|
 |
| | | Author: | StormChaser  | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 08:50 | | Subject: | Wheels | | Viewed: | 241 times | | Topic: | Catalog | | Status: | Open | |
|
| I have all the LEGO wheels (in all the colors) from the 1970s to now. Two months
ago, on October 4th, I offered to help organize the wheels section of the BL
catalog (because it's currently a genuine mess).
I sent that offer of assistance to the catalog team, which apparently consists
of the two volunteer administrators and five BrickLink employees.
My offer was completely ignored by the catalog team. I think it was fair to
give them two months before expressing my discontent publicly. BrickLink members,
and especially members willing to contribute, should be treated better than this.
Dismiss, patronize, and ignore is not an effective customer service strategy.
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | WoutR | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 09:06 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I have all the LEGO wheels (in all the colors) from the 1970s to now. Two months
ago, on October 4th, I offered to help organize the wheels section of the BL
catalog (because it's currently a genuine mess).
I sent that offer of assistance to the catalog team, which apparently consists
of the two volunteer administrators and five BrickLink employees.
My offer was completely ignored by the catalog team. I think it was fair to
give them two months before expressing my discontent publicly. BrickLink members,
and especially members willing to contribute, should be treated better than this.
Dismiss, patronize, and ignore is not an effective customer service strategy.
|
The photos of your collection on display were amazing. It's a treasure!
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 10:37 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 83 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| | (Cancelled) |
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | marlinjc | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 10:38 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| Is your wheel section available on line anywhere? Sounds very useful.
In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I have all the LEGO wheels (in all the colors) from the 1970s to now. Two months
ago, on October 4th, I offered to help organize the wheels section of the BL
catalog (because it's currently a genuine mess).
I sent that offer of assistance to the catalog team, which apparently consists
of the two volunteer administrators and five BrickLink employees.
My offer was completely ignored by the catalog team. I think it was fair to
give them two months before expressing my discontent publicly. BrickLink members,
and especially members willing to contribute, should be treated better than this.
Dismiss, patronize, and ignore is not an effective customer service strategy.
|
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | LordSkylark | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 10:41 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I have all the LEGO wheels (in all the colors) from the 1970s to now. Two months
ago, on October 4th, I offered to help organize the wheels section of the BL
|
This is not a negative comment by any means, just curious.
Is your collection limited to retail colors, or did you track down all known
prototype/unreleased colors too?
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | StormChaser | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 11:20 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 68 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, WoutR writes:
| | The photos of your collection on display were amazing. It's a treasure!
|
Thank you! It was a lot of work to put together!
_______________________________________________
In Catalog, popsicle writes:
| | How were you in this regard when you served as Catalog Administrator, Robert?
I remember you being very attentive with those that showed-up here in the forum
with catalog questions/concerns, but privately? Sincere question
|
I was not perfect, but I could count on one hand the number of times I regretted
my behavior toward members. And I absolutely tried to engage with everyone,
even if the answer was "no." Still, my past performance in this role is not
relevant to the website's current customer service experience.
________________________________________________
In Catalog, marlinjc writes:
| | Is your wheel section available on line anywhere? Sounds very useful.
|
Unfortunately, it's not available online. And it is quite useful, but more
from the perspective of being able to physically handle the wheels and compare
them. I did post pictures here:
https://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=1367692
_______________________________________________
In Catalog, LordSkylark writes:
| | Is your collection limited to retail colors, or did you track down all known
prototype/unreleased colors too?
|
I have about 30 unreleased colors. I put them in their own section on the boards.
I'm sure I didn't track down all of the colors, since it would be impossible
to know what all of them are. I also have variants, including some about which
BrickLink is unaware.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 11:46 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| | | I also have variants, including some about which BrickLink is unaware.
|
Those sound like lots of fun!
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | popsicle | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 11:50 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| | (Cancelled) |
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | Admin_Russell | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 12:31 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 98 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
|
BrickLink
ID CardAdmin_Russell
|
Location:  USA, California |
| Member Since |
Contact |
Type |
Status |
| May 9, 2017 |
 |
Admin |
|
|
| BrickLink Administrator |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | I have all the LEGO wheels (in all the colors) from the 1970s to now. Two months
ago, on October 4th, I offered to help organize the wheels section of the BL
catalog (because it's currently a genuine mess).
I sent that offer of assistance to the catalog team, which apparently consists
of the two volunteer administrators and five BrickLink employees.
My offer was completely ignored by the catalog team. I think it was fair to
give them two months before expressing my discontent publicly. BrickLink members,
and especially members willing to contribute, should be treated better than this.
|
We did receive your message and we talked about it. My apologies that no one
got back to you, but we didn't really finish the discussion.
As many fans know, the LEGO Group is the largest producer of tires in the world,
and it's something we are all proud of. Those who use the catalog know that
these types of parts are often confused for one another, and there have been
some great efforts made in the past to help users navigate through the wide selection
available on Bricklink - a double-sided sheet prepared by Jennnifer comes to
mind.
So we do think the project is important and we want it to happen. However, it
would be best to split it into manageable sections. First, we recommend starting
with these:
1) Incorrect or missing weights and packing dimensions.
2) Better photos, especially for assemblies that currently do not have an image.
A lot of the inconsistencies you mentioned involve the item name. As you know,
we have a project with tags coming soon, and ideally many of the keywords in
the item name will becomes tags and be removed. So eventually we want to have
all the descriptors available somewhere in a searcheable field.
If you would like to take a stab at making some rules for the item name, please
go ahead. It is likely that no one has ever thought through the issue with these
particular parts very deeply, and we might find some easy fixes that everyone
can agree on. And by everyone, I am including the Forum crowd here.
I'll send you a private message later on when I've had a chance to read
your proposal in more detail.
And welcome back to the Forum. 
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 12:36 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, Admin_Russell writes:
[...]
| | A lot of the inconsistencies you mentioned involve the item name. As you know,
we have a project with tags coming soon, and ideally many of the keywords in
the item name will becomes tags and be removed. So eventually we want to have
all the descriptors available somewhere in a searcheable field.
|
[...]
Please don't remove these keywords from the item names, at least not without
considering the implications outside the primary Bricklink user interface.
Most importantly: the Bricklink item names with all those keywords are used in
Studio as well.
And just searching through my own collection in Excel - by means of the downloaded
Bricklink catalogue and Bricklink orders - would be a pain without having those
keywords as part of the item names.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 14:00 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 53 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, hpoort writes:
| | […]
Please don't remove these keywords from the item names, at least not without
considering the implications outside the primary Bricklink user interface.
Most importantly: the Bricklink item names with all those keywords are used in
Studio as well.
And just searching through my own collection in Excel - by means of the downloaded
Bricklink catalogue and Bricklink orders - would be a pain without having those
keywords as part of the item names.
|
Well, it’s indeed to be hoped that:
— there’ll be a “tags” column (/element) in the downloads,
— Studio will know to search the tags (and maybe have a special UI… hmm, maybe
I should ask the devs (multi-pronged attack  )).
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | crazylegoman | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 13:19 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| As someone who doesn't buy many wheels at all, what is it that makes the
Wheels category "currently a genuine mess"?
David
|
|
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Author: | StormChaser | | Posted: | Dec 3, 2022 15:51 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 73 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:
| | As someone who doesn't buy many wheels at all, what is it that makes the
Wheels category "currently a genuine mess"?
|
Fair question.
The primary issue is titles. The default sorting is by title and at least 11
different methods of titling are used, causing wheels to be sorted in non-intuitive
ways. Here are those titling methods:
Actual physical size:
Theme:