|
| Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:54 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, starbeanie writes:
| | Even without Brexit, Team GB stands for Team Great Britain. Europe should never
have been involved in the definition.
|
Agreed
|
|
| Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:53 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 31 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, infinibrix writes:
| | In Catalog, bje writes:
| |
You not heard of Brexit?
Team GB - For a series of 9 collectible minifigures and related items which were
released in 2012 and featured an Olympic team from Europe.
|
Just because we've left the European Union it does not mean we do not belong
to the continent of Europe or are you suggesting we are now part of the America's
or perhaps we will just create our own newly named continent?
Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine are also not part of the EU but they are still based
in Europe!
|
+1
|
|
| Author: | starbeanie | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:48 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| Even without Brexit, Team GB stands for Team Great Britain. Europe should never
have been involved in the definition.
extra is because that's how the package is labeled
In Catalog, bje writes:
| | This is wholly incorrect:
Container - For items relating to a fixed system designed to easily transport
objects on a moving belt.
This is confusing as it refers to parts category as well:
Technic - For a loosely-themed line of sets and related items released over a
number of decades featuring models with mechanical functions.
You not heard of Brexit?
Team GB - For a series of 9 collectible minifigures and related items which were
released in 2012 and featured an Olympic team from Europe.
This is confusing also:
Service Packs - For sets and other items that include spare or replacement parts,
but not for Freestyle, Creator style, or other bulk brick items.
and
xtra - For sets and other items in an ongoing line of service packs first released
in 2018.
Is Xtra a bulk brick item in that it requires its own definition away from service
packs?
|
|
|
| Author: | infinibrix | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:47 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, bje writes:
| |
You not heard of Brexit?
Team GB - For a series of 9 collectible minifigures and related items which were
released in 2012 and featured an Olympic team from Europe.
|
Just because we've left the European Union it does not mean we do not belong
to the continent of Europe or are you suggesting we are now part of the America's
or perhaps we will just create our own newly named continent?
Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine are also not part of the EU but they are still based
in Europe!
|
|
| Author: | bje | | Posted: | Apr 16, 2020 08:18 | | Subject: | Re: Category Definitions Discussion | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| This is wholly incorrect:
Container - For items relating to a fixed system designed to easily transport
objects on a moving belt.
This is confusing as it refers to parts category as well:
Technic - For a loosely-themed line of sets and related items released over a
number of decades featuring models with mechanical functions.
You not heard of Brexit?
Team GB - For a series of 9 collectible minifigures and related items which were
released in 2012 and featured an Olympic team from Europe.
This is confusing also:
Service Packs - For sets and other items that include spare or replacement parts,
but not for Freestyle, Creator style, or other bulk brick items.
and
xtra - For sets and other items in an ongoing line of service packs first released
in 2018.
Is Xtra a bulk brick item in that it requires its own definition away from service
packs?
|
|
| Author: | starbeanie | | Posted: | Apr 11, 2020 12:26 | | Subject: | Inventory Change Request for Set 75894-1 | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Inventories Requests (Entry) | | Status: | Open | |
|
| Please make changes to the following inventory:
* Add 1 Part 11477pb089 Red Slope, Curved 2 x 1 with Angled White Stripe Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 11477pb088L Red Slope, Curved 2 x 1 with Silver and Black Bumper Pattern Model Left Side (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 11477pb088R Red Slope, Curved 2 x 1 with Silver and Black Bumper Pattern Model Right Side (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 15068pb245 Red Slope, Curved 2 x 2 with 'LBL 6D' License Plate, Simplified MINI COOPER Logo and Angled White Stripe Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 15068pb247L Red Slope, Curved 2 x 2 with Door Handle and Black Number 177 on Yellow Background Pattern Model Left Side (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 15068pb247R Red Slope, Curved 2 x 2 with Door Handle and Black Number 177 on Yellow Background Pattern Model Right Side (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 15068pb246 Red Slope, Curved 2 x 2 with Trunk Handle, 'MORRIS COOPER', 'GB' and 'LBL 6D' License Plate Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 3070bpb143 Red Tile 1 x 1 with Groove with Silver and Black Center Bumper Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 29120pb001 Red Wedge 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Left with Taillight Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
* Add 1 Part 29119pb001 Red Wedge 2 x 1 with Stud Notch Right with Taillight Pattern (Sticker) - Set 75894 (Counterpart)
|
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| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Feb 9, 2020 11:42 | | Subject: | Re: Description Standardization Note | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | In Catalog, constructibles writes:
| | In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| |
And perhaps, when the next problem comes along, examining all of them again.
