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 Author: bje View Messages Posted By bje
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 05:48
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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bje (1577)

Location:  South Africa, Western Cape
Member Since Contact Type Status
May 24, 2010 Contact Member Seller
No Longer RegisteredNo Longer Registered
Store: JE Bricks
No Longer Registered
In Suggestions, searme writes:
  In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
  I don't think it is necessary. If you have a bad experience then leave appropriate
feedback.

Having a badge will do nothing, as sellers will find a way around it. Plus it
will need policing, which is impossible unless everyone reports tracking information
to BL, which will increase postage costs for buyers. Plus the tracking information
will still need checking to find out if it is genuine.

The shops in question clearly prove that feedback is not reliable, as they only
have 10-20% of complaints and they tend to blacklist complainers to prevent them
from buying again. Yes, a small percentage of sellers will find a way around
anything, but I still believe that for majority of them, such a badge would be
reliable. Far more reliable than blindly trusting the seller, which is what we
are mostly doing right now. I've lost all faith in the feedback system -
consider that if a seller declares on his page that he ships in 5-15 days and
then he ships every order in 15 days (which is pretty much the case with some
shops), you still have no grounds for negative feedback. And I feel like a number
of buyers is simply afraid of giving a negative feedback.

With 800+ buy orders under the belt you should know that feedback is not in any
way designed to be any barometer of service standards. If the seller is not clear
on when he/she will ship, then message them prior to placing the order and ask
what the timeframe is. That way you do not ahve to trust blindly.

A real example of why feedback is such a difficult tool to use to assess sellers:
I have an outstanding order. I asked the seller to keep proof of shipping. After
two months I ask the seller for the proof of shipping. The seller did not keep
proof of shipping. The seller offers me a refund. I did not order a refund. I
paid for the shipping in trust. The seller has no proof that the money I paid
him for shipping was used as intended. That seller is batting 0 for 3 - he has
not done a single thing I have asked him to do. Yet, if I were to leave him negative
or neutral feedback on the facts right now it will be the end of the world for
him because in his head he thinks he has done right by me by offering a full
refund of the order.

I think that if it is that mission critical that the seller must ship the next
day, then tell the seller that when you palce the order and give him/her a clear
opportunity to cancel if they cannot fulfill the order to your expectations.

If a seller then chooses to accept the order and still gives you that level of
poor service, either do not buy from the seller again or bite the bullet and
leave clear feedback such as "seller promises to ship next day but does not".

Besides - if you know sellers who are listing items they do not have on hand,
you must report those lots to BrickLink so those can be removed and if there
are a sufficient number of those lots, so the sellers can be closed down by BrickLink.
If you say nothing, then you are helping the seller to circumvent the very issues
you are complaining about.
 Author: searme View Messages Posted By searme
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 05:43
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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searme (1112)

Location:  Poland, w. Mazowieckie
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 10, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: Baba Yaga Inc.
What if we added a secondary feedback where instead of just writing if the service
was OK or not OK, the buyer also rates service speed between fast/regular/slow?
And sellers who are consistently rated "fast" by buyers get a badge? Still can
be misused, but should be harder to tamper with. The problem is definitely there
and the existing feedback doesn't solve it. If a dishonest store states they
ship in 5-15 days, you're obviously hoping for 5 and they're obviously
just making 15 look nice. Seriously, maybe set a limit for a maximum shipping
time? If a seller can't ship anything in less than 3 weeks, they obviously
don't have time to run a store OR they're not being truthful about their
stock.
 Author: yorbrick View Messages Posted By yorbrick
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 05:19
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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yorbrick (1182)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 11, 2011 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Yorbricks
In Suggestions, searme writes:
  In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
  I don't think it is necessary. If you have a bad experience then leave appropriate
feedback.

Having a badge will do nothing, as sellers will find a way around it. Plus it
will need policing, which is impossible unless everyone reports tracking information
to BL, which will increase postage costs for buyers. Plus the tracking information
will still need checking to find out if it is genuine.

The shops in question clearly prove that feedback is not reliable, as they only
have 10-20% of complaints and they tend to blacklist complainers to prevent them
from buying again. Yes, a small percentage of sellers will find a way around
anything, but I still believe that for majority of them, such a badge would be
reliable. Far more reliable than blindly trusting the seller, which is what we
are mostly doing right now. I've lost all faith in the feedback system -
consider that if a seller declares on his page that he ships in 5-15 days and
then he ships every order in 15 days (which is pretty much the case with some
shops), you still have no grounds for negative feedback. And I feel like a number
of buyers is simply afraid of giving a negative feedback.

So BL goes for a badge for speed of shipping. That may lead to some sellers being
sloppy to make sure they qualify for that badge. So we need a badge for accuracy.
Plus for used parts sellers, we need a badge for quality of parts. And what about
a badge for quality of packaging, as some people don't package adequately.
And so on.

And all these badges need monitoring. Should it be down to the seller to declare
they ship within 5 days, or for the buyers to monitor this. And what about correctness
of order and so on - should a buyer declare this or the seller?

If you want a fast turn around, I suggest avoiding stores that state they will
ship in 5-15 days.

If a store has 10-20% of complaints, then I'd also avoid them.

As to a store blacklisting a buyer that complains, I don't see the problem.
If a buyer is upset with a store enough to leave them negative feedback, then
surely the buyer would not want to buy from that same store again. And if they
do, surely the seller has the right to stop them. If they didn't like their
purchase first time around, then why deal with that customer again if they are
just going to complain again at the service.
 Author: SurplusParts View Messages Posted By SurplusParts
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 05:14
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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SurplusParts (6227)

Location:  Australia, Victoria
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 2, 2017 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: SurplusParts
I honestly think that if the feedback system was used as it is designed to do,
then some of these problems would be eliminated.

What is the considered % for a top store. 100%? 99%? 90%?

That maybe is the problem. Everyone wants 100% and they don't want negative
feedback. They say they are happy for constructive feedback, but the reality
is that they don't really, unless it is positive. And some stores use some
bad methods to keep that score up.

Imagine if a top store was only 90%. Then people may be more likely to give
honest feedback as it would be less likely to ruin their perfect score.

I recently had a buying experience on Bricklink that i would consider neutral.
Wasn't disastrous, but was certainly not good. However i felt that i couldn't
leave that kind of feedback because i am a seller too, and i didn't want
to receive the same in return. Retaliatory feedback is a big problem.

