This is a suggestion for how to handle complex alternate inventories. My proposal
is to implement a way to have multiple potential inventories for the same catalog
entry. While the current alternate system is fine for most sets, some have differences
too complex to be easily understood if that method is used.
One version has
-6X Dark Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-37X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-33X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-16X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-2X Light Bluish Gray 2730 Technic, Brick 1 x 10 with Holes
-2X White 4477 Plate 1 x 10
While an older version with slightly different construction has these parts instead
(not currently reflected in inventory... but if you look at pending changes you'll
see the requests):
-2X Dark Bluish Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-33X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-31X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-14X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-0 of the other two parts
I did submit an inventory request for these differences with several alternates
all with the same match number. But they've been pending so long the messages
have all been purged. I understand why, they would be pretty confusing if approved.
But there needs to be some way to keep track of this variation in sets. There
are other sets affected too, such as 6923-1, Particle Ionizer, and I'm sure others
as well.
If there could be multiple possible inventories for the same set number, there
could be a link near the top of the main inventory listing, something like "This
set has an alternate inventory. View it" with a link to the other. Then the
main catalog listing could also have a note with a short explanation of the difference.
If this is implemented it would solve the confusion problem with listing differences
as alternate individual items and also doesn't require a separate catalog entry.
There is already a way, it's called the super-match ID and it's only available
for the admins to use. It is a way of groups alternate parts together to show
that you should expect the entire group of alternates in the inventory, not just
one or 2 of them. If you look at the collectible minifig inventories, you'll
see what I mean. It puts an OR in the inventory.
Most inventories are very straight forward and only have one or two alternates,
for the very small proportion of the inventories that this would impact, I can't
see the effort needed to sort it out being worthwhile, when we could easily use
super-match id or discuss with the CAs about another set entry if there are differences
in the box picture/colour, year of release or other distinguishing factors.
Emma
Inv. Admin
In Suggestions, jason_the2nd writes:
This is a suggestion for how to handle complex alternate inventories. My proposal
is to implement a way to have multiple potential inventories for the same catalog
entry. While the current alternate system is fine for most sets, some have differences
too complex to be easily understood if that method is used.
One version has
-6X Dark Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-37X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-33X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-16X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-2X Light Bluish Gray 2730 Technic, Brick 1 x 10 with Holes
-2X White 4477 Plate 1 x 10
While an older version with slightly different construction has these parts instead
(not currently reflected in inventory... but if you look at pending changes you'll
see the requests):
-2X Dark Bluish Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-33X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-31X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-14X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-0 of the other two parts
I did submit an inventory request for these differences with several alternates
all with the same match number. But they've been pending so long the messages
have all been purged. I understand why, they would be pretty confusing if approved.
But there needs to be some way to keep track of this variation in sets. There
are other sets affected too, such as 6923-1, Particle Ionizer, and I'm sure others
as well.
If there could be multiple possible inventories for the same set number, there
could be a link near the top of the main inventory listing, something like "This
set has an alternate inventory. View it" with a link to the other. Then the
main catalog listing could also have a note with a short explanation of the difference.
If this is implemented it would solve the confusion problem with listing differences
as alternate individual items and also doesn't require a separate catalog entry.
How would that look in the case of the Star Destroyer though? Would there be
two complete inventory lists separated by the "Or" bar, or would only the differences
separated by the "Or"? The former seems like it would make a needlessly gigantic
page where the differences would be hard to spot and the latter doesn't seem
much different from the way it'd be if my pending changes were approved, aside
from the alternates not being in the alternate section.
In this set in particular as far as I know the only differences other than part
counts are the instructions. So I don't know if that is enough to warrant a
new catalog entry?
I have no clue what the back-end of BrickLink's database looks like, so I guess
I wouldn't know how hard this would be to implement. Regardless, this is still
an issue that needs to be addressed. This is one solution that I think would
be nice, clean, and easy to understand. If we can solve it without this sort
of implementation, then please lets have that discussion, changes on these couple
of sets have been pending for over 6 months.
In Suggestions, SimplyBricks writes:
There is already a way, it's called the super-match ID and it's only available
for the admins to use. It is a way of groups alternate parts together to show
that you should expect the entire group of alternates in the inventory, not just
one or 2 of them. If you look at the collectible minifig inventories, you'll
see what I mean. It puts an OR in the inventory.
Most inventories are very straight forward and only have one or two alternates,
for the very small proportion of the inventories that this would impact, I can't
see the effort needed to sort it out being worthwhile, when we could easily use
super-match id or discuss with the CAs about another set entry if there are differences
in the box picture/colour, year of release or other distinguishing factors.
Emma
Inv. Admin
In Suggestions, jason_the2nd writes:
This is a suggestion for how to handle complex alternate inventories. My proposal
is to implement a way to have multiple potential inventories for the same catalog
entry. While the current alternate system is fine for most sets, some have differences
too complex to be easily understood if that method is used.
One version has
-6X Dark Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-37X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-33X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-16X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-2X Light Bluish Gray 2730 Technic, Brick 1 x 10 with Holes
-2X White 4477 Plate 1 x 10
While an older version with slightly different construction has these parts instead
(not currently reflected in inventory... but if you look at pending changes you'll
see the requests):
-2X Dark Bluish Gray 2450 Wedge, Plate 3 x 3 Cut Corner
-33X Light Bluish Gray 4265c Technic Bush 1/2 Smooth
-31X Black 3705 Technic, Axle 4
-14X Black 48496 Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with 2 Pins
-0 of the other two parts
I did submit an inventory request for these differences with several alternates
all with the same match number. But they've been pending so long the messages
have all been purged. I understand why, they would be pretty confusing if approved.
But there needs to be some way to keep track of this variation in sets. There
are other sets affected too, such as 6923-1, Particle Ionizer, and I'm sure others
as well.
If there could be multiple possible inventories for the same set number, there
could be a link near the top of the main inventory listing, something like "This
set has an alternate inventory. View it" with a link to the other. Then the
main catalog listing could also have a note with a short explanation of the difference.
If this is implemented it would solve the confusion problem with listing differences
as alternate individual items and also doesn't require a separate catalog entry.
USA, Iowa
United Kingdom, England