Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | hpoort  | | Posted: | Jan 2, 2020 03:51 | | Subject: | Policy change - Undetermined versus Unknown a | | Viewed: | 221 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
| With the takeover by TLG, it may be time that some fundamental changes to the
site get implemented. Hence the posting of this idea - that has been bothering
me for years.
— requires programming and website extension —
Currently in the Bricklink catalog are parts that signify ‘undetermined variant’,
commonly marked for deletion or already deleted, and corresponding parts that
represent the specific variants of these. The current system requires sellers
to determine the specific variant type – even if they would prefer not to distinguish.
The same system requires buyers to exactly specify which variant they are interested
in buying – even if they don’t actually care which is commonly true. My suggestion
would be to distinguish the two concepts as are the processes: the process of
specifying what is for sale (which may be undetermined) and the process of specifying
what you want to buy (which may be ‘don’t care’). Both processes are already
separate on Bricklink (store inventory and wanted lists), but the concept of
‘undetermined’ is not.
For the catalog policy
• Keep all undetermined variants in the catalog and even add undetermined
variants for those parts that are similar. This information may be extracted
from the relation type ‘part is similar to’.
• Drop the deletion marks for all the undetermined entries and solely use
this marking for wrong or outdated entries.
For sellers
For sellers to don’t want to distinguish between part variants: list these parts
under the undetermined entry only. The BL system should be modified to show these
entries amidst the specific variants for any non specific search as through wanted
lists.
For buyers
For buyers it should be possible to specify an undetermined variety or in
effect a search pattern instead of a single part number. If a buyer does not
care whether a p=4085 is of type a, b, c or d, the buyer should be able to add
p=4085* to his wanted list and the search engine should have no trouble in matching
4085a, 4085b or 4085d with this. Similarly to the 0 color (labeled N/A or Not
Appicable while in this context it actually means Irrelevant).
Buyers should be assisted by the website to specify a specific variant if applicable,
but default to the don’t care form.
For the Bricklink website
• Add a feature to the ‘Add to Wanted List’ and ‘Edit Wanted List’ forms
to allow adding of (a) this specific variant only or (b) include variants. Then
populate the wanted list with the appropriate search pattern instead of the single
part number. This would take the form of either a complete enumeration of all
varieties like ‘4085|4085a|4085b|4085c|4085d’ (plate 1x1 with clip) or the more
general entry of ‘4085*’ or ‘4085@’; I would think the enumeration is more robust,
as it would also allow ‘3794|3794a|3794b|15573’ (jumper 1x2) and would also
allow manual exclusion of one or more variants.
• Adjust the ‘Items for sale’ pages or page fragments that show all matching
parts to include all variants when searching for the don’t care variety.
For the Bricklink database
• Widen the field WantedListItems.ItemNumber to allow for longer patterns.
100 chars would be enough for most enumerations of varieties I can think of.
For the Bricklink search engine
• For matching wanted lists with store items: presume that wanted list entries
may contain a search pattern instead of a single entry. Change the SQL from ‘=’
to ‘LIKE’ wherever necessary or drop the quotes around the field. (But make sure
no malicious code may be entered through this field).
Extra
• A similar feature might be implemented to search for approximate colors
such as ‘any gray’ or ‘any green’, similar to how Studio groups the colors.
Any thoughts of whether this would be helpful for you as a seller or for you
as a buyer?
|
 |
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jan 1, 2020 06:50 | | Subject: | Re: Items Being Deleted | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, justisonn writes:
| | Hello,
As I am going through my LEGO parts I am finding a couple of items that have
the banner that says it will be deleted. It is the only listing of that part
that I can find. Am I not able to list these parts that I have?
Thanks for your help!
Nik
|
Usually, a part being marked for deletion is replaced by two or more varieties
that are mentioned on the part's catalog page under the phrase 'this
part is similar to'. If you are still not able to find the alternative, list
the part number here on the forum and many will chime in to help you out.
You have to distinguish the parts you have under the proper variety before you
can make a new listing.
Hans-Peter
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Dec 14, 2019 05:39 | | Subject: | Re: 3rd black 1x2 plate in set 4819 | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, normann1974 writes:
| | Yes, those black 1x2 plates are really playing tricks on me. I can't figure
out where to put the third plate in set . Please advise. 