But as mentioned above, sellers could just mark the shipment as shipped and it
would make no iota of difference.

I think that honest feedback is the only really way to go, but i am guilty of
the opposite myself so i won't be holding my breath that this will happen
any day soon.


Anyway, just my thoughts.
Douglas
 Author: searme View Messages Posted By searme
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 04:36
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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searme (1112)

Location:  Poland, w. Mazowieckie
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 10, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: Baba Yaga Inc.
In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
  I don't think it is necessary. If you have a bad experience then leave appropriate
feedback.

Having a badge will do nothing, as sellers will find a way around it. Plus it
will need policing, which is impossible unless everyone reports tracking information
to BL, which will increase postage costs for buyers. Plus the tracking information
will still need checking to find out if it is genuine.

The shops in question clearly prove that feedback is not reliable, as they only
have 10-20% of complaints and they tend to blacklist complainers to prevent them
from buying again. Yes, a small percentage of sellers will find a way around
anything, but I still believe that for majority of them, such a badge would be
reliable. Far more reliable than blindly trusting the seller, which is what we
are mostly doing right now. I've lost all faith in the feedback system -
consider that if a seller declares on his page that he ships in 5-15 days and
then he ships every order in 15 days (which is pretty much the case with some
shops), you still have no grounds for negative feedback. And I feel like a number
of buyers is simply afraid of giving a negative feedback.
 Author: yorbrick View Messages Posted By yorbrick
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 04:26
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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yorbrick (1182)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 11, 2011 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Yorbricks
I don't think it is necessary. If you have a bad experience then leave appropriate
feedback.

Having a badge will do nothing, as sellers will find a way around it. Plus it
will need policing, which is impossible unless everyone reports tracking information
to BL, which will increase postage costs for buyers. Plus the tracking information
will still need checking to find out if it is genuine.
 Author: Rob_and_Shelagh View Messages Posted By Rob_and_Shelagh
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 04:21
 Subject: Re: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Rob_and_Shelagh (26315)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Nov 3, 2005 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: YELLOW FARM BRICKS
In Suggestions, searme writes:
  Dear Bricklink,

There are certain dishonest shops that really ruin the BL experience for shoppers.
It's hard to prove, but some sellers apparently sell pieces they don't
have in their stock and only order them from elsewhere when you place an order
with them. Apologies if that sounds like unfounded accusation, but my LUG is
aware of a number of shops whose stock is always suspiciously similar to current
LEGO PaB stock, who delay shipping when PaB runs out of stock, and who generally
take around 3 weeks to ship anything, no matter how common and widely available.
Because I see no reliable way to denounce such sellers, I suggest a different,
easily implemented solution. Just like sellers who offer instant checkout are
marked with a special badge, why not create another badge that marks sellers
who ship e.g. 3 days after payment on average? We as buyers have no access to
sellers' shipping times, we can only look up their feedback and see if people
are complaining about slow service. But your system has dates of all payments
and shipments. Simply calculate days between payment and shipping for all seller's
orders and you can get a nice average. And I'm sure this average is going
to show that certain shops typically ship after 2-3 weeks while others ship after
2-3 days. Hell, I had a seller ship an order 30 minutes after payment once. Quality
service deserves recognition, and we as buyers deserve the right to be informed
whether a particular seller provides such service or not. Transparency is the
name of the game. Right now there in no reliable way to determine that, and picking
a wrong seller can mean that your MOC will get hold up for weeks.
I sincerely hope that you will consider this simple, easy to implement request
that would drastically improve Bricklink's overall transparency for buyers.

This has been mentioned before and I certainly support identifying and warning
buyers of stores who do not operate by the rules of the site - you must have
all listed stock on hand.

The suggested solution however is not foolproof as cheating stores can simply
mark orders as shipped before they have been. IMO Bricklink should force sellers
to commit in their terms to shipping lead times at least so buyers can avoid
slow (for what ever reason) stores if they need parts quickly. Unfortunately
with any system there will always be stores that try to cheat as well as genuine
postal delays to deal with of course.

As a lug you can at least share your data with other members so they can least
favourite these stores and favourite those who have proven to ship as promised.

Robert
 Author: searme View Messages Posted By searme
 Posted: Nov 26, 2019 04:10
 Subject: "Fast Shipper" badge for Sellers
 Viewed: 163 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
 Vote:[Yes|No]
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searme (1112)

Location:  Poland, w. Mazowieckie
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 10, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: Baba Yaga Inc.
Dear Bricklink,

There are certain dishonest shops that really ruin the BL experience for shoppers.
It's hard to prove, but some sellers apparently sell pieces they don't
have in their stock and only order them from elsewhere when you place an order
with them. Apologies if that sounds like unfounded accusation, but my LUG is
aware of a number of shops whose stock is always suspiciously similar to current
LEGO PaB stock, who delay shipping when PaB runs out of stock, and who generally
take around 3 weeks to ship anything, no matter how common and widely available.
Because I see no reliable way to denounce such sellers, I suggest a different,
easily implemented solution. Just like sellers who offer instant checkout are
marked with a special badge, why not create another badge that marks sellers
who ship e.g. 3 days after payment on average? We as buyers have no access to
sellers' shipping times, we can only look up their feedback and see if people
are complaining about slow service. But your system has dates of all payments
and shipments. Simply calculate days between payment and shipping for all seller's
orders and you can get a nice average. And I'm sure this average is going
to show that certain shops typically ship after 2-3 weeks while others ship after
2-3 days. Hell, I had a seller ship an order 30 minutes after payment once. Quality
service deserves recognition, and we as buyers deserve the right to be informed
whether a particular seller provides such service or not. Transparency is the
name of the game. Right now there in no reliable way to determine that, and picking
a wrong seller can mean that your MOC will get hold up for weeks.
I sincerely hope that you will consider this simple, easy to implement request
that would drastically improve Bricklink's overall transparency for buyers.
 Author: Captain_Q View Messages Posted By Captain_Q
 Posted: Nov 25, 2019 04:25
 Subject: Re: streamline payment process
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Captain_Q (7857)

Location:  USA, Oregon
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 6, 2005 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Captain Q Bazaar
In Suggestions, Akhoover writes:
  The process for payment, when buying from multiple vendors should not be so time
consuming. I purchased from 21 vendors, still waiting to hear from one. but the
checkout time was very lengthy, possible look at how amazon checks out.


