BrickLink Discussion Forum

Hi all

While sorting, I’m sure we all come across bricks That have had a hard life or
have had a challenging journey. This time I’m erring towards this brick actually
coming from the factory as a dual colour brick rather than it being bleached
or something

What do you think ?

Cheers

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Apr 10, 2024 02:40

Subject:

Calling Bionicle gurus

Viewed:

74 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

Morning all

In the photo we have 32553*
I know trans dark pink and neon green but is the other trans neon yellow ?

Cheers in advance!

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 22, 2024 12:56

Subject:

UK Store - Free shipping for orders over £50

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

Sales

Hi

Currently offering free 2nd class small parcel shipping for orders over £50

Small parcel limit is there on auto checkout as I have a lot of instructions
listed which can get expensive to ship ! If you're looking at an order over
£50 that wont go through, send me a message and I'm sure we can sort something
out

Added lots of stock lately so a good selection of parts

Cheers and have a good weekend

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 8, 2024 04:22

Subject:

change 87552pb030

Viewed:

84 times

Topic:

Catalog Requests

For:

Catalog Associate

Status:

Discarded

Can I suggest the change to 87552pb030 so its 68% rather than %89

Panel 1 x 2 x 2 with Side Supports - Hollow Studs with Gauges and '68%'
on Red Background Pattern on Inside (Sticker) - Set 60092

Revised photo attached

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 16:15

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

95 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Teup writes:

In Catalog, Tracyd writes:

In Catalog, BrickCompulsion writes:

No idea. But they people who get to make the decision are for it.

OK -
well the general feeling I got was that most posters were not for it and seeing
issues with doing it.

Therefore I suggest that "they" were hearing but not listening

If you own something, do you solicit others' opinions on what to do with
it? If you want to do X, but a lot of people say no do Y with it, do you do
what you want or what they want? They don't have to listen, that they have
changed some doesn't mean they have to change all.
Again, they can do anything they want as they own the website. Or for the pedantic,
they work for the owner of the website.

Ok, I was planning to let this whole discussion go, but it's just really
getting on my nerves now. Not so much personally, but I really feel for Axaday,
Randy and the other great contributors. Secondly, for the people who are just
sincerely bummed by this and keep on having their feelings invalidated by such
replies. This wall of text is not directed specifically towards the previous
poster or anyone in particular so feel free to stop reading anywhere you like

I see people complaining it's getting repetitive, but in my opinion, the
whole "they own it so they can do whatever they want" is the most repetitive
thought-terminating cliché in the whole discussion. And not only in this one.
It keeps popping up whenever something happens on Bricklink. Here's the deal:
It doesn't actually work like that. Legally speaking, yes, it does. But not
everything that is legal is right. Bricklink isn't a hotdog stand where if
you don't like the mustard (Bricklink forum reference unintended) you just
walk on to the next one and everything is fair.

Interestingly, the people who bring this up - "they can do what they want,
you are free to go elsewhere", etc - only seem to apply this logic to companies.
Never to people. They would probably never say: "Well darling, I am an adult,
so I can do whatever I like. If you don't like my choices, then you are free
to leave. Nobody is forcing you to be with me. Go vote with your feet". Again
this is legally 100% correct, but people have every right to say this person
is a son-of-a-brick. And moreover, they'd be right. The argument does not
excuse any actions.

Companies have responsibilities too. They can't just treat workers in whatever
way they like. The are agreements with trade unions and governments on how people
should be treated. Now, the users here may not be employees of Bricklink, but
Bricklink is not a free service either. In some form or shape, there is a cooperation
going on between Bricklink on the one side and the users on the other. There
is a mutual investment. That may not bring along hard legal obligations outlined
in agreements, but it does bring along soft rules. Like respect, decency, and
reliability. Willingness to cooperate. Dialog. Sure, Bricklink has the legal
right to change this whole site into a Barbie marketplace overnight, but
people who are invested in Bricklink (whether as contributors or as people trying
to provide for their families) will be right to be extremely disappointed if
that happened. Doing that without any notice, without valid reasons, would not
be a decent way of treating people. Letting contributors work on this particular
thing for years and then throwing it away is not a decent way of treating people.
Making big changes in a confusing way with poor communication where timing, order,
promises, and reasons keep on changing, is not a decent way of treating people.
By the way: There are plenty of examples where even free services cannot do "whatever
they want because they own it". Facebook still has obligations to combat
fake news, hate speech and scams. Because companies are a part of this world
and influence people's lives.