/Jan
|
It is most likely a spare for if the horse is to graze in the field, replacing
the Reddish Brown 1x4.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 29, 2019 12:02 | | Subject: | Re: Linking parts that use the same mold | | Viewed: | 49 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, Taccer writes:
| | Hi there,
Is there an intention to better integrate, or at least link, pieces that are
physically the same shape, but are split into different records (eg, monochrome
and marbled variants)? An example I've found is 53562 (and 53562pb01, etc).
Users unfamiliar with the history of the part, or how Bricklink's catalogue
works, might not realise that there are are other variants of this exact same
part, as they aren't even mentioned on the monochrome version (in the case
of 53562 such piece didn't debut until four years after its multi-toned version).
Apologies if this has been brought up before (I'm not a regular poster),
it just seems odd that the catalogue links to similar molds (eg, 32174) but not
variations of the exact same mold. I would be prepared to do some work on this.
|
Indeed, users of the Bricklink platform have to know that you always have
to search for 53562* instead of only 53562 if you are interested in the patterned
varieties, and the other way around, that you have to trim the p* part from the
part number to get the plain variety.
This knowledge is in the heads of all frequent users, and in the numbering system,
but not in the underlying database. An automated linking feature to these alternatives
might be a useful addition to the catalog pages (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=53562#T=P,
in or just below the ‹div id="_idItemDescriptionContainer"› element) and easy
to implement as a simple SQL-select statement on this page will do. You might
send a suggestion to the helpdesk and hope they will someday implement this useful
addition.
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Sep 20, 2019 13:53 | | Subject: | Re: Layout | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Suggestions, ihave36paws writes:
| | How can you change the Classic Layout. If you are going to make changes to things
it would be the new Layout.
We hate the way they removed the (My Order Note) line from under the order.
Now you have to travel way over to the right to see it, unless you have your
screen so small that you can't read it.
Please change it back.
|
At [My BL] [Settings] [My Order Settings] you can select how to show your order
notes: as icons, on the right or below each line.
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Sep 12, 2019 16:36 | | Subject: | Re: Change time zone | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Suggestions, HallBricks writes:
| | It would be great if I could change the time zone on BrickLink. Maybe not the
most necessary feature, but it feels like it wouldn't be that difficult of
a thing to implement.
|
Have you ever thought about it's complexity? See Tom Scott's YouTube
episode about implementing time zones in programming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY
Hans-Peter
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Sep 11, 2019 13:37 | | Subject: | Re: New Relationship - Items Reference Each Other | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| Nice idea.
Another examples:
and
There should be more of those pattern-set or pattern-minifig relations.
Hans-Peter
In Suggestions, axaday writes:
| | I would like to propose a new relationship for the catalog. Items that reference
each other. Some examples are below.
and
===
and
===
and
===
and
===
and
|
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| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Sep 7, 2019 15:04 | | Subject: | Re: found wrong category | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, Teup writes:
| | In Catalog, FloathBricks writes:
| | Hello everybody,
Hope the post is right here. I found an article that is listed in the wrong category:
3626cpb2423 is listed under "Mini Doll, Head". Should actually under "Minifigure,
Head"
Greetings
Florian
|
Interesting. Why can printed versions of parts even have different categories
than their parent part? Is there even a case where that is needed? I can think
of one case: 2 x 2 x 2 Slopes with dress prints could go under Minifig,Bodypart
(or better: change the "legs assembly" category in "lower body" and move all
short legs, mermaid tails and ghost lower bodies there too). But even in this
case, those parts are simply "slope".
So if printed parts never even have a different category than their parent part,
why is it apparently needed that these parts are assigned a category manually?
It's just extra work and extra risk of error. In my own webshop's catalog,
the data of the non printed parent part is used as much as possible. That saved
me a whole lot of work.
|
The BL database does not 'know' about parent parts. This is something
that we as users understand by trimming the part number, but in the underlying
database, there is no such relation between P=3626cpb2423 and P=3626c. For the
database engine, these are just two unrelated records that happen to be near
each other in alphabetical order. Therefore, the category field is to be filled
separately with every item.
There is a relation in the database that relates P=3626c to P=3626a and P=3626b,
but that is not the relation you seek right now.
With the current database, this functionality of automatically linking categories
to the category of the parent part, is (a little) harder to build. However, it
would have unintended consequences: A quick selection in Excel learns that of
the 40K decorated part, 11K have the same category as their 'parent'
part, 24K have not, and 5K have no parent part defined in the database. This
is mostly because there is a separate category for decorated, but there are more
examples.