As BrainOfTheBrick has stated, Bricklink is not like amazon but, imo, more like
a Lego flea market with thousands of different stores with a lot of different
styles of selling. Amazon can combine all your items into one purchase and potentially
combine shipping for some items, if applicable.

If you are looking for quicker ways to purchase on Bricklink then you could stick
to the Bricklink stores that use "Instant Checkout", signified by having a lightning
bolt. That way you don't have to wait for a store owner to send you a manual
invoice.

Regards,
- CaptainQ
 Author: Brickwilbo View Messages Posted By Brickwilbo
 Posted: Nov 25, 2019 01:37
 Subject: Re: streamline payment process
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Brickwilbo (1534)

Location:  Netherlands, Gelderland
Member Since Contact Type Status Collage
Oct 24, 2007 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
View Collage Pic
Store Closed Store: Brickwilbo Betuwe Bricks
BrickLink Discussions Moderator (?)
In Suggestions, Akhoover writes:
  The process for payment, when buying from multiple vendors should not be so time
consuming. I purchased from 21 vendors, still waiting to hear from one. but the
checkout time was very lengthy, possible look at how amazon checks out.

Check your email spam folder for invoice emails from @Bricklink.
Probably at least a few of those 21 stores use instant checkout, Bricklink automatically
sends invoices.
 Author: BrainOfTheBrick View Messages Posted By BrainOfTheBrick
 Posted: Nov 24, 2019 22:06
 Subject: Re: streamline payment process
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BrainOfTheBrick (75)

Location:  USA, Michigan
Member Since Contact Type Status
Jun 23, 2018 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: BrainyBricks
In Suggestions, Akhoover writes:
  The process for payment, when buying from multiple vendors should not be so time
consuming. I purchased from 21 vendors, still waiting to hear from one. but the
checkout time was very lengthy, possible look at how amazon checks out.

You really shouldn't compare amazon and BrickLink. They are two completely
different sites which run completely differently.
 Author: Akhoover View Messages Posted By Akhoover
 Posted: Nov 24, 2019 21:58
 Subject: streamline payment process
 Viewed: 78 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
 Vote:[Yes|No]
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Akhoover (28)

Location:  USA, West Virginia
Member Since Contact Type Status
Feb 11, 2018 Contact Member Buyer
Buying Privileges - OK
The process for payment, when buying from multiple vendors should not be so time
consuming. I purchased from 21 vendors, still waiting to hear from one. but the
checkout time was very lengthy, possible look at how amazon checks out.
 Author: normann1974 View Messages Posted By normann1974
 Posted: Nov 23, 2019 09:58
 Subject: Part out value in local currency
 Viewed: 98 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
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normann1974 (2291)

Location:  Denmark
Member Since Contact Type Status
Oct 4, 2016 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Normann1974
BrickLink Inventories Administrator (?)
If I'm not logged in (which I'm not on my phone), the POV page

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogPOV.asp

shows prices in USD. Unlike the price guides on all other pages which show my
local currency (DKK). This means when I'm at a store, I must use a calculator
to convert the POV's to DKK. This is rather annoying. Please fix it.

/Jan
 Author: axaday View Messages Posted By axaday
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 20:10
 Subject: Re: Daily and monthly downtime - I'd like to help
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 Topic: Suggestions
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axaday (7301)

Location:  USA, Oklahoma
Member Since Contact Type Status
Jun 28, 2005 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: Axaday
My sister gave me that cat in your sig pic for Christmas last year. I just recently
finished it. I delayed a long time because I couldn’t tell from the instructions
what it even was.


In Suggestions, JusTiCe8 writes:
  Hi,

not sure it is the right place for this and most importantly, if company such
FB can afford such a yearly uptime, is because they know how to do their job
right (at least in the server architecture). Plus, the lower the downtime is,
the higher it cost, 99% is a lot more cheaper than 99.9999%, 1% of a year is
quite 3.6 days off. Lowest downtime are a few hours or even minutes.

The cheapest and easiest way to remove downtime almost completely would be to
set-up a mirror of everything (web server mostly) they have now, upgrade one
while leaving the other running with old stuff, do the switch (here could be
a minor downtime), then upgrade the other and finally enable both together.

Anyway, we don't know how things has been setup behind the scene and how
they are actually managed, except it is not done according to BL expectations.

In Suggestions, Ethan1701 writes:
  Hey,
I'm a database administrator (Business intelligence specifically), and I'd
like to help eliminate the daily and monthly downtimes. The way I see it, if
Facebook can have an uptime of 99.9999% while rolling out new features, so can
BL.

Hit me up, I'd love to know what the downtimes are for, and help see if we
can design a better solution for those needs.
 Author: Sadler_Bricks View Messages Posted By Sadler_Bricks
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 19:46
 Subject: Re: Daily and monthly downtime - I'd like to help
 Viewed: 67 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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Sadler_Bricks (1708)

Location:  USA, Washington
Member Since Contact Type Status
Jul 15, 2019 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Sadler_Bricks
Yes I would agree it would be nice but not sure that BL has the funds such as
a FB but would be nice to see some good improvments on this site as it has some
massive opertunity and doesn't seem like they have capitalized on all that
opertunity but maybe in due time we will see some great changes to make the site
improved for everyone's experience

Sadler_Bricks
 Author: Stonemonkey1974 View Messages Posted By Stonemonkey1974
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 13:36
 Subject: Re: Better time information on maintenance
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 Topic: Suggestions
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Stonemonkey1974 (524)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 14, 2017 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Bricks from the Sticks
In Suggestions, sonnich writes:
  Yesterday at the post office I needed some adresses from BL it was under maintenance
- it said
  
  Maintenance Time : Nov 19, 2019 12:00 PM - 04:00 PM EST

When is that according to GMT?

Please add times in GMT at the rest of the world uses - I have no idea what EST
is, not have the majority of the world.

Google (other search engines are available) is your friend
 Author: HarryPotter71 View Messages Posted By HarryPotter71
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 13:24
 Subject: Re: Better time information on maintenance
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 Topic: Suggestions
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HarryPotter71 (851)

Location:  USA, Illinois
Member Since Contact Type Status
Feb 10, 2010 Contact Member Buyer
Buying Privileges - OK
In Suggestions, sonnich writes:
  Yesterday at the post office I needed some adresses from BL it was under maintenance
- it said
  
  Maintenance Time : Nov 19, 2019 12:00 PM - 04:00 PM EST

When is that according to GMT?