It almost makes a person think that there must be a better way . . .
|
Export the catalog to txt, and open in Excel. This will give you pretty much
unlimited ability to search. Write an Excel formula to find what you are looking
for. You can even write a formula to create the desired replacement title
if you like, then just copy paste the change back to BL.
Regexp is a little harder to do, but Google “Excel Regexp” and you’ll get some
examples how to create your own function Using Excel VB.
|
Or if you are just not into programming or that technical you could follow the
guidelines set out here for using the advanced filter option in Excel
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2720580/using-advanced-filters-in-excel-2010
Good luck with that.
My preferred option is to let your SQL guy (that is if you have one. Our belief
from the Chicago round table discussion was that none of the developers at that
time had any SQL experience whatsoever) spend 10 minutes producing your query
(9 minutes for understanding the table and 1 minute for writing the query. Once
the results are in front of you it might be possible for your sql guy to write
an update query to do all the updates at once.
This is almost as simple as changing colour names from one to another 
|
Guess what - as an exercise I just tried this in Brickstok - it works a treat.
Use the filters to suggest the description contains a number or the word for
that number.
The only problem is once it found them all I could not easily mass update them.
The search works great though.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Feb 9, 2020 10:15 | | Subject: | Re: Description Standardization Note | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, constructibles writes:
| | In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| |
And perhaps, when the next problem comes along, examining all of them again.
It almost makes a person think that there must be a better way . . .
|
Export the catalog to txt, and open in Excel. This will give you pretty much
unlimited ability to search. Write an Excel formula to find what you are looking
for. You can even write a formula to create the desired replacement title
if you like, then just copy paste the change back to BL.
Regexp is a little harder to do, but Google “Excel Regexp” and you’ll get some
examples how to create your own function Using Excel VB.
|
Or if you are just not into programming or that technical you could follow the
guidelines set out here for using the advanced filter option in Excel
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2720580/using-advanced-filters-in-excel-2010
Good luck with that.
My preferred option is to let your SQL guy (that is if you have one. Our belief
from the Chicago round table discussion was that none of the developers at that
time had any SQL experience whatsoever) spend 10 minutes producing your query
(9 minutes for understanding the table and 1 minute for writing the query. Once
the results are in front of you it might be possible for your sql guy to write
an update query to do all the updates at once.
This is almost as simple as changing colour names from one to another
|
|
| Author: | Hygrotus | | Posted: | Oct 12, 2019 12:52 | | Subject: | Re: Change gear 853651 to 853654 | | Viewed: | 29 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog Requests, Hygrotus writes:
|
|
|
| Author: | Hygrotus | | Posted: | Oct 12, 2019 12:48 | | Subject: | Re: Change gear 853651 to 853654 | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog Requests, 1977_mauro writes:
Number for Aira key chain is correct
and it differs from Batman set
853561
853651
here you have this key chain in LEGo shop with the same number which we have
in the catalog
https://www.lego.com/pl-pl/product/lego-elves-aira-the-wind-elf-key-chain-853561
853561
Number which you gave link to 853654 has diffrent torso and it is not in our
catalog
|
|
|
| Author: | bje | | Posted: | Jul 15, 2019 07:27 | | Subject: | Re: collectable minifigures leaflets | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | | | That is not true for series 1 up to 15 where all leaflets had a unique numbering,
also most series at least up to series 13 (if not all) had a unique code on them
to unlock the characters on the website https://www.playminifigures.com/ (is
no longer active, was closed at the end of 2016).
|
What do you mean by unique numbering?
Do you mean the 122091-1, 2, 3 codes?