Hans-Peter
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Aug 20, 2019 12:27 | | Subject: | Re: Cardboard sleeves in inventories | | Viewed: | 47 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
| In Inventories, Turez writes:
| | In Inventories, mwright5 writes:
| | Wow! Just seeing that cardboard cape boxes have been added to the catalog.
I usually would prefer to refrain from making a derogatory comment on something
so trivial, but I have to say, that is a new kind of stupid. Give me a break.
|
I would not say that it is stupid to have catalog entries for the cardboard sleeves.
It may be helpful to have a reference for them. But adding the whole cardboard
sleeves to set inventories instead of the included parts is something completely
different.
|
Understanding the wish for (1) having the sleeves in the catalog and thus the
need to include the in inventories somehow, and (2) leaving the functionality
of the inventories as is, brings me to a simple alternate solution:
Add the sleeves as ALTERNATE to the inventories only.
Similar to
- a part with the sticker applied is alternate (as opposed to the stickersheet
and the plain part)
- a combination of parts that is hard to separate is alternate (as opposed
to the parts that make up the combination)
- the parts that are removed from a sprue (as opposed to the entire sprue)
and thus finally:
- a part still packed within the original sleeve (as opposed to the part without
packaging)
How about this alternative?
Hans-Peter
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | May 26, 2019 03:24 | | Subject: | Re: 4070a | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, randyf writes:
| | In Catalog, Brickitty writes:
| | In Catalog, tEoS writes:
| | Yes, BL has decided not to differentiate between these.
In Catalog, seymour3113 writes:
| | I have several of these bricks (4070a). They are being deleted from catalog.
Should I just list them as 4070?
|
|
Thankfully, since there are so many headlight bricks with varying levels of partial
holes. It was definitely a manufacturing defect.
Now if we could just get rid of the ridiculous entries for "smooth slopes."
|
This is something we are going to look into. From what I have seen over the years,
there is no real "smooth slopes" for some of those parts (or any of them). What
they are are parts that come from molds where the sand-blasted texture has been
worn down over time making the slopes look more smooth than others that were
produced when the molds were new. One thing is for certain - none of them are
smooth like real smooth-molded slopes such as
Cheers,
Randy
|
Don't forget about versus with complete, intended smoothness
in the a-version.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Apr 12, 2019 12:46 | | Subject: | Re: mx1142l | | Viewed: | 31 times | | Topic: | Modulex | |
| In Modulex, yoavheskia writes:
| | Who knows how many colors this brick has? what colors not appearing in the picture?
|
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=Mx1142L#T=C
According to the Priceguide (last 6 months) you have them all, 15. But who knows
what is out there, as test bricks perhaps?
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Apr 12, 2019 12:40 | | Subject: | Re: help by brick 2x2 | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, buildingfactory writes:
| | i don´t find the right item part ID for middle and right brick 2x2
i have 3 different brick 2x2 black
left Brick 2 x 2 without side support and without Two Vertical Lines Each Side
middle 3003? (same as frosted?)
right with cross support number?
|
All three are considered . These variations are not distinguished on
Bricklink as they have no significant functional difference.
The variations of all bricks labelled 'frosted' are relevant for transparent
colors only.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Apr 4, 2019 01:38 | | Subject: | Re: Help identifying these purple colours | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
| In Colors, randyf writes:
| | In Colors, Juster_Bricks writes:
The ones you have labeled "Bright Pink?" are Pink.
-----
The ones you have labeled "1?" are Bright Pink.
-----
The one you have labeled "2?" is
[p=Clikits013a]
in Medium Violet. I don't think that color is right, though.
-----
The one you have labeled "3?" is Dark Purple.
-----
The one you have labeled "Dark Purple?" is Purple.
-----
The one you have labeled "Purple?" is Light Purple.
-----
The one you have labeled "Magenta?" is in fact Magenta.
-----
The ones you have labeled "Dark Pink?" are in fact Dark Pink.
-----
I am not an expert on the Violets, but the ones you have labeled "4?" and "5?"
are some of the Violet colors.
Cheers,
Randy
|
I fully agree with Randy's estimates.