Please add times in GMT at the rest of the world uses - I have no idea what EST
is, not have the majority of the world.

EST = Eastern Standard Time
 Author: yorbrick View Messages Posted By yorbrick
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 04:30
 Subject: Re: Better time information on maintenance
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 Topic: Suggestions
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yorbrick (1182)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 11, 2011 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Yorbricks
In Suggestions, sonnich writes:
  Yesterday at the post office I needed some adresses from BL it was under maintenance
- it said
  
  Maintenance Time : Nov 19, 2019 12:00 PM - 04:00 PM EST

When is that according to GMT?

Please add times in GMT at the rest of the world uses - I have no idea what EST
is, not have the majority of the world.

Could you have just looked it up, for example, here:
https://time.is/EST

If they add GMT, then no doubt others will want their time zone too. It makes
sense for BL to stick to one time - BL time - and do all times in that.
 Author: sonnich View Messages Posted By sonnich
 Posted: Nov 20, 2019 03:25
 Subject: Better time information on maintenance
 Viewed: 150 times
 Topic: Suggestions
 Status:Open
 Vote:[Yes|No]
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sonnich (326)

Location:  Estonia, Harjumaa
Member Since Contact Type Status
Nov 21, 2002 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Parts from Estonia
Yesterday at the post office I needed some adresses from BL it was under maintenance
- it said
  
  Maintenance Time : Nov 19, 2019 12:00 PM - 04:00 PM EST

When is that according to GMT?

Please add times in GMT at the rest of the world uses - I have no idea what EST
is, not have the majority of the world.
 
 Author: JusTiCe8 View Messages Posted By JusTiCe8
 Posted: Nov 15, 2019 15:04
 Subject: Re: Suggestion for extra function in Bricklink
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 Topic: Suggestions
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JusTiCe8 (121)

Location:  France, Île-de-France
Member Since Contact Type Status
Oct 27, 2018 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: MillyBricks
Funny how idea flows in the ether as I think of a similar feature but a bit more
from a practical point of view. I encounter the same issue with the mini/micro
Serenity by Brothers Bricks which use a medium dark flesh modified tile on top
to hold the 3x3 dish, which I don't have obviously , and while building
it I've figured out colour doesn't not matter at all, one part bought
quite uselessly.

So, I have imagine an invisible brick detection feature, maybe by using a light
source in a brick and by some kind of occlusion, or whatever the right name
is, calculations (lights vector can be computed and some algorithm could be use
to see if the light vector hit a face of a 3D object as it is done for "basic"
rendering technique like in deferred rendering).

If the light source is not visible from outside = bingo, the brick could be any
colour.
If not, its colour actually matters (if the builder also care of following designer
guidelines).

I don't have work enough in 3D rendering to get any kind of solution, I still
offer a way which can actually be done I guess.

In Suggestions, JLvL writes:
  Hello,

Over the las couple of months i have designed some cars in Studio.
Some bricks in the middle may have a different color than the color I am currently
building. So if the color doesn't matter you select 'not applicable'
for that specific brick.

It always takes quite some time to figure out in the wanted list which bricks
should be on not applicable. I think it is much easier to include the 'color'
not applicable in the list.

As an extra function it is then useful to be able to choose the color of the
'not applicable' bricks. For example, if you are building a model in
red, you can set the 'not applicable' bricks to yellow. Because of the
contrast between these two colors you keep the overview on the model.

Greetings,

JL
 Author: SylvainLS View Messages Posted By SylvainLS
 Posted: Nov 15, 2019 12:23
 Subject: Re: Suggestion for extra function in Studio
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SylvainLS (46)

Location:  France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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In Suggestions, JLvL writes:
  In Suggestions, JLvL writes:
  Hello,

Over the las couple of months i have designed some cars in Studio.
Some bricks in the middle may have a different color than the color I am currently
building. So if the color doesn't matter you select 'not applicable'
for that specific brick.

It always takes quite some time to figure out in the wanted list which bricks
should be on not applicable. I think it is much easier to include the 'color'
not applicable in the list of colors in Studio.

As an extra function it is then useful to be able to choose the color of the
'not applicable' bricks. For example, if you are building a model in
red, you can set the 'not applicable' bricks to yellow. Because of the
contrast between these two colors you keep the overview on the model.

Agreed… but the dedicated forum for Studio is http://forum.bricklink.com/
 Author: JLvL View Messages Posted By JLvL
 Posted: Nov 15, 2019 11:58
 Subject: Re: Suggestion for extra function in Studio
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JLvL (30)

Location:  Netherlands, Gelderland
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Store Closed Store: JLbrick
In Suggestions, JLvL writes:
  Hello,

Over the las couple of months i have designed some cars in Studio.
Some bricks in the middle may have a different color than the color I am currently
building. So if the color doesn't matter you select 'not applicable'
for that specific brick.

It always takes quite some time to figure out in the wanted list which bricks
should be on not applicable. I think it is much easier to include the 'color'
not applicable in the list of colors in Studio.

As an extra function it is then useful to be able to choose the color of the
'not applicable' bricks. For example, if you are building a model in
red, you can set the 'not applicable' bricks to yellow. Because of the
contrast between these two colors you keep the overview on the model.

Greetings,

JL
 Author: JLvL View Messages Posted By JLvL
 Posted: Nov 15, 2019 11:55
 Subject: Suggestion for extra function in Bricklink
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JLvL (30)

Location:  Netherlands, Gelderland
Member Since Contact Type Status
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Store Closed Store: JLbrick
Hello,

Over the las couple of months i have designed some cars in Studio.
Some bricks in the middle may have a different color than the color I am currently
building. So if the color doesn't matter you select 'not applicable'
for that specific brick.

It always takes quite some time to figure out in the wanted list which bricks
should be on not applicable. I think it is much easier to include the 'color'
not applicable in the list.

As an extra function it is then useful to be able to choose the color of the
'not applicable' bricks. For example, if you are building a model in
red, you can set the 'not applicable' bricks to yellow. Because of the
contrast between these two colors you keep the overview on the model.