I've noticed this argument - "if you don't like it, just don't
use it" - is often heard in poor countries with dysfunctional systems by
people trying to defend the status quo. I'm not suggesting it's the same
type of people as the ones bringing up on Bricklink, but the effect is the same:
It's a progress-undermining attitude. People may say it about prices ("if
it's too expensive, just don't buy it then"

or services like public
transport ("if you think it's always late, then just use another means
of transportation"

. With an air of "stop being so negative" around
it. But the actual negative thing is to invalidate people's sincere complaints
and take a position against them. The positive thing is to complain, constructively,
in order to show empathy and to facilitate some kind of progress. Typically people
keep repeating the mantra and meanwhile their situation gets worse and worse.
In my opinion it's really quite sad to see community members not backing
each other up on this kind of thing. Even if everyone's preferences and concerns
are not the same. We all are a little different from one another but all of our
wants and needs are equally valid. I could go to a Playmobil forum and laugh
at every topic because I don't care about Playmobil, but that doesn't
mean I am right and they are wrong.

Then there's another thing. Besides the difference in opinion, there's
also the matter of: Is Bricklink correct? Will the action achieve what they aim
to achieve? This is not certain at all, and owning this site does not automatically
mean you're right about everything. They may need some input on this Russell
already mentioned people in the office were surprised and caught off-guard by
the responses to this decision. That already shows (besides of course a rich
track-record of unfortunate decisions) that Bricklink is not always correct in
what they believe. (For exmaple: Personally I believe it's not a good decision.
I think that not wanting to be the ultimate encyclopedic resource will result
in not being the ultimate marketplace either. Because the catalog really is Bricklink's
only selling point compared to other marketplaces. But that's just my estimation).
People are right to raise questions about it and are also right to consider it
wrong if Bricklink rushes this update without allowing that dialog that could
expose any mistakes in the reasoning and lead to better choices. (Bricklink did
allow this to a very limited extent, though they didn't plan to at first)

And as for: "If you don't like it, sell somewhere else" - many people
don't have this opportunity. This would be the same as saying "Facebook
has no obligations to society and if you don't like it, post somewhere else"
- it doesn't work like that, because you can't just start your own social
media like that. There is a dependency as a result of the actions of the company.
I was able to move away from Bricklink and sell elsewhere, but not everyone has
that opportunity. Years of feeling bad (sick, to a point) about what Bricklink
was and wasn't doing has lead me to take my business elsewhere. I implemented
everything I asked for on Bricklink for years, and as a result the business is
much more succesful than it ever was. But do I feel like I "won"? Not
really. I really would have preferred to keep everything on Bricklink, if Bricklink
only didn't cause me that many sleepless nights. And Bricklink didn't
win either, because they're out on $1500 in fees a year from me. Voting with
your feet isn't a win for anyone.

TLDR: Bricklink belongs to Bricklink in the strict legal sense, but otherwise,
Bricklink belongs to everyone who is involved in it and who makes it what it
is. There, that was more than enough from me for a while I think. Back to some
selling

Great post

I did try to be constructive which I hope came across

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 12:44

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

67 times

Topic:

It doesn't matter if users are for or against it, there was still consultation
and debate.

Asking for anything to be put to a vote (and saying that you will abide by the
result) is dangerous. For example, BL could email all users stating that they
will remove all sets from before 1980 as this will help speed up the site and
make room for more new BDP sets to be catalogued. Similarly, they could email
all users stating parts that haven't been produced for 30 years will be removed
from the database to speed up and help reduce the clutter in searches. It wouldn't
surprise me if both of those would get passed by a vote from the userbase. It
depends on how the question is asked, who is allowed to vote, and who is told
about the vote.