4 and 5 seem to be both variations of Medium Violet, not distinguished
by Bricklink.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Feb 26, 2019 03:58 | | Subject: | Re: Window Identification please | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, dkillgore writes:
| | In Catalog, Stuart9 writes:
| |
In Catalog, dkillgore writes:
| | I can't seem to find the number for this window, 4x2, 2x2, with shutter slots
and stop ridge in yellow:
|
|
All Replies Soooooo Great! That is it! Why, oh Why, is this not a Window!!!!!!
Many, Many thanks and btw, new buyers on here would never, ever, know where to
find this...
Thanks Again! Love you all!
|
When you encouter such a part of unknown identify but of known size, try searching
for just the size of it: 2x4x2 (or you might need to try 4x2x2 as well), ruling
out printed or stickered parts or duplo parts to limit the search down:
Search [Catalog] [2x4x2 -pattern -duplo]
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=2x4x2%20-pattern%20-duplo
This brings your search down to 39 parts.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Feb 13, 2019 11:41 | | Subject: | Re: Aren't these differences ridiculous? | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:
| | YES YES YES YES YES!
This is the #1 upgrade I would want from Bricklink.
David
|
I very much agree. This abiguity should be part of both the items for sale (sellers
not wanting to bother to distinguish) and the wanted lists (buyers not caring
whether they get the on or the other variety).
Taken a bit further, for the wanted lists this might take the form of 'any
shade of green', 'a brick of width 2' or 'the a or c variety
of 4085'.
Wishful thinking, but if this #1 upgrade is implemented in Bricklink XL, I am
all for it, despite whatever changes they might make to the interface.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jan 7, 2019 22:19 | | Subject: | Re: Catalog Guidelines: Minifig Heads | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| | | 3. Fixed values: head, pattern
- I expect some shrieking about the pattern attribute, but if all decorated pieces
are separated from plain pieces at the category level, the need for "pattern"
as an identifier becomes moot. Thus "pattern" can be used to distinguish between
a "head" and a "not-head".
|
Definitely shrieking. The word "pattern" is used throughout the entire catalog
to distinguish plain and decorated items. For most searches, the category attribute
is not used nor visible. Hence, in the current database configuration, the word
"pattern" is still essential.
There are things to say for changing this database structure, but as you know,
that is out of our CA's control.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jan 3, 2019 11:07 | | Subject: | Re: Filling My Inventory with WANTED Items | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Suggestions, Happyakrz writes:
| | Hello everyone!
I'm a long-term buyer on Bricklink, but have recently started to sell here
as well, and I've been looking through all of the various areas of data in
the site (which has been an amazing process), and I haven't been able to
find anything that shows the most commonly sought-after parts -- either by
direct request, or by inclusion on member "wanted lists".
Is there an area or process that is already programmed for the calculation and
display of the most wanted parts by the members?
Or is this a time-crunching labour-of-love process of comparing part quantities
currently for sales vs. sold in the last 6 months, etc.?
Just want to make sure that I'm stocking what people really want to get their
hands on -- aren't we all?
Thanks for any info you can offer!
Todd / Happyakrz
|
For various reasons the information about what is on people's wanted lists
is not freely accessible. The only information I have come across is the catalog
pages that say 'on how many wanted lists' a part-color combination occurs.
As a buyer I would not want that my action of putting item on my wanted list
would be of influence on the prices.
Whether the information 'on how many wanted lists' an item is, is reliable,
I have doubts about. For me, most of the time what is on my wanted lists does
not correspond to what I intend to buy. It either represents the preparation
of a shopping list or a notebook to remember that someday I might want to buy
these items. I might put an item on my wanted list in many non-existent or rare
colors just to see whether they become more readily available later on.
Your conclusion that it is 'a time-crunching labour-of-love process of comparing
part quantities currently for sales vs. sold in the last 6 months' is probably
right. Items sold versus available is a much more reliable source of information
than the wanted lists which are mostly shielded for privacy.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jan 3, 2019 10:57 | | Subject: | Re: Add weight as a search parameter. | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Suggestions, robosushi writes:
| | Could the weight of an item be added as one of the search options? It would
really speed up finding unusual parts if I could just plug in the weight and
bring it up.
|
The idea is nice to have such an intelligent scale, but this is not feasible.
The weights of parts vary not only per mold variation, but also per color. And
for each weight (plus or minus a few percent) you would find thousands of parts.