Greetings,

JL
 Author: JusTiCe8 View Messages Posted By JusTiCe8
 Posted: Nov 14, 2019 08:40
 Subject: Re: Daily and monthly downtime - I'd like to help
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 Topic: Suggestions
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JusTiCe8 (121)

Location:  France, Île-de-France
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Store Closed Store: MillyBricks
Hi,

not sure it is the right place for this and most importantly, if company such
FB can afford such a yearly uptime, is because they know how to do their job
right (at least in the server architecture). Plus, the lower the downtime is,
the higher it cost, 99% is a lot more cheaper than 99.9999%, 1% of a year is
quite 3.6 days off. Lowest downtime are a few hours or even minutes.

The cheapest and easiest way to remove downtime almost completely would be to
set-up a mirror of everything (web server mostly) they have now, upgrade one
while leaving the other running with old stuff, do the switch (here could be
a minor downtime), then upgrade the other and finally enable both together.

Anyway, we don't know how things has been setup behind the scene and how
they are actually managed, except it is not done according to BL expectations.

In Suggestions, Ethan1701 writes:
  Hey,
I'm a database administrator (Business intelligence specifically), and I'd
like to help eliminate the daily and monthly downtimes. The way I see it, if
Facebook can have an uptime of 99.9999% while rolling out new features, so can
BL.

Hit me up, I'd love to know what the downtimes are for, and help see if we
can design a better solution for those needs.
 Author: Ethan1701 View Messages Posted By Ethan1701
 Posted: Nov 14, 2019 06:52
 Subject: Daily and monthly downtime - I'd like to help
 Viewed: 141 times
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Ethan1701 (5)

Location:  Israel, Mehoz Tel Aviv
Member Since Contact Type Status
Oct 16, 2017 Contact Member Buyer
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Hey,
I'm a database administrator (Business intelligence specifically), and I'd
like to help eliminate the daily and monthly downtimes. The way I see it, if
Facebook can have an uptime of 99.9999% while rolling out new features, so can
BL.

Hit me up, I'd love to know what the downtimes are for, and help see if we
can design a better solution for those needs.
 Author: cycbuild View Messages Posted By cycbuild
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 17:01
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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 Topic: Suggestions
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cycbuild (827)

Location:  USA, California
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Store Closed Store: AFOL At Names
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  There are certainly some improvements to be made - pinning posts, notification
/ subscription plans, ability to edit or completely remove posted material -
but most of what you are asking for here can already be done.

First, the BrickLink Discussions Forum is actually many individual Forums all
joined together, including hidden Forums backstage for our community admins.
If you don't wish to read everything, start on this page and read only what
interests you:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageTopics.asp?utm_content=subnav

Second, you can customize the Forum to your exact specifications, including viewing
each thread without the replies. You can also block certain Forums (e.g. sales
posts). See the settings on this page:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageFilter.asp?viewFrom=P

I've never seen a Forum with this level of user customization, and I believe
most members don't even know about these options. Try out these suggestions
and see if that helps your impression.

I have been reading the Forum consistently for over 10 years, and I've noticed
that like rainy and dry periods with the weather, Forum participation ebbs and
flows with time. And if by "community involvement" you mean people like Foster
and Dan/Jon beating each other up on a regular basis, that sort of behavior isn't
tolerated anymore.

It might benefit the regulars and newcomers if this was added to the top of the
forum with links below to a shortlist of FAQs. And a hide option, if possible.

https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=126
 
 Author: SylvainLS View Messages Posted By SylvainLS
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 14:25
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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SylvainLS (46)

Location:  France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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Store Closed Store: BuyerOnly
BrickLink Discussions Moderator (?)
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  […]
  My point was that forum.bl.com uses a modern, off-the-shelf, forum engine (and,
if I’m not mistaken, phpBB (it uses the Ariki style, designed for phpBB 3.0)).

So BL knows about and has experience with modern, off-the-shelf, forum engines


And our experience has not been good. Very difficult to manage, and a real challenge
to customize.

Yes, that’s why new ones are always popping up.


  We had a bug for over year that prevented us from deleting any
post.

And there are no notifications for private messages (took me months to see I
had some), and those can’t be deleted (well, you can, but they are still there).

I actually rather like the mailing-list / usenet look of this old forum. And
the macro tags and the inventory change messages….
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 14:11
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Admin_Russell

Location:  USA, California
Member Since Contact Type Status
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Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
BrickLink Administrator
In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

From the front page:

Most users ever online was 20 on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:25 pm

That was around the time ADP was announced.

My point was that forum.bl.com uses a modern, off-the-shelf, forum engine (and,
if I’m not mistaken, phpBB (it uses the Ariki style, designed for phpBB 3.0)).

So BL knows about and has experience with modern, off-the-shelf, forum engines


And our experience has not been good. Very difficult to manage, and a real challenge
to customize. We had a bug for over year that prevented us from deleting any
post.
 Author: SylvainLS View Messages Posted By SylvainLS
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:56
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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SylvainLS (46)

Location:  France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Member Since Contact Type Status
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Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: BuyerOnly
BrickLink Discussions Moderator (?)
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

From the front page:

Most users ever online was 20 on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:25 pm

That was around the time ADP was announced.

My point was that forum.bl.com uses a modern, off-the-shelf, forum engine (and,
if I’m not mistaken, phpBB (it uses the Ariki style, designed for phpBB 3.0)).

So BL knows about and has experience with modern, off-the-shelf, forum engines
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:35
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
 Viewed: 71 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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Admin_Russell

Location:  USA, California
Member Since Contact Type Status
May 9, 2017 Contact Member Admin
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
BrickLink Administrator
In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

From the front page:

Most users ever online was 20 on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:25 pm

That was around the time ADP was announced.

Considering that was from 35 total users at that date and we have a very restricted
membership that isn't worrying. We are still growing there and as things
develop I am sure more will participate. I am not purporting that our forum is
better than this one far from it, but at the same time it shows what can be done
in a short space of time where there is a will.

My quote was from the Studio Forum, not your Forum.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:31
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
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Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
  
  I don't monitor all the most used AFOL forums, but my impression that the
BrickLink Forum has been the leading and most active AFOL forum for a long time
now, despite it's archaic appearance and limitations. To the extent that
that is true, we don't want to break something that is performing so well.

I don't think it is, at least not for general LEGO discussion, MOCs, new
sets, etc. Eurobricks is more active and has way better content than here.

However, the BL forum is the most active and leading forum when it comes to Bricklink
issues, and aspects of buying and selling on BL. And isn't that primarily
what it should be? A forum that supports BL users with issues when using BL.

So what if the forum is a bit old fashioned looking. It is functional, I'd
hate to lose things like the easy tagging in of sets, parts and minifigures,
and so on.