I totally concede then there was some debate, but not whether they were going
to do it or not really - it was just announced that it was happening which is
really what I was driving at.
True - votes do have the potential to be dangerous. My beef was though that it
was just announced to be occurring

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 12:41

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

56 times

Topic:

In Catalog, Tracyd writes:

In Catalog, BrickCompulsion writes:

No idea. But they people who get to make the decision are for it.

OK -
well the general feeling I got was that most posters were not for it and seeing
issues with doing it.

Therefore I suggest that "they" were hearing but not listening

Ha ha - hence my caveat at the beginning of my post
In my humble (and perhaps irrelevent and certainly considered irrelevant by
some)
opinion

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 11:52

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

52 times

Topic:

No idea. But they people who get to make the decision are for it.

OK -
well the general feeling I got was that most posters were not for it and seeing
issues with doing it.

Therefore I suggest that "they" were hearing but not listening

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 11:37

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

54 times

Topic:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

- no consultation
- no debate or poll
- short notice of it happening
- when announced there was not a lot of certainty over what was happening and
when and how
- changes happening over a long period of time due to poor implementation. I
think if you aren't able to make the changes easily then perhaps there are
other more pressing issues to attend to

There was consultation and plenty of debate. Some parts were thought about again,
so they were listening.

Well I read a fair amount of the messages but not all - would you say that the
majority of posters were for the idea ?

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 10:30

Subject:

Re: Seriously?

Viewed:

73 times

Topic:

In my humble (and perhaps irrelevent and certainly considered irrelevant by some)
opinion there are so many things wrong with this merger.

- no consultation
- no debate or poll
- short notice of it happening
- when announced there was not a lot of certainty over what was happening and
when and how
- changes happening over a long period of time due to poor implementation. I
think if you aren't able to make the changes easily then perhaps there are
other more pressing issues to attend to
- i did laugh when I saw the post where AdminRussell said he needed a developer
to make some of the changes.
- having to make a change and then someone else go back and add notes after
meaning a loss of information (although temporary)
- it doesnt appear that there is any fix for the effects of the changes on the
price guide
- where there has been a reissue of say a minifig part, the old one is very
expensive and the new one is not, the price guide won't be helpful or "correct"
for either the new or old variant. How also if I want the old variant do I search
the long list of bits now and filter out the new ones ? I cant other than visually.
Not helpful at all - thanks

I think for these older versions of bits where there are reissues then this change
will actually drive people away from bricklink as they will look elsewhere first.

I am still having a think to come up with an example of having less information
makes us all richer but at least I am enjoying the extra challenge of listing
bits where links from external part identifiers are broken and also amending
my own inventory.

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 10:17

Subject:

Re: missing tile due to recent part merging ?

Viewed:

41 times

Topic:

In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:

In Catalog Identification, BrickCompulsion writes:

I have a red 2 x 2 tile - see photo

Now I can see

3068p18 Tile 2 x 2 with Wide Black Arrow Pattern
Parts: Tile, Decorated {Red}

but my arrow points right not left. Has this part been merged or deleted in the
recent catalogue upheaval?

Actually I believe your tile might be a variation of

3068pb0202 Tile 2 x 2 with White House Pattern
Parts: Tile, Decorated {Red}

Yours is the variant with no chimney and solid black fill.

David

I'll go have another look - you may be right ! Although is there a version
of the house where the lights are off ?

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 08:26

Subject:

Re: missing tile due to recent part merging ?

Viewed:

60 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

In Catalog Identification, SylvainLS writes:

In Catalog Identification, BrickCompulsion writes:

I have a red 2 x 2 tile - see photo

Now I can see

3068p18 Tile 2 x 2 with Wide Black Arrow Pattern
Parts: Tile, Decorated {Red}

but my arrow points right not left. Has this part been merged or deleted in the
recent catalogue upheaval?