I've just looked at 27 Series 8 leaflets, all have 122091-1 or 122091-2,
and I have not seen any other numbers after the dash. The exact same number is
on other series leaflets too. For Series 10 I have a 122091-3. I don't think
these numbers were unique to individual sets within a series.
|
Ditto. Entire Team GB series 122091-1, Series 4: 122091-2, series 5 122091-1
I do not see a unique code on any leaflet at all
|
|
| Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jun 21, 2019 04:58 | | Subject: | Re: col08-14 ACTOR | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| |
Is there a reason this keeps getting changed?
|
I have no idea. last name change was done by Robert
(Nov 7, 2018 by StormChaser) and this change isn't in the log
So ask him ...if you have contact with him.
I really have no knowledge about it.
| |
This set was originally listed as Actor, it was then changed to Thespian. I asked
for the Actor name to be reinstated, which it was, and then it was removed again.
|
for other to see it history
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogReqList.asp?itemID=111573
| |
The minifigure version has both names:
Why can the set not keep both names?
|
Have no idea.
|
I'd suggest it again, but seeing as I have done it once and it got done and
then changed back again later I don't see the point of going round in circles.
It should really drop the "The" as well - we don't have The Butcher, The
Plumber, etc.
|
So I've change it to be the same as minifig entry, but you know in the future
a new admin can change it back again
|
Thanks, hopefully the dual name will stay. I know people use both.
Thanks also for correcting the spelling of ANTON'S tile.
|
|
| Author: | Hygrotus | | Posted: | Jun 20, 2019 16:00 | | Subject: | Re: col08-14 ACTOR | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| | In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| |
Is there a reason this keeps getting changed?
|
I have no idea. last name change was done by Robert
(Nov 7, 2018 by StormChaser) and this change isn't in the log
So ask him ...if you have contact with him.
I really have no knowledge about it.
| |
This set was originally listed as Actor, it was then changed to Thespian. I asked
for the Actor name to be reinstated, which it was, and then it was removed again.
|
for other to see it history
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogReqList.asp?itemID=111573
| |
The minifigure version has both names:
Why can the set not keep both names?
|
Have no idea.
|
I'd suggest it again, but seeing as I have done it once and it got done and
then changed back again later I don't see the point of going round in circles.
It should really drop the "The" as well - we don't have The Butcher, The
Plumber, etc.
|
So I've change it to be the same as minifig entry, but you know in the future
a new admin can change it back again
|
|
| Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jun 20, 2019 15:25 | | Subject: | Re: col08-14 ACTOR | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| |
Is there a reason this keeps getting changed?
|
I have no idea. last name change was done by Robert
(Nov 7, 2018 by StormChaser) and this change isn't in the log
So ask him ...if you have contact with him.
I really have no knowledge about it.
| |
This set was originally listed as Actor, it was then changed to Thespian. I asked
for the Actor name to be reinstated, which it was, and then it was removed again.
|
for other to see it history
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogReqList.asp?itemID=111573
| |
The minifigure version has both names:
Why can the set not keep both names?
|
Have no idea.
|
I'd suggest it again, but seeing as I have done it once and it got done and
then changed back again later I don't see the point of going round in circles.
It should really drop the "The" as well - we don't have The Butcher, The
Plumber, etc.
|
|
| Author: | Hygrotus | | Posted: | Jun 20, 2019 15:14 | | Subject: | Re: col08-14 ACTOR | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, yorbrick writes:
| |
Is there a reason this keeps getting changed?
|
I have no idea. last name change was done by Robert
(Nov 7, 2018 by StormChaser) and this change isn't in the log
So ask him ...if you have contact with him.
I really have no knowledge about it.
| |
This set was originally listed as Actor, it was then changed to Thespian. I asked
for the Actor name to be reinstated, which it was, and then it was removed again.
|
for other to see it history
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogReqList.asp?itemID=111573
| |
The minifigure version has both names:
Why can the set not keep both names?
|
Have no idea.
|
|
| Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Jun 20, 2019 14:52 | | Subject: | col08-14 ACTOR | | Viewed: | 89 times | | Topic: | Catalog | | Status: | Open | |
|
|
Is there a reason this keeps getting changed?
This set was originally listed as Actor, it was then changed to Thespian. I asked
for the Actor name to be reinstated, which it was, and then it was removed again.