Sorry for this
 
 Author: yorbrick View Messages Posted By yorbrick
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:24
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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yorbrick (1182)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
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  I don't monitor all the most used AFOL forums, but my impression that the
BrickLink Forum has been the leading and most active AFOL forum for a long time
now, despite it's archaic appearance and limitations. To the extent that
that is true, we don't want to break something that is performing so well.

I don't think it is, at least not for general LEGO discussion, MOCs, new
sets, etc. Eurobricks is more active and has way better content than here.

However, the BL forum is the most active and leading forum when it comes to Bricklink
issues, and aspects of buying and selling on BL. And isn't that primarily
what it should be? A forum that supports BL users with issues when using BL.

So what if the forum is a bit old fashioned looking. It is functional, I'd
hate to lose things like the easy tagging in of sets, parts and minifigures,
and so on.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:07
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
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Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

From the front page:

Most users ever online was 20 on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:25 pm

That was around the time ADP was announced.

Considering that was from 35 total users at that date and we have a very restricted
membership that isn't worrying. We are still growing there and as things
develop I am sure more will participate. I am not purporting that our forum is
better than this one far from it, but at the same time it shows what can be done
in a short space of time where there is a will.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 13:02
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
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Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

  Hi Russell and thank you for your comments on this topic (which isn't ours)
as you can tell.

Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know)

The Bricklink forum and messaging system , as you know, are well out of date
and whilst most of the regular members love this archaic piece of software (and
we have a liking to it as well), newer users are used to much richer applications.

You use the word "richer", but in some ways BrickLink's Forum is much richer
than these one-size-fits-all applications. It is fully integrated with the site
- Inv Change requests, Catalog and suggestions, moderator tools, messaging system,
macro tags, ID cards, and the list goes on and on. Sure, you can set up something
cheap and quick, and because it is new, it has some richer features. But overall,
if we did something like that, it would severely cheapen the BrickLink experience.

It's true that the Forum (as well as all the old code on the site) needs
to be completely rewritten and possibly redesigned. But we need to be sure while
doing that that we don't water down a core feature that made the site great.

So does this mean that is what is going on? Or is the focus still the new tangent
XP?
  

I don't monitor all the most used AFOL forums, but my impression that the
  BrickLink Forum has been the leading and most active AFOL forum for a long time
now, despite it's archaic appearance and limitations. To the extent that
that is true, we don't want to break something that is performing so well.

I think the OP first and susbsequent messages has shown statistically that the
forum is not being used as much as t it had been in the past, and whilst I agree
it is a little like the weather, constantly changeable, he may have a point from
strictly the number side. Don't get us wrong - we enjoy using the forum -
it is really the only communications that goes on on the site, other than comms
via the messaging system.

Still, as we and others have said there are many more important things to be
done than the forum or messaging. My earlier point was it could be done quickly
and easily with plug ins (which is the way most modern software is put together.

Mo one, anywhere can do it all, not today, anyway. Dan and Eric had a head start
and brought this site to what it is today and we, like many others will not forget
that. Of course, improvement and updating is needed, but where and what that
transpires to be is currently outside of our knowledge.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:55
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Admin_Russell

Location:  USA, California
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BrickLink Administrator
In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

From the front page:

Most users ever online was 20 on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:25 pm

That was around the time ADP was announced.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:53
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
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Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, Leftoverbricks writes:
  I agree, the Forum needs an update.

The forum and many other parts of this site are written in extremely old code
and it would require lots of time and effort for programmers to change this.
It's not like changing old code, they have to develop a completely new environment
from scratch. To make the forum 2019-proof they also have to make the forum responsive
for phones and tablets.

We must not forget their promise to the users after their acquisition

"Message from Jung-Ju “Jay” Kim, founder of the online game company Nexon, incoming
owner of BrickLink.com:

(As of June 5th, the Hong Kong-based company Bricklink Limited has acquired the
assets of BrickLink.com. Bricklink Limited is a subsidiary of NXMH.)

Dear BrickLink Community,

I am extremely pleased to be taking over the operations of BrickLink.com. I’ve
been a LEGO fan for 40 years and an avid user of BrickLink.com for over a decade.
My first plans are to upgrade the website, and do our best to make users happier
and more prosperous, while staying true to the original vision of BrickLink.com
founder, Daniel Jezek. We will work hard in order to ensure that BrickLink.com
becomes stable, secure and as user-friendly as possible.

I want to sincerely thank the family of Daniel Jezek, especially his mother Eliska,
as well as the BrickLink.com Community, for the opportunity to upgrade and operate
such a beloved website as BrickLink.com. In order to expedite the process of
renovating BrickLink.com, I and Bricklink Limited will be asking users to e-mail
us with their ideas for the improved functionality of the site, as well as any
current issues that need to be addressed in order to provide users with the best
possible selling and buying experience. We’ll establish those lines of communication
very soon.

Thank you for your continued patronage and support of Brick"Link.com

Jung-Ju Kim, incoming owner of BrickLink.com

Not really sure we have seen any of the promises turn into reality, but willing
to listen to debate about that.

  
In the past two years or so the owners of Bricklink showed no interest whatsoever
in changing the old 1990's code. Maybe they think 'don't change a
thing while it's working'.

Their wording was 'Spaghetti code' at the Brickworld conference in Octboer
of last year.
  
Changes to the forum?
This will not happen.
I wish it would.
But I'm sceptical.

As are we all
  
BL is really something special: it's outdated but yet thousands of sellers
earn a nice income using the outdated interface.
So I can understand BL's POV: never change something that already works fine.

I think they have bent that guideline several times with updates to the system.
  
But it's bad anyway. BL is 1990. We need 2019!

They should have started that with a proper system analysis and design project
coupled with liaison with the membership. (It was over 6 years ago and re-doing
this site is not a 6 year development project,
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:50
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Admin_Russell

Location:  USA, California
Member Since Contact Type Status
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BrickLink Administrator
In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:

  Hi Russell and thank you for your comments on this topic (which isn't ours)
as you can tell.

Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know)

The Bricklink forum and messaging system , as you know, are well out of date
and whilst most of the regular members love this archaic piece of software (and
we have a liking to it as well), newer users are used to much richer applications.