Your collection is incomplete: there’s 4 variants!

Maybe an update to the catalogue is required !

Sorry - needed to make a little light of the current situation as there's
plenty of negativity and frustration (from here too

)

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 6, 2024 07:09

Subject:

missing tile due to recent part merging ?

Viewed:

144 times

Topic:

Catalog Identification

I have a red 2 x 2 tile - see photo

Now I can see

3068p18 Tile 2 x 2 with Wide Black Arrow Pattern
Parts: Tile, Decorated {Red}

but my arrow points right not left. Has this part been merged or deleted in the
recent catalogue upheaval?

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Mar 2, 2024 05:06

Subject:

sort the changes out please

Viewed:

101 times

Topic:

Status:

Open

HI Bricklink Team

Please can you either do the catalogue changes or not - I am listing a load of
printed tiles and some have the b and some don't. this is infuriating and
is meaning it is taking me longer to list than before.

I thought the changes were there to simplify matters. so far its the opposite
in every way plus we have a worse catalogue.

Also - and I fully admit I haven't been at my best the last few weeks due
to illness, but I thought we were getting an email with the parts in our inventory
it was affecting. Did I miss this ?

Cheers
Dave

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Feb 22, 2024 08:04

Subject:

Re: Counterfeit Stamps - UK users

Viewed:

76 times

Topic:

Shipping

My issue came when I bought postage in a post office and they supplied and applied
the (new style) stamp

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Feb 22, 2024 06:06

Subject:

Counterfeit Stamps - UK users

Viewed:

158 times

Topic:

Shipping

Good morning all

This post is for sellers using Royal Mail in the UK. I am looking for any sellers
that have had a £5 fee applied by Royal Mail with an explanation of counterfeit
stamps being used.

If this is anyone then please do get in touch with me as I may have an opportunity
to get your money back and help solve this issue !

Cheers

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Feb 8, 2024 03:43

Subject:

Re: Proposed Alternative to Catalog Consolidation

Viewed:

48 times

Topic:

Suggestions

Am I crazy, or is there room for compromise?

The size of the drop down menu for say 3068b would be enormous!

I’m really not in favour of the upcoming catalogue change and I think it will
be detrimental to bricklink

I still can’t see how it’s better where you have reissues and certain variants
that are very expensive. Plus how will you realise there are two different variants
without trawling through lots of listings. It’s just daft but I don’t know why
I’m bothering to type this as bricklink won’t listen and just carry on regardless

Thanks for the extra work I now have to do and for the extra questions that I
will need to answer that don’t currently need to ask
Also the extra work for me to list things…

Much appreciated!

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Jan 9, 2024 11:18

Subject:

Re: Important proposal regarding catalog variants

Viewed:

136 times

Topic:

If there is a new and old variant of a minifigure torso with a massive price
difference both listed under the same part number, surely this will have a detrimental
affect on the price guide ?

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Jan 6, 2024 02:13

Subject:

Re: Result !

Viewed:

51 times

Topic:

General

In General, ghyde writes:

In General, BrickCompulsion writes:

About 3-4 years ago I picked most of the set out of a load of loose stuff that
I bought. I am missing 2 pieces. Just found this so am only missing 1 !

This bit is not light bluish grey

This part only appears in quantity 1 in Light Gray in the following set:

10026-1 (Inv) Naboo Starfighter - UCS
187 Parts, 2002
Sets: Star Wars: Ultimate Collector Series: Star Wars Episode 1

Hope that helps!

Cheers ...

ghyde

I forgot to include the part ID, and it is this:

42021 Cockpit 8 x 6 x 2 Curved
Parts: Cockpit {Light Gray}

Cheers ...

ghyde

It sure does

been hunting for years for it haha- just missing one of the windscreen
bricks now. Hopefully it turns up as I work through the bulk

Author:

BrickCompulsion

Posted:

Jan 5, 2024 12:03

Subject:

Re: Thank You!

Viewed:

69 times

Topic:

Suggestions