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 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Sep 13, 2019 14:33
 Subject: Re: We have a new Catalog Associate!
 Viewed: 99 times
 Topic: Catalog
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In Catalog, jennnifer writes:
  In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:
  
...you will notice a sea of green, followed by a sea of blue, followed by another
sea of green. This means he continued to contribute to the catalog after having
once been an admin, which is (unfortunately) something rather uncommon. But it
demonstrates a great and correct attitude, the kind of attitude we wish to model
for all of our other contributors out there, especially the ones still cutting
their teeth.


Sorry, but I must say that I take offense at this statement. You are passing
judgement on the previous admins and their reasons for leaving the site. You
are implying that the 'correct' attitude would be to maintain one's
dedication to a site even after you may have had a bad experience.
You don't know how they were treated by the management and members of this
site.

Jen

This thread was supposed to be a joyful welcome for a new team member. I'm
sorry if it was offensive to anyone and I don't want to argue a point.

I will leave this thread as it is for now. But if people keep commenting on this
issue, I will be forced to lock it.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Sep 13, 2019 01:14
 Subject: We have a new Catalog Associate!
 Viewed: 338 times
 Topic: Catalog
 Status:Open
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Hello everyone,

I'm very pleased to announce that we have appointed longtime member BricksThatStick
to the Catalog Associate position. Paul served as the site's 4th Inventories
Admin during 2010 to 2011 alongside Emma (SimplyBricks). He effectively replaced
Dan Jezek, the site's founder, who had a special fondness for inventories
work and who of course left very big shoes to fill.

If you take the time to scroll through Paul's 900+ inventories changes:

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogInvChangeItem.asp?chgUserID=44744&v=3

...you will notice a sea of green, followed by a sea of blue, followed by another
sea of green. This means he continued to contribute to the catalog after having
once been an admin, which is (unfortunately) something rather uncommon. But it
demonstrates a great and correct attitude, the kind of attitude we wish to model
for all of our other contributors out there, especially the ones still cutting
their teeth.

Paul has, over the years, been very active as a seller and many of you will know
him also from his activity in the Forum. We look forward to his practical insights
and we are confident he will play a vital role in our growing catalog team.

Please welcome him back!

Russell
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Sep 11, 2019 13:42
 Subject: Re: New Relationship - Items Reference Each Other
 Viewed: 70 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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In Suggestions, hpoort writes:
  Nice idea.

Another examples:
 
Part No: 26603pb001  Name: Tile 2 x 3 with Cafe Corner LEGO Set Box '16+' '10182' and 'HOTEL' Pattern
* 
26603pb001 Tile 2 x 3 with Cafe Corner LEGO Set Box '16+' '10182' and 'HOTEL' Pattern
Parts: Tile, Decorated
and
 
Set No: 10182  Name: Café Corner {Cafe}
* 
10182-1 (Inv) Café Corner {Cafe}
2044 Parts, 3 Minifigures, 2007
Sets: Creator: Creator Expert: Modular Buildings Collection
There should be more of those pattern-set or pattern-minifig relations.

Hans-Peter

I have a Bricklist with a lot of those on it:

https://brickset.com/sets/list-21040

It needs some work, but I think most of the examples are covered.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Aug 23, 2019 13:59
 Subject: Re: Email vs Message systems
 Viewed: 76 times
 Topic: Suggestions
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We encourage people to use the onsite messaging system when discussing order-related
things, because it is something we can see on our end if there is a dispute.
I know it's a pain to not be able to send attachments, but for us it's
better than having everything done offsite.

In Suggestions, Gaston.La.Brick writes:
  When a buyer contacts me, using the contact form on BL, I get an email from BL
with the message. However, replying to that email just results in a bounced email.
I am forced to go into BL message center and copy/paste my text. Even worse when
I need to reply with an attachment (like a photo of a brick): not an option.
This all ends up in two // streams of communication: some messages are sent using
BL, others over direct email.