You use the word "richer", but in some ways BrickLink's Forum is much richer
than these one-size-fits-all applications. It is fully integrated with the site
- Inv Change requests, Catalog and suggestions, moderator tools, messaging system,
macro tags, ID cards, and the list goes on and on. Sure, you can set up something
cheap and quick, and because it is new, it has some richer features. But overall,
if we did something like that, it would severely cheapen the BrickLink experience.

It's true that the Forum (as well as all the old code on the site) needs
to be completely rewritten and possibly redesigned. But we need to be sure while
doing that that we don't water down a core feature that made the site great.
I don't monitor all the most used AFOL forums, but my impression that the
BrickLink Forum has been the leading and most active AFOL forum for a long time
now, despite it's archaic appearance and limitations. To the extent that
that is true, we don't want to break something that is performing so well.
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:46
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 12, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….

That is a more up to date forum but as we are not either users or interested
in stud.io we don't see it.

Does prove they can do it if they want to, but that also shows where their focus
is and it isn't the classic site.
 Author: SylvainLS View Messages Posted By SylvainLS
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:30
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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SylvainLS (46)

Location:  France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 25, 2014 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: BuyerOnly
BrickLink Discussions Moderator (?)
In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
  […]
Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know) […]

Take a look at http://forum.bricklink.com/ ….
 Author: Leftoverbricks View Messages Posted By Leftoverbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:28
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Leftoverbricks (2225)

Location:  Netherlands, Overijssel
Member Since Contact Type Status
Mar 11, 2012 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Leftoverbricks
I agree, the Forum needs an update.

The forum and many other parts of this site are written in extremely old code
and it would require lots of time and effort for programmers to change this.
It's not like changing old code, they have to develop a completely new environment
from scratch. To make the forum 2019-proof they also have to make the forum responsive
for phones and tablets.

In the past two years or so the owners of Bricklink showed no interest whatsoever
in changing the old 1990's code. Maybe they think 'don't change a
thing while it's working'.

Changes to the forum?
This will not happen.
I wish it would.
But I'm sceptical.

BL is really something special: it's outdated but yet thousands of sellers
earn a nice income using the outdated interface.
So I can understand BL's POV: never change something that already works fine.

But it's bad anyway. BL is 1990. We need 2019!
 Author: calsbricks View Messages Posted By calsbricks
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 12:08
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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calsbricks (8510)

Location:  United Kingdom, England
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 12, 2008 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: CalsBricks
In Suggestions, Admin_Russell writes:
  In Suggestions, Nathan123 writes:
  It seems the forum isn't getting the same kind of community involvement as
it once did. It is fairly common to see less than 100 messages per day and I
had to go back to July to find a day that had over 200. The way the forum works
right now it can be very frustrating and time consuming finding posts of interest
as even new posts get buried quickly under 2 or 3 more active posts and that
makes it difficult to participate in the forum if you do not have the time to
browse or search through it. In terms of utility the bricklink forum is not as
easy to use and enjoy as say brickset forum. There are a lot of good parts of
the BL forum but I feel it is largely being ruined.

My suggestion is that when a post is responded to the post itself moves to the
top but it doesn't show up as a new message, so if a post is made and has
10 replies it will still just look like one post on the forum. I would also like
to recommend that certain categories get put into a different area apart from
the forum so maybe for example buying and selling, inventory change requests,
and sales posts could be seperated from the rest so they don't bury the rest
of the posts out there and stagnate the forum.

The goal would be to allow more people and ideas to participate in the community.

There are certainly some improvements to be made - pinning posts, notification
/ subscription plans, ability to edit or completely remove posted material -
but most of what you are asking for here can already be done.

First, the BrickLink Discussions Forum is actually many individual Forums all
joined together, including hidden Forums backstage for our community admins.
If you don't wish to read everything, start on this page and read only what
interests you:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageTopics.asp?utm_content=subnav

Second, you can customize the Forum to your exact specifications, including viewing
each thread without the replies. You can also block certain Forums (e.g. sales
posts). See the settings on this page:

https://www.bricklink.com/messageFilter.asp?viewFrom=P

I've never seen a Forum with this level of user customization, and I believe
most members don't even know about these options. Try out these suggestions
and see if that helps your impression.

I have been reading the Forum consistently for over 10 years, and I've noticed
that like rainy and dry periods with the weather, Forum participation ebbs and
flows with time. And if by "community involvement" you mean people like Foster
and Dan/Jon beating each other up on a regular basis, that sort of behavior isn't
tolerated anymore.

Hi Russell and thank you for your comments on this topic (which isn't ours)
as you can tell.

Just like to add that our forum has all the functionality of this one as well
as the ability to edit, add attachments, conduct polls, plus more and its free
software - phbbs forum. It took our web guy an hour or so to get it installed
and me about a day to learn all about it (and I still don't know all there
is to know)

The Bricklink forum and messaging system , as you know, are well out of date
and whilst most of the regular members love this archaic piece of software (and
we have a liking to it as well), newer users are used to much richer applications.

There are lots of things that are more important than the forum and as you have
said in many comments here development time is at a premium whilst the company
determines which direction(s) it is going to take for the future. Might not be
a bad idea to keep the members informed - I know that kind of contravenes current
policy but it would engender a lot more respect for what is happening or about
to happen.

I have been a member for a long time now both as a buyer only (3 years before
we became a store) and nearly 9 years as a store, and feel, like most, that we
are kept in the dark about what is happening with the site. As for earlier times
and forum discussions/debates etc, we remember most of them - but again most
of those members are no longer involved with Bricklink. We get PM's from
some of them from time to time when they read something on the forum and want
an insiders view (Not really sure why they believe we have an insiders view but
still). It is nice to hear from them and we try to comment on what they are asking.

Life, forums, business , relationships are all about multi-directional communications
and this site is no different than any others. Keep your customers happy and
you will grow and prosper - give them cause for concern and you will not see
the real benefits you are looking for, regardless of the dir4ection you choose
and we all kow no one can do it on their own.

Bill & the Team @ Calsbricks.
 Author: Adjour View Messages Posted By Adjour
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 11:50
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Adjour (2457)

Location:  USA, Tennessee
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 1, 2016 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: The Chili is a Bit Spicy
LOL you are the OP.

Ok you changed my mind, we could use forum flair in addition to editing.
 Author: Adjour View Messages Posted By Adjour
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 11:47
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Adjour (2457)

Location:  USA, Tennessee
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 1, 2016 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: The Chili is a Bit Spicy
  The difference in size is probably why there could be hundreds of positive comments
and upvotes while being met with silence here. Here there cannot be more than
a couple hundred people looking at the BL forum for any significant amount of
time from day to day.