The minifigure version has both names:
Why can the set not keep both names?
And on their webpages, LEGO refer to it as ACTOR. If it can have only one name,
then surely it should be the LEGO one.
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/themes/minifigures/products/lego-minifigures-8833
|
|
|
| Author: | Proprietor | | Posted: | Feb 9, 2016 12:18 | | Subject: | Re: Inventory Change Request for Set 4502-1 | | Viewed: | 24 times | | Topic: | Inventories Requests | |
|
| The odd thing to me about the Ghostbusters minifigs is the newness of the set.
I understand that old castle and Star Wars figs were inventoried long ago and
those exceptions have been inherited by the current Admins, but why allow the
Ghostbuster minifigs without at least the neck bracket (as was done with the
GB Firehouse figs) to be added to begin with and assuming that was done by mistake,
not then marked for deletion? And then why perpetuate that distinction for a
2nd set?
Is this purely a seller accommodation? Might have made more sense and benefited
the catalog more overall to have just added a complete/incomplete flag to minifigs.
In Inventories Requests, WoutR writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, viejos writes:
| | (...)
Personally, I would prefer to see the version without the backpack marked for
deletion, but as long as that fig is still in good standing in the catalog, it
should be retained in the inventory. There are precedents for this, btw, for
example the Ghostbusters figs:
Both versions are listed in the inventory, with the most complete figs listed
in the Regular section. This is likely the pattern we will see in the future
if the two-tiered solution continues to be used.
Russell
|
Could I ask the Inventory Admins to reconsider this? The more I think about it,
the more this feels like a wrong use of the counterpart feature. We are introducing/enforcing
a wrong precedent here.
I believe the pattern chosen for the Cas122 figure should be the guideline, and
not the pattern chosen for the Ghostbuster figures.
|
|
|
| Author: | FigBits | | Posted: | Nov 9, 2015 12:02 | | Subject: | Re: Show +/-value report when parting out | | Viewed: | 21 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Pher writes:
| | In Suggestions, FigBits writes:
| | In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | Sellers who want to keep track of their profit ratio (whether for personal insight
or for bookkeeping purposes) will always run into this same problem:
You just parted out $100 worth of parts, yes..
but..
your existing lots were updated with new prices. This means that although you
may now calculate your profit rate based on that $100, you have no idea what
just happened to the profit rate of the old bit of inventory.
To me it would seem fairly easy for Bricklink to compute an additional line,
"Value of existing inventory was modified with -$25" or, "Value of inventory
has increased with $75"
This information is much more interesting than the value of the bit you just
added. This way, you can calculate your actual profit rate, which will otherwise
always be obscured by the consolidation effects. In fact, you could theoretically
be running with a zero profit rate, without that ever appearing to you.
It is easily calculated, and can also be manually calculated - just look at the
difference in value before and after adding.
|
This would get solved with a slightly simpler, but more comprehensive update:
Allow access to historical inventory information.
Right now, there is a snapshot on the My Inventory page that shows the total
items, lots, categories, original price, sale price, and my cost for the current
inventory. But ONLY for the CURRENT inventory. All we need is a field that allows
us to see what these numbers were at some point in the past.
This would be very handy for seeing how inventory has grown over time, (or how
profit margins have changed, etc).
--
Marc.
|
Hi Marc!
That's a lot of data, isn't it?
|
It isn't. I'd say less than 20 bytes for each time an inventory gets
updated. (This forum message, on the other hand, uses about 2100 bytes!) So one
Gb of storage would allow for about 60 million updates.
--
Marc.
|
|
| Author: | viejos | | Posted: | Sep 30, 2015 06:25 | | Subject: | Re: Inventory Change Request for Minifig sw677 | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Inventories Requests | |
|
| In Inventories Requests, mabccc writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, viejos writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, mabccc writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, viejos writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, Brick.Door writes:
| | Please make changes to the following inventory: [M=sw677]
* Add 1 Part 61976 Reddish Brown Minifig, Utensil Bag Messenger Pouch
Comments from Submitter:
Shown in instructions wearing the bag - it should be included in the minifig inventory.
|
Sometimes I wonder why official instructions are mentioned at all in the Help
sections for minifigs. They are not adhered to, and it's frustrating to see
exception after exception being made for what seem to be personal preferences.