However, there is something to say for the idea of using weight to discriminate
between parts:
During production of sets, TLC does use weighing to identify sets that may have
the improper number of parts in it. These are tossed out and supposedly checked
and corrected manually.
For bigger sets, LEGO carefully composes the contents of each of the numbered
bags, to minimize the number of possible mistakes and to maximize the efficiency
of the weighing test. Big and small parts are kept separate, small parts are
mixed with small parts so the relative accuracy is greater, but rarely with the
same part in another color. That is one of the reasons you may find a bag of
mixed small parts in a bag of bigger parts.
(Has anyone seen a bag in a bag in a bag? I can't remember having seen these)
Other reasons of this separation may be to be prevent damage, to distribute the
work load over multiple counting machines, to prevent tiles being caught up in
2x-bricks and so on.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Dec 19, 2018 13:21 | | Subject: | Re: 3865 official or homemade parts? | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, normann1974 writes:
| | Hi
I just bought used that was almost complete. But I noticed that the
four baseplates seems to have been custom made from a larger baseplate,
because the two sides are clearly a lighter shade of green (I guess this is where
the cuts have been made), and that three corners are not round, but have been
trimmed to give a rounded look.
Are these homemade, or it is possible that LEGO produced these plates from larger
plates (e.g. 1x 16x32 into 4x 8x16) in the late 70's to save the price of
making a 8x16 baseplate mold?
/Jan
|
All baseplates are cut from a bigger sheet by LEGO. These are not injection molded
like most other parts but vacuum formed from sheet or roll.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 26, 2018 11:04 | | Subject: | Re: Something I Just Threw Together | | Viewed: | 43 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In General, StormChaser writes:
| | In my continual quest to make your lives marginally better, I have just now put
together a list with photos of the different types of figures the LEGO Group
has produced over the years.
|
It would be helpful to mainly choose pictures with some indication of scale,
such as you did with the Scala and Fabuland pictures. And I would list the statuette,
microfigure, minifigure and minidoll on top as for a newby these terms are the
most relevant to distinguish. Perhaps sort by ascending size.
I would group by scale, so that the baby and children are grouped together with
minifigure scale. - Not counting the use of statuette as an object in minifig
scale, nor the use of a minifig as a statue in microfig scale.
Simply group by the size of a door frame that matches the scale of the figure.
[m=cty008]
and so on upto Galidor and Scala.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 26, 2018 10:42 | | Subject: | Re: Something I Just Threw Together | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| | | I could tear this apart for the next two days, but I have to visit the dentist
for pain of another sort.
|
Plenty of these around:
[p=3069bpx7]
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 24, 2018 04:30 | | Subject: | Re: Seventh Catalog Project - Titles Update | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, Hygrotus writes:
| |
So for Star Wars constructtion of names should be diffrent approach, maybe all
licenced ones could have different system (but also consistent) then non licenced
ones Mostly (not old ones only) Licenced ones have their own names on the boxes,
City minifigs for examples aren't named on boxes (so in this case your ruules
can be apply, here I could agree)
Maybe something like this
Name from official Lego box, specific description if the name from box is the
same, (name of character if not identify by Lego) (set nuber if it appear only
in one set)
So please don't meess in licence minifigs
|
I would really like Robert's approach such as to include at least the occupation.
For MOC-building, I would search for a term as 'farmer' whether this
may be a themed character named Bob or Vader or Mickey I would not care.
Whether listed as 'Trooper, clone' (consistent but incorrect) or 'Clone
trooper' (correct as it is a name) should not bother me either as it does
not matter for searching.
Several times I spent hours trying to find a minifig (or bodypart) by description
only to find out that it was named something simple as 'Ron' without
any further info making it hard to find if you don't know the character by
theme. So please do include the profession (or something like 'grandmother'
and major characteristics.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 23, 2018 12:46 | | Subject: | Re: Head Category Split | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| I agree on all your arguments and approach as well, but:
| | [...] It makes no sense to construct
the search parameters on what attributes a thing doesn't have.
|
True, but it does sometimes make sense to search for an attribute a thing shouldn't
have - as opposed to the part you have at hand that does have this unwanted property
or as opposed to a property the part commonly has, such as
which is distinguished from all other 1x2 bricks just because it does not have
a pin at the bottom. (pin =?= tube ? another discussion)
---
| | You also face the issue of how to position the non-head heads...within the "heads
decorated" category...or within a "heads" category at all...and what to call
them as a group.
|
The original introduced in 1975 was often used as non-head as early
as in 1977, in larger numbers, such as in . Growing up in the eighties,
those non-printed balls where never in my mind used as heads but always as balls,
boulders, finials, cabin footers, lamp posts or other decorations.