Please don't get hung up on me saying "hundreds". Its just an example in
reply to the OP who is musing about why there isn't more traffic on the forum,
and wrongly, IMO, blaming it on the forum template.

You can't argue the fact that, like I said, "wholesome" posts are almost
completely ignored here. If people really want more forum participation,
then they need to stop treating other users they do not know yet like
they are stereo instructions and reach out and be friendly. It is my opinion
that the issues presented by the OP is not a template issue.




  The issue in my opinion is that there isn't enough
interest to get more people using the forum


This is exactly my point.
 Author: Adjour View Messages Posted By Adjour
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 11:43
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Adjour (2457)

Location:  USA, Tennessee
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 1, 2016 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: The Chili is a Bit Spicy
In Suggestions, SylvainLS writes:
  In Suggestions, Adjour writes:
  […]
I remember a regular member posting a very nice collection photo because they
were excited about finishing or near finishing it iirc. I think it got two replies...

On Reddit, that same post would have got hundreds of positive replies. […]

On the other hand, 200 comments of “Good!” and “+1” aren’t fun to read either


To you maybe, but to the OP posting something personal, I'm sure they would
be thrilled. 200 is hyperbole for this site, anyway :p



  I also believe that, as there are other forums that specialize in that sort of
posts, by comparison and by BL’s very nature, BL’s forum will always seem more
oriented towards selling/buying or cataloguing than MOCing or other news.

Right, which is why I don't get these occasional "omg where has tHe fAmIly
GoNE?" posts I see on here occasionally. If people really miss a wholesome forum
that "used to" exist, they should be reaching out to new member and stop acting
like this is some sort of old timers club. (not everyone obviously).

Heck, look at this post and how many replies it has. Lol
 Author: maxx3001 View Messages Posted By maxx3001
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 10:14
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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maxx3001 (2563)

Location:  Netherlands, Utrecht
Member Since Contact Type Status
Nov 28, 2004 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: 3001: A Brick Oddity
In Suggestions, jennnifer writes:
  In Suggestions, bje writes:

  The captain has therefor cordially invited you to dine at the ship's main
table once it is upright and our onboard chef can manage to cook you dodo a la
efof.

Regards

Paid for by Pals Tours

Excellent. You brightened my morning considerably.

Jen

+1

Maxx
 Author: Nathan123 View Messages Posted By Nathan123
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 10:08
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Nathan123 (594)

Location:  USA, Minnesota
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 1, 2011 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: System Bricks
In Suggestions, Adjour writes:
  My personal opinion is the format is largely fine. I modded for years on a v
bulletin based board and the only real feature I miss is editing ability.


What I noticed is wholesome posts are largely ignored here. People posting mocs
or collections are almost completely ignored while drama posts create long chains
of comments


I remember a regular member posting a very nice collection photo because they
were excited about finishing or near finishing it iirc. I think it got two replies...

On Reddit, that same post would have got hundreds of positive replies.



I know personally I've had a few cool post ideas, but I know if it's
not negative or dramatic they will only be met with crickets.


Again, just my opinion

The difference in size is probably why there could be hundreds of positive comments
and upvotes while being met with silence here. Here there cannot be more than
a couple hundred people looking at the BL forum for any significant amount of
time from day to day. The issue in my opinion is that there isn't enough
interest to get more people using the forum but the other problem is that if
more people were to use the forum it would become harder to use as posts would
get buried that much faster.
 Author: SylvainLS View Messages Posted By SylvainLS
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 09:48
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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SylvainLS (46)

Location:  France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Member Since Contact Type Status
Apr 25, 2014 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: BuyerOnly
BrickLink Discussions Moderator (?)
In Suggestions, Adjour writes:
  […]
I remember a regular member posting a very nice collection photo because they
were excited about finishing or near finishing it iirc. I think it got two replies...

On Reddit, that same post would have got hundreds of positive replies. […]

On the other hand, 200 comments of “Good!” and “+1” aren’t fun to read either



I also believe that, as there are other forums that specialize in that sort of
posts, by comparison and by BL’s very nature, BL’s forum will always seem more
oriented towards selling/buying or cataloguing than MOCing or other news.
 Author: Adjour View Messages Posted By Adjour
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 09:37
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Adjour (2457)

Location:  USA, Tennessee
Member Since Contact Type Status
Aug 1, 2016 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: The Chili is a Bit Spicy
My personal opinion is the format is largely fine. I modded for years on a v
bulletin based board and the only real feature I miss is editing ability.


What I noticed is wholesome posts are largely ignored here. People posting mocs
or collections are almost completely ignored while drama posts create long chains
of comments


I remember a regular member posting a very nice collection photo because they
were excited about finishing or near finishing it iirc. I think it got two replies...

On Reddit, that same post would have got hundreds of positive replies.



I know personally I've had a few cool post ideas, but I know if it's
not negative or dramatic they will only be met with crickets.


Again, just my opinion
 Author: jennnifer View Messages Posted By jennnifer
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 09:36
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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jennnifer (3532)

Location:  USA, Illinois
Member Since Contact Type Status
Sep 8, 2009 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store: Old Grey Bricks
In Suggestions, bje writes:

  The captain has therefor cordially invited you to dine at the ship's main
table once it is upright and our onboard chef can manage to cook you dodo a la
efof.

Regards

Paid for by Pals Tours

Excellent. You brightened my morning considerably.

Jen
 Author: Hsousa View Messages Posted By Hsousa
 Posted: Nov 8, 2019 09:19
 Subject: Re: Forum Reforms
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Hsousa (35)

Location:  Portugal
Member Since Contact Type Status
Mar 11, 2019 Contact Member Seller
Buying Privileges - OKSelling Privileges - OK
Store Closed Store: Smells Like Brick Spirit
In Suggestions, paulvdb writes:
  In Suggestions, Hsousa writes:
  Hello there, thank you for replying.

However I wanted to know if there's a way of, when clicking on a thread,
displaying the entire thread? There's an additional click on the "Entire
thread on one page" link every time I want to read a thread.

To rephrase, I want to open the foruns in "Compact" mode (done), but open the
threads in "Entire thread on one page". Is it possible?

You can click on the text bubble icon in front of the topic title to display
the entire thread on one page.

Cheers, that helped !

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