One of the big tasks I see in the future of the catalog is to come up with policies
that are simple and easy for people to grasp, where someone doesn't post
a request like this with confidence that they are right according to the rules,
and then end up with a rejection.
Russell
|
Sometimes also minifgs (there are some examples in SW) are shown diffrent on
the box and in instruction (cape vs. hair for example). So in few cases instruction
policy was helpful do determine what configuration of minifig add.
|
There is also the complications that if the figure comes in two sets, one with
bag and one without, is it really worth the extra catalogue item for a bag? Strictly
yes, but in reality?
|
Is it worth it for a flower in the hair, or a pair of flippers, or a solid
stud head? And what if there is 30 years between the sets in question? Does that
make a difference?
What if the fig with the bag was in a set where the fig was a mail carrier, and
the fig without the bag was in a soccer set? Should that make a difference?
I understand the fascination of seeing a given fig in as many sets as possible
- it's like looking for the cross strands in a piece of woven fabric. And
there are many, many instances where figs were intended to be the same, and there
isn't a whit of a difference from one set to another, hence the little "New"
signs seen on Star Wars boxes - this implies that those without that marking
were used in another set.
But at the same time, minfigs are a collector's item, and at some point what
is seen as "efficiency" by some starts to look like "cheapness" to others. Is
the site bursting its virtual seams to the extent that we can't afford more
entries than we positively must have? I hardly think so.
|
There are also minifigs like these that have duplicates except for an accessory...
[m=idea004i]
[m=idea004]
It's not clear to me whether collectors consider them the same or different.
Personally, I like that a seller has the freedom to list either the plain minifig
or the minifig with the proton pack attached.
Then this guy [m=sw471]
He has a (pointless) technic pin on his back. Of course, it is pointless to minifig
collectors, but useful to anyone that wants the play feature in the set. I've
sold a few of them, and one buyer even told me not to bother including the neck
bracket. Yet if it is left off, then strictly it is not a complete minifig. I
doubt many collectors display him with the technic pin attached.
I wonder why the GB minifigs can have two variants with neck attachments, but
Yoda only gets one.
|
This is the kind of thing that happens when using "guidelines" instead of "rules"
- a lot of questions with no way to answer them.
|
|
| Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Sep 30, 2015 05:38 | | Subject: | Re: Inventory Change Request for Minifig sw677 | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Inventories Requests | |
|
| In Inventories Requests, viejos writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, mabccc writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, Hygrotus writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, viejos writes:
| | In Inventories Requests, Brick.Door writes:
| | Please make changes to the following inventory: [M=sw677]
* Add 1 Part 61976 Reddish Brown Minifig, Utensil Bag Messenger Pouch
Comments from Submitter:
Shown in instructions wearing the bag - it should be included in the minifig inventory.
|
Sometimes I wonder why official instructions are mentioned at all in the Help
sections for minifigs. They are not adhered to, and it's frustrating to see
exception after exception being made for what seem to be personal preferences.
One of the big tasks I see in the future of the catalog is to come up with policies
that are simple and easy for people to grasp, where someone doesn't post
a request like this with confidence that they are right according to the rules,
and then end up with a rejection.
Russell
|
Sometimes also minifgs (there are some examples in SW) are shown diffrent on
the box and in instruction (cape vs. hair for example). So in few cases instruction
policy was helpful do determine what configuration of minifig add.
|
There is also the complications that if the figure comes in two sets, one with
bag and one without, is it really worth the extra catalogue item for a bag? Strictly
yes, but in reality?
|
Is it worth it for a flower in the hair, or a pair of flippers, or a solid
stud head? And what if there is 30 years between the sets in question? Does that
make a difference?
What if the fig with the bag was in a set where the fig was a mail carrier, and
the fig without the bag was in a soccer set? Should that make a difference?
I understand the fascination of seeing a given fig in as many sets as possible
- it's like looking for the cross strands in a piece of woven fabric. And
there are many, many instances where figs were intended to be the same, and there
isn't a whit of a difference from one set to another, hence the little "New"
signs seen on Star Wars boxes - this implies that those without that marking
were used in another set.