I'm forced to use a communication medium (BL) that is not adequate. Until
it's adequate, I would suggest to remove the "Messaging" feature all together.
Until BL can offer a mature messaging feature that makes direct email obsolete,
I would suggest to remove the Message feature (and point the users to direct
email contact). Now it's just a very confusing and annoying mix of communication
channels.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Aug 20, 2019 13:10
 Subject: Re: Cardboard sleeves in inventories
 Viewed: 62 times
 Topic: Inventories
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In Inventories, Proprietor writes:
  In Inventories, Admin_Russell writes:
snip
  Because our partout system is not yet capable of handling subparts, we're
probably not going to be able to add these sleeves to the regular section of
inventories. Maybe if we change the image and description we can do it, but right
now sellers will end up listing things in their store that buyers cannot identify.

Please have patience as we make some adjustments.

And yet, inventories are being changed, and the sleeve is being added as a regular
item and its component parts deleted:

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogInvChangeItem.asp?itemType=S&itemNo=10220-1&viewDate=Y&viewStatus=1

Yes, there were a number of them done this way yesterday, but we'll probably
need to make an adjustment.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Aug 20, 2019 12:37
 Subject: Re: Cardboard sleeves in inventories
 Viewed: 67 times
 Topic: Inventories
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In Inventories, hpoort writes:
  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.

This would fall under what is currently described as the counterpart section.
  
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: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Aug 20, 2019 12:18
 Subject: Re: Cardboard sleeves in inventories
 Viewed: 87 times
 Topic: Inventories
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In Inventories, Turez writes:
  Hi everyone,

is that really necessary? With these cardboard sleeves in inventories it is no
longer possible to see the complete part list at once. You always have to open
an extra inventory to look up what is inside the cardboard sleeve (or sometimes
even two or more extra inventories). Not very user-friendly, imho...

I also don't see a technical reason why cardboard sleeves should be part
of an inventory. They are not listed in official part lists and if they contain
more than one part, adding them will bring the piece count down.

Examples:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=60052-1
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=10220-1
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=41381-1

New guideline: https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=1562#regularItems

Regards,
Jonas

Folks, if anything is going to improve in the catalog, we need to give some freedom
and grace to our admins so they can try things out. I can understand if people
get frustrated when they find something has changed and it no longer works for
them, but please understand that we have the long-term interests of the site
in mind, and also that we can adjust and/or reverse any decision that is made.

Regarding these sleeves, we have needed to add them to the catalog for quite
a while now, because of the need to search by the number printed on the sleeve.
Strictly speaking, this is not a PCC, but it's still a number people can
use for reference. Specifically, we want to give the ability to sellers to sell
the parts in the sleeves without having to open the sleeves. The only way they
can do this is to have a reference database showing the contents of every sleeve.

Because our partout system is not yet capable of handling subparts, we're
probably not going to be able to add these sleeves to the regular section of
inventories. Maybe if we change the image and description we can do it, but right
now sellers will end up listing things in their store that buyers cannot identify.

Please have patience as we make some adjustments.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Aug 13, 2019 13:38
 Subject: Re: Why can't I enlarge pics anymore?
 Viewed: 99 times
 Topic: Catalog
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In Catalog, firestar246 writes:
  So you used to be able to click on the picture of a piece in the catalog, sort
of a quick view. You'd see the years it was made, any sets/minifigures the
piece was in, etc. You all know what I'm talking about. Well, a few days
ago I couldn't do it anymore. I've tried three different devices.

Why would they make such a horrible change for? I rely on that heavily when listing
minifigure parts to make sure I have the correct listing. This is going to make
this job twice as long now.

Should be fixed now.
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Jul 29, 2019 11:44
 Subject: Re: Pattern spelt wrong
 Viewed: 56 times
 Topic: Catalog
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In Catalog, talltim writes:
  https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=35787pb003 has pattern
spelt as patern in name

Tim

Thanks. In the future, just use this form:

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogReq.asp?itemType=P
 Author: Admin_Russell View Messages Posted By Admin_Russell
 Posted: Jul 6, 2019 12:53
 Subject: Re: Stickered Assembly numbering BA77pb01
 Viewed: 47 times
 Topic: Catalog
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In Catalog Requests, samsam2 writes:
  Not sure if sequence number for multiple stickered assembly parts from same set
should increment the 'pb01' to 'pb02' rather than from BA76pb01
to BA77pb01. The part I'm questioning is [p=BA77pb01] and if it should actually
become [p=BA76pb02]

Only if the brick configuration is exactly the same. In fact, the numbering has
nothing to do with which set it came from. If the brick configuration is the
same as an entry already in the catalog, use that entry's number and increment
the pbxx value by one.

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