In protest of 3830c01 being marked for deletion I am not going to sell either
3830 or 3831 on BrickLink.
I sell used bricks, nearly all of these come to me as a complete hinge, in order
to sell them I must either sell them as a pair or manually separate them and
then list them separately.
I still don't understand why they were marked for deletion. There only single
colors in the catalog, no crossed colors, no decorated items. Nothing but plain
single colors.
Especially when considering the reason why it has been marked:
"This item was marked for deletion because it sets a precedent for adding
dozens of unnecessary combinations of hinges as assemblies to the catalog."
Whereas it is impossible AFAIK to pick one color per sub-item (minifigs are defined
as "complete set", you can't pick one and choose other legs colour for instance).
In Catalog, Cob writes:
In protest of 3830c01 being marked for deletion I am not going to sell either
3830 or 3831 on BrickLink.
I sell used bricks, nearly all of these come to me as a complete hinge, in order
to sell them I must either sell them as a pair or manually separate them and
then list them separately.
I still don't understand why they were marked for deletion. There only single
colors in the catalog, no crossed colors, no decorated items. Nothing but plain
single colors.
Especially when considering the reason why it has been marked:
"This item was marked for deletion because it sets a precedent for adding
dozens of unnecessary combinations of hinges as assemblies to the catalog."
Whereas it is impossible AFAIK to pick one color per sub-item (minifigs are defined
as "complete set", you can't pick one and choose other legs colour for instance).
In Catalog, Cob writes:
In protest of 3830c01 being marked for deletion I am not going to sell either
3830 or 3831 on BrickLink.
I sell used bricks, nearly all of these come to me as a complete hinge, in order
to sell them I must either sell them as a pair or manually separate them and
then list them separately.
I still don't understand why they were marked for deletion. There only single
colors in the catalog, no crossed colors, no decorated items. Nothing but plain
single colors.
I will sell them on other well known sites.
Cob
Not saying it should be deleted, but that reason is valid. There are plenty
of sets where the two parts have different colours. Why would those combinations
not be available to buy?
That decision goes directly AGAINST the catalog policy, so I deem those entries
to be stupid and unnecessary.
I believe keeping the 3830c01 single color combos is the right thing to do.
I dislike when admins forget that this is a COMMERCE website first and foremost
and does not exist to maintain a "pure" catalog.
3830c01 has been bought and sold THOUSANDS of times over the past 18 years and
it is clearly the preferred form for both buying and selling.
That decision goes directly AGAINST the catalog policy, so I deem those entries
to be stupid and unnecessary.
I believe keeping the 3830c01 single color combos is the right thing to do.
I dislike when admins forget that this is a COMMERCE website first and foremost
and does not exist to maintain a "pure" catalog.
3830c01 has been bought and sold THOUSANDS of times over the past 18 years and
it is clearly the preferred form for both buying and selling.
The decision to get rid of the brick hinge and add plate hinge had NOTHING to
do with any kind of purist notion. Rather, it was a decision based solely on
commercial concerns.
When a large portion of sellers list things as an assembly instead of the individual
parts, the listings are effectively split, meaning that for the part in question,
BrickLink's listing strength is diminished. What starts out as a well-meaning
idea based on someone's personal listing preferences then works its way through
the system as an ineffeciency, leading to more complicated wanted list assembly
and maintenance and a lot of missed hits from things like Easy Buy and traffic
that comes to us via Brickset and the Lego replacements parts website.
For that reason, we do not want assemblies in the catalog that have no good rationale
for their existence. The plate assemblies are very useful for sellers of used
parts because they don't have to pull the assemblies apart to list them.
The plate hinges break frequently when they are older.
The brick hinge, to my knowledge, does not break when disassembled. Neither is
it part of a larger class of items that can as a whole be treated as an assembly
- such as wheels and tires.
And lest people forget, this brick hinge assembly was completely removed from
inventories many years ago by Dan himself in what I believe to be was the first
step in decommissioning the entry altogether.
Regarding the idea that we could use the assembly *instead* of the individual
parts as the entry of choice on the site - this is kind of thinking that produced
this entry:
*
8c01 (Inv) Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Wheel Holder Bottom with Red Wheel with Black Tire 14mm D. x 4mm Smooth Small Single (8 / 3464c01) Parts: Aircraft
It's just easier and simpler for everyone to use the assembly, and little
by little the assemblies are taking precedence over the individual parts in both
listings and sales.
But the reason we can't do that with the hinge brick is because Lego does
not issue the part as an assembly. They never have and likely never will. This
places a constraint on us, because we want to line up our catalog as much as
possible with the way bricks are treated by them. That way there is a smooth
pipeline through the supply chain. This is the same reason we started using multipacks:
*
93081 (Inv) Friends Accessories, Flowers and Insects, 20 in Bag (Multipack) Parts: Friends
In protest of 3830c01 being marked for deletion I am not going to sell either
3830 or 3831 on BrickLink.
I sell used bricks, nearly all of these come to me as a complete hinge, in order
to sell them I must either sell them as a pair or manually separate them and
then list them separately.
I still don't understand why they were marked for deletion. There only single
colors in the catalog, no crossed colors, no decorated items. Nothing but plain
single colors.
I will sell them on other well known sites.
Cob
While this piece is being discussed, I have always found the name odd. It only
looks like a 1x4 hinge brick when it is paired together. Therefore if it is not
paired, then the parts are not a 1x4 brick. They look like 1x2 bricks with a
bit of modification.
LEGO refers to the individual pieces as a "hinge 1x2 upper part" or "lower part".
Which makes more sense when you are searching for it.
And in terms of setting a precedent:
*
3937c01 (Inv) Hinge Brick 1 x 2 with (Same Color) Top Plate (3937 / 3938) Parts: Hinge
In protest of 3830c01 being marked for deletion I am not going to sell either
3830 or 3831 on BrickLink.
I sell used bricks, nearly all of these come to me as a complete hinge, in order
to sell them I must either sell them as a pair or manually separate them and
then list them separately.
I still don't understand why they were marked for deletion. There only single
colors in the catalog, no crossed colors, no decorated items. Nothing but plain
single colors.
I will sell them on other well known sites.
Cob
While this piece is being discussed, I have always found the name odd. It only
looks like a 1x4 hinge brick when it is paired together. Therefore if it is not
paired, then the parts are not a 1x4 brick. They look like 1x2 bricks with a
bit of modification.
LEGO refers to the individual pieces as a "hinge 1x2 upper part" or "lower part".
Which makes more sense when you are searching for it.
And in terms of setting a precedent:
*
3937c01 (Inv) Hinge Brick 1 x 2 with (Same Color) Top Plate (3937 / 3938) Parts: Hinge
3937c15 (Inv) Hinge Brick 1 x 2 with Yellow Top Plate (3937 / 3938) Parts: Hinge
I believe they have all those colored listings simple because of the difficulty
of taking those two pieces apart. I have broken several trying to do so. With
the 1x4 hinge brick, the pieces can come apart easily. I do not see the Cob's
problem at all. You make more money off of the two pieces if you sell them separately
than together. And it's only one listing more; not like it's a five piece
assembly you now have to disassemble. It's only two pieces.
USA, Missouri
France, Île-de-France
United Kingdom, England