But at the same time, minfigs are a collector's item, and at some point what
is seen as "efficiency" by some starts to look like "cheapness" to others. Is
the site bursting its virtual seams to the extent that we can't afford more
entries than we positively must have? I hardly think so.
|
There are also minifigs like these that have duplicates except for an accessory...
[m=idea004i]
[m=idea004]
It's not clear to me whether collectors consider them the same or different.
Personally, I like that a seller has the freedom to list either the plain minifig
or the minifig with the proton pack attached.
Then this guy [m=sw471]
He has a (pointless) technic pin on his back. Of course, it is pointless to minifig
collectors, but useful to anyone that wants the play feature in the set. I've
sold a few of them, and one buyer even told me not to bother including the neck
bracket. Yet if it is left off, then strictly it is not a complete minifig. I
doubt many collectors display him with the technic pin attached.
I wonder why the GB minifigs can have two variants with neck attachments, but
Yoda only gets one.
|
|
| Author: | Graham. | | Posted: | Aug 29, 2012 10:11 | | Subject: | Re: Allow Brickset to Link to Part List & Sellers | | Viewed: | 63 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, AlbusDumbledore writes:
| | In Suggestions, emilewski writes:
| | ...and yes, Brickset does want such a function. Again, no effort or cost to Bricklink,
but we gain increased exposure and revenue.
|
http://brickset.com/news/article/?ID=4073
|
Personally I think it's a bit of a shame and a missed opportunity, it's basically
open source verses ©.
Any images I add, I state clearly that they are made availble free from copyright,
on two occaisions (I had pix of one of the series of cfm's and the team gb) I
made them available before they were on site elsewhere - no one took them up.
Many moons passed and eventually up they came - but not the ones I offerred -
why? Not that I care one way or the other about being mentioned or indeed "featured"
is that the term?
Anyway
Open source has many advantages certainly in this sort of arena, what is wrong
with sharing? Who is going to be "stealing" © and thence profiting from it?
All those with a vested interest in pictures of mini figs - may want to have
a peek at ebay - there's a lot of B/L pix there 
Graham
|
|
| Author: | Locutis | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2010 12:27 | | Subject: | Re: Stop purging data | | Viewed: | 78 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| I forgot to mention something. Last year I looked forward towards the future,
and investigated High Availability Linux for our servers. It is actually quite
easy to setup and guides are everywhere for this. What does this do for you?
Well, using standard off-the-shelf hardware, and open source software, you can
build a cluster of Linux web and database servers for less than $5k that offer
you the ability to run and maintain a website that can server over 100,000 concurrent
database and web connections/second. As well, it provides data backup and redundancy
over 2+ computers. If one fails, using something called heartbeat, another server
simply takes the load while you replace the failed unit. Hard drives can be
swapped in and out and be added to the pool of data storage easily. Built in
to this system is load balancing. Just google "how to build a high availability
linux cluster" and you will find lots of instructions for this. I purchased
4 identical server hardware machines in 2009 with the hope of eventually putting
them into place. Currently we are using 2 of the 4 units, with the other 2 units
fully assembled and configured to be ready for an inplace replacement in case
of a catastrophic failure. What did all of this cost (including 15x 500 GB hard
drives for instant replacement of failed drives)? Around $4k.
I don't know if Bricklink already employs this, but at work I was looking into
it and never found the time to implement the cluster system. A cluster is easy
to maintain once setup. If you find your site is getting busier and load on
the server is overwhelming, simply setup another cluster machine, bring it online,
and add it to the pool. If you had 2 machines, and you add 1, now you've increased
your available processing capacity by 50% and done nothing to the existing 2
machines. As far as users are concerned, if you add or take away any machines
from the cluster, it only affects the time to access the site. Need to perform
maintenance and upgrade the OS or other software? Take everything but one offline
(which means the site still works), upgrade and test the "spares", then switch
everything over to the new system, and bring the older one up to date by adding
it now as a "spare" to the new system.
The clustering mechanism in Linux can scale easily from 2 to unlimited.