Suggestion:
- Head, decorated
- Head, face
- Head, dual face
And the entries for 3626a, 3626b and 3626c (plain) could be included in the head,
decorated as it is only one part in three variants. People don't browse categories
that consist of hundreds of entries to find the plain ones.
---
| |
If indeed there is a "tag system" coming...and I don't know what that means...but
if "tag system" is an open field where individual descriptive words are to be
stored...you may just want to wait for that to become a reality. If it is coming
and you go ahead now and start rewording a bunch of things, it's pretty much
guaranteed you're going to have to go back and re-reword them all to fit
into the new scheme, otherwise there'll be redundancy and inconsistency working
its way back into the system.
|
Agreed.
But, the title field is already used as an advanced tag system since the search
engine allows efficient searching through it and in the database there probably
is an index behind it that indexes for each word separately (except the 'stop
words'. The interface only does not show each word as a separate tag to
the user. I don't know why a new tag system would be needed if only because
people are so used to the interface of other websites where each keyword is displayed
in its own colored box.
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 23, 2018 01:47 | | Subject: | Re: Seventh Catalog Project Underway | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, Lauren_Luke writes:
| | I disagree, I have relied upon the “with” and other prepositions in searches.
|
Are you quite sure? I just checked and BrickLink automatically excludes the
word "with" from searches. The site also excludes the word "no," which is why
some items I recently found (and corrected) which had the term "No Pattern" in
the title were not usefully titled.
|
Indeed 'with' is excluded from the search criteria, but 'without'
is not. This makes the distinction still useful.
See the bottom of page for a list of all words that are automatically excluded
from search criteria:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=29
Better still would be if some words such as 'with' and 'no' would
be removed from this list of stop words, but that is likely out of reach of even
the programming staff of Bricklink. The list is intended to be used for searching
through flowing texts in the English language only, not for searching through
descriptive titles in which these 'common' words might nog be so common
nor meaningless.
For now, deciding upon catalog titles means taking this exclusion list into account.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Nov 10, 2018 04:11 | | Subject: | Re: Fourth Catalog Project Underway | | Viewed: | 33 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I think it would be confusing to use the term "dual-sided," so someone come up
with some suggestions for a term we can tack onto titles of heads with non-face
printing on both sides, please.
|
You just did: "dual" for dual faces and "both sides" for just printing on both
front and back side of the part. Works fine for me.
Hans-Peter
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2018 04:31 | | Subject: | Re: Another New Catalog Thing | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I am wasting no time in making your lives marginally better, my friends.
For your convenient reference, we now have a list with links and descriptions
of known part variants which are not distinguished by BrickLink:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=940
This list is majorly incomplete and I could use some assistance in completing
it. If you're bored and want to gather additional variants not yet shown
on the list, please respond to this message with your list of variants (macro
tags appreciated, but not absolutely necessary).
To save others duplicating work, you might reply first saying you're going
to be working on it.
|
For the list of 'Known part variants not distinguished':
comes in two different angles, just as and (but
the additional picture that illustrated this has gone) and the open classical
open studs are too small for inserting a bar while the newer versions allow this
(same as ).
---
and alike: older version has stabilization planes between bottom pins
and the walls that prevent the part being placed on 1/2 stud offset on ,
in newer versions these stabilization planes are lowerd so placing the bricks
on offset is possible.
---
comes in two different angles.
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 12:06 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| Reverse engineering and assuming the API provides us with a clue about the underlying
data structure, I would conclude that the price is recorded in the local currency
of the store. This makes sense as this would remove all currency calculation
from the equation when looking at the internals of a store.
The API for the GetPriceGuide says:
"This method returns price in the specified currency code
- If you don't specify this value, price is retrieved in the base currency
of the user profile's"
http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki/CatalogMethod#Get-Price-Guide
The page generator will have to convert from many different currencies to the
currency requested by the viewer. No intermediate conversion through another
currency is needed, although mathematically there will always be any reference
currency in the currency conversion table.
For the 'items sold' prices, the engine will look up the currency conversion
table of that specific time frame, according to the help.
It seems pretty clear to me how it works.
Hans-Peter
In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
| | In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | I would prefer it on the price guide so I didn't have to go back and forth.
Mind you this is all hypothetical cause they really are not doing anything with
the classic site whilst they work on XP.
|
I understand why you'd want it in the price guide, but there are many (37)
exchange rates to GBP, or any other single currency. While many pieces are listed
in USD, plenty are also in EUR, with other currencies also used. That's a
lot of extra information to list. You also wouldn't need to go back and forth,
as if it was set for one hour, you could note down the exchange rates of interest
and you would know they are guaranteed until the next exchange rate update time.
|
Interesting point - might need a bit more detail from Bricklink now. We understand
how the currency thing works in certain areas but we thought that the underlying
base currency for all prices was USD which Bricklink converts everything to and
then uses the xe.com exchange rate as and when necessary. So if what you are
saying is correct and the prices being shown for each country on the price guide
are converted directly from their currency to gbp that is a different story and
more thought would have to go into this. Unfortunately the help page isn't
really clear on how they are holding the currency from the outset. What you are
suggesting that if someone in India adds items in rupees then the system would
have to convert from rupees to gbp as well as any other currency and that would
be a different proposition entirely.
I do believe Bricklink should clarify this issue which would be helpful.
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jul 27, 2018 15:55 | | Subject: | Re: Help with some colours please. | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
| Seems like Medium Violet, Dark Blue-Violet
and Medium Azure to me.
Not Light Turquoise.
Photographing it next to known colors might give more syreity.
Hans-Peter
In Colors, Abels_Bricks writes:
| | Hello all.
I'm stumped with 3 colours from a batch of duplo I got yesterday.
The 2 2x2 (same colour) I think are medium violet
The 2x2 and 2x4 (same colour) I think are violet
The single 2x2 I think is light turquoise
I'm asking for help as these colours are rare and I don't want to list
until I'm sure.
Unfortunately I don't have any of these colours in stock or my collection
so I cannot confirm myself.
Thanks in advance
David
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jul 27, 2018 15:54 | | Subject: | Re: Help with some colours please. | | Viewed: | 22 times | | Topic: | Colors | |
| Seems like Medium Violet, Dark Blue-Violet
and Medium Azure to me.
Not Light Turquoise.
Photographing it next to known colors might give more syreity.
Hans-Peter
In Colors, Abels_Bricks writes:
| | Hello all.
I'm stumped with 3 colours from a batch of duplo I got yesterday.
The 2 2x2 (same colour) I think are medium violet
The 2x2 and 2x4 (same colour) I think are violet
The single 2x2 I think is light turquoise
I'm asking for help as these colours are rare and I don't want to list
until I'm sure.
Unfortunately I don't have any of these colours in stock or my collection
so I cannot confirm myself.
Thanks in advance
David
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Oct 11, 2016 15:54 | | Subject: | Re: Sort sellers by distance | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Suggestions, 2tacos99cents writes:
| | I recently was trying to find parts and I wanted to source them from a seller
relatively close. This turned out to be a pain because there wasn't any automated
way to do it. It would be great if the marketplace was able to sort search results
by distance. The necessary information (zipcodes is all you need for a general
estimate) is already available in peoples account information. There are free
API's that will return distance. Google, for example, allows 2500 searches
per day under their free API plan.
I quickly searched the forum and didn't see this suggestion so figured I'd
throw it out there since it's a common & useful feature of marketplace searches.
Thanks
|
Distance as in kilometers or miles is not very relevant to buying at Bricklink.
Postal costs are and these are not always as closely related as one would expect.
For instance, it is much cheaper to get stuff from Czech and Hungarian sellers
to the Netherlands (other side of Europe) as compared to e.g. from Germany (neighbouring
country). Sorting on distance would need to be sorting on postal charges; but
that would be rather cumbersome with all different rates.
More important are whether or not you have to account for import tax, what the
weight of your order will be, and what the freight charges are for this particular
seller. Even within one country these may vary widely.
Welcome to Bricklink.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Feb 1, 2016 14:35 | | Subject: | Re: Hide a Single Thread | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| Dear Pete,
Set your view to "without replies"
and just skip the thread you don't want to see.
Use the small icon left to the thread title
to view the entire thread.