The software is called "drdb" and "heartbeat". When employed with RAID, and
an interconnected gigabit connection between the computers, you have a very fast
responding system, which scales easily with load over time, and highly reliable
because of the fault tolerance inherent in having more than 1 identical webserver
online. You can even have your servers setup this way in different locations,
different cities, even different countries! All of the data is mirrored and
kept in sync across all machines, and is online and accessible all of the time.
I'm just saying it's possible, can be done by virtually anyone in the computer
field who is knowledgeable on website setup with the guides that are out there,
and it's very inexpensive.
In Suggestions, locutis writes:
| | Our internal work server (used for invoicing, accounting, etc.) has only 5 users.
However, our external webserver (online store, auction site, gold/silver bullion
quotes, etc.) receives many millions of hits per month. We send over 60Gb of
html data over our fibre internet connection every month.
Our customer database consists of 80,000 + active customers.
On our external server (same hardware as the internal, 2.8 GHz processor, 2x500
GB RAID 1 hard drives) we operate a standard webserver, an auction website (with
a current catalog of 4,000 active items, and 40,000 archived items) which accepts
and processes bids in realtime, an online store with over 2500 active items,
and a gold and silver bullion website which provides realtime quotes to 10's
of thousands of customers every minute.
Our website is high profile as well. I am one person programming in "spare time",
and have made all of this work, and work efficiently.
Cameron
In Suggestions, AggieSava writes:
| | In Suggestions, locutis writes:
| | In Suggestions, B0RIS writes:
| | In Suggestions, Timothy_Smith writes:
| | My suggestion: stop purging data.
It's the 21st century, mass storage is cheap.
There's no at all reason to purge data ever.
|
Data purging is not done to save storage cost. It is done to cut data access
time. My guess is all bricklink visitors are served by only 1 processor.
Boris.
|
I don't know how Bricklink works, but I know on my work server, I can search
through AND display over 20,000 records in less than 1 second. We have one single
server, with 2x 500GB hard drives on RAID 1 (which means they duplicate the data
over 2 drives), running Apache2, with a 2.8 GHz Pentium processor.
If I want to search the "archived data" which takes 10,000 records and magically
combines it into 1 for speedier access (I programmed it to archive records over
2 years old 10,000 at a time into one database entry), there's 200,000 records
to search, it takes only several seconds to search, compile, and display the
information.
Again, I don't know how Bricklink works, but I'm far from a professional programmer,
and I made the site at work operate efficiently this way. We never purge ANY
data, and have access to all data going back to 1997 when we started computerizing.
I'm one single computer person at work, and computer work isn't even my job,
I do it in my "spare time" while trying to manage the company.
Cameron
|
But how many people are using your work server? There are 152,351 registered
members of Bricklink as I'm writing this, and Bricklink already has an extensive
database to go through as it is for every single person. I can imagine how if,
as suggested, BL has only one processor, a database containing all the orders
and all the forum posts since the beginning would slow considerably for all these
users.
But as also already suggested, hardware is getting cheaper and cheaper.
--Tony
|
|
|
|
| Author: | matthewcrandall | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2010 12:09 | | Subject: | Re: Stop purging data | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, locutis writes:
| | In Suggestions, Reki_Lobsheek writes:
| | as nobody else seems to ask this, I will: to what purpose?
I mean, I wouldn't mind if promise could be made it wouldn't slow down the website,
but I'm just wondering why it would be necessary?
Reki
|
Instead of deleting the data, they could archive it like I have, and move it
to another database. Set a script to run and archive it to an alternate database.
If you want access to the archived information, have it come from the archived
database, which gets a lower priority on the processor then current data.
Why keep data, why not? The storage of a database for the data is nearly free
(500 GB hard drives are $40 currently, and can hold decades of database text
data).
|
Okay, I'll play along...
Why keep some of this archived at all? What purpose does it serve?
I'm not against archiving data; but let's look at what gets archived first. Just
about everything here is considered data.
Off-topic stuff, bad jokes, "cancelled" replies to topics, and "Hi I'm a new
person" entries...is there really a need for that after say, nine months to a
year?
Catalog changes and additions...sure. Those need to be kept. But a lot of that
gets looked at, so it should remain on the main server. That's a lot of entries
right there. I'm not sure how it works, but store inventories probably exist
somewhere, too.
Then there's the questions that come up: how often do you move stuff to the archives?
Annually? Quarterly? And, there has to be a way to access and search those archived
items easily. That takes a little time; each item has to have a separate entry
to be totally searchable. Yes, I know you can set a script to run the transfer.
But there has to be a script ready to go, or it has to be written.
Yes, I understand memory is cheap these days. But it still has to be purchased,
installed, configured, and those items archived moved and made accessible...and
all without disrupting service so that everyone doesn't have a fit. (I would
say this time of year would be a bad time for the service to be down for more
than an hour, for example.)
I'd rather have faster processing server(s), and some very selective pruning
of data. Where I sit, that pays better dividends in the long run.
Play Well and Prosper,
Doc Crandall
"The Brick Detective"
|
|
| Author: | Locutis | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2010 11:38 | | Subject: | Re: Stop purging data | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| Our internal work server (used for invoicing, accounting, etc.) has only 5 users.
However, our external webserver (online store, auction site, gold/silver bullion
quotes, etc.) receives many millions of hits per month. We send over 60Gb of
html data over our fibre internet connection every month.
Our customer database consists of 80,000 + active customers.
On our external server (same hardware as the internal, 2.8 GHz processor, 2x500
GB RAID 1 hard drives) we operate a standard webserver, an auction website (with
a current catalog of 4,000 active items, and 40,000 archived items) which accepts
and processes bids in realtime, an online store with over 2500 active items,
and a gold and silver bullion website which provides realtime quotes to 10's
of thousands of customers every minute.
Our website is high profile as well. I am one person programming in "spare time",
and have made all of this work, and work efficiently.
Cameron
In Suggestions, AggieSava writes:
| | In Suggestions, locutis writes:
| | In Suggestions, B0RIS writes:
| | In Suggestions, Timothy_Smith writes:
| | My suggestion: stop purging data.
It's the 21st century, mass storage is cheap.
There's no at all reason to purge data ever.
|
Data purging is not done to save storage cost. It is done to cut data access
time. My guess is all bricklink visitors are served by only 1 processor.
Boris.
|
I don't know how Bricklink works, but I know on my work server, I can search
through AND display over 20,000 records in less than 1 second. We have one single
server, with 2x 500GB hard drives on RAID 1 (which means they duplicate the data
over 2 drives), running Apache2, with a 2.8 GHz Pentium processor.
If I want to search the "archived data" which takes 10,000 records and magically
combines it into 1 for speedier access (I programmed it to archive records over
2 years old 10,000 at a time into one database entry), there's 200,000 records
to search, it takes only several seconds to search, compile, and display the
information.
Again, I don't know how Bricklink works, but I'm far from a professional programmer,
and I made the site at work operate efficiently this way. We never purge ANY
data, and have access to all data going back to 1997 when we started computerizing.
I'm one single computer person at work, and computer work isn't even my job,
I do it in my "spare time" while trying to manage the company.
Cameron
|
But how many people are using your work server? There are 152,351 registered
members of Bricklink as I'm writing this, and Bricklink already has an extensive
database to go through as it is for every single person. I can imagine how if,
as suggested, BL has only one processor, a database containing all the orders
and all the forum posts since the beginning would slow considerably for all these
users.
But as also already suggested, hardware is getting cheaper and cheaper.
--Tony
|
|
|
| Author: | Locutis | | Posted: | Dec 11, 2010 11:34 | | Subject: | Re: Stop purging data | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Reki_Lobsheek writes:
| | as nobody else seems to ask this, I will: to what purpose?
I mean, I wouldn't mind if promise could be made it wouldn't slow down the website,
but I'm just wondering why it would be necessary?
Reki
|
Instead of deleting the data, they could archive it like I have, and move it
to another database. Set a script to run and archive it to an alternate database.
If you want access to the archived information, have it come from the archived
database, which gets a lower priority on the processor then current data.
Why keep data, why not? The storage of a database for the data is nearly free
(500 GB hard drives are $40 currently, and can hold decades of database text
data).
|
|
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