Hans-Peter
In Suggestions, par016 writes:
| | Sometimes the forum gets in a heated debate that consumes the whole forum. I
am fine with people having opinions and discussing differences of opinions but
it does kind of take over the forum and make it hard to sift out anything else
that is happening there. It would be cool if there was a way to at least temporarily
hide a thread in the forum so that those who are not interested in following
a mega-thread can easy access the rest of the forum.
Maybe there already is a way to do this, that I am unaware of.
Thanks,
Pete
|
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Jul 6, 2015 11:33 | | Subject: | Re: search including parts in a part or in a set | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| In Searching, TomHop writes:
| | After a brief search I could not find anything on the following, so there goes
my first post.
Sometimes I have parts like a hinge plate 1 x 2 with 1 finger (the old hinges)
on my wanted list.
This can be found
- as such , just this part
- in a parts assembly (together with the 2 finger hinge plate)
- in a set
If I search for any directly I can find them, no problem.
Nevertheless an option like "include part assembly in search" and/or "include
sets in search" would save me doing 3 different searches, besides possibly adding
all possible combinations to my wanted lists (risking missing out on a good purchase
or duplicating parts).
I would expect an option like this in the wanted list, (search and shop options),
shop search and catalog search for example.
To avoid massive search results ( if you have big wanted lists and/or very common
parts on the wanted list) a tickbox could be added at wanted list item level:
to indicate whether you want this to be eligable for the above options or not.
I am looking for feedback on the idea. Did I simply mis an option that I can
use? How can I propose it to the administrators?
Thanks for reading and feedback is really apreciated
Best regards,
Tom
|
The idea is good; how to implement it would be another. As you said, for a simple
part as a half hinge, you already have to add at least 3 items to your search.
Consider the search for a specific torso. You would have to look for the torso
with and without arms, possibly in different colors, appearing in minifigs, appearing
in sets. And then someone just happens to search for a yellow hand...
Actually I have implemented this search strategy to build my own wanted list
in Excel, but it soon grew into a 100 MB project that I could barely manage.
Every incoming box I now open is full of surprise minifigs and sets that I didn't
even think of to order - but indeed contain some valuable hair, head, torso,
hand or legs that I required.
To implement this in the Bricklink wanted list system, let alone in the search
system, would make the system (my guess) two or three times heavier in database
load.
I'd like it implemented, but don't believe it feasable on short notice.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | May 26, 2015 13:35 | | Subject: | Re: Ability to duplicate Wanted list | | Viewed: | 21 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
| | | | | Select Copy below the page.
|
to give you a better understanding of what I mean I have a wanted list which
consists of 23 pages at 20 items per page that I want to make 5 of (yes big projects)
to currently do this I have to do one page at a time and copy them 5 times, so
i'm going to have to click the move all button (all on page) 23 times, move
the scroll from move to copy 23 times and click the new folder 23 times and I
have to do that 5 times, that's a lot of clicking i'm doing right now.
|
You could add "&wantedSize=2000" or any number to the URL, such as:
http://www.bricklink.com/wantedDetail.asp?catType=P&hideItems=Y&wantedSize=999
and your wanted listing will no longer be limited to the 50 you selected.
Hans-Peter
|
|
| Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | May 20, 2015 02:39 | | Subject: | Color search in catalog | | Viewed: | 78 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
| When I type Red Brick 1x4 in the main search box on the top of the page,
for Catalog Items, I would expect to at least see
in the list as it does appear in red and not a list with
et cetera which does not occur in red but only has 'Red' in it's
name.
However, when searching for "Items for Sale" in the same search box, the result
is as expected. Therefore it should be rather easy to implement: strip the color
name from the search entry to link to the intended place.
Catalog Search for Red Brick 1x4 gives
"Catalog: Search Results for red brick 1x4"
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?q=red%20brick%201x4
whereas
Items for Sale for the same search string gives:
"Items For Sale: in Red Color: Results for brick 1x4"
http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?q=red%20brick%201x4
The intended information is available:
Catalog: Parts: Search Results for brick 1x4 Appearing In Sets in Red
Color
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?v=2&pg=1&q=brick+1x4&catLike=W&colorPart=5&sortBy=N&sortAsc=A&catType=P
but only through the much longer route of Catalog/Colors/Red/search "brick 1x4".
I'd like to see the shortcut implemented.
|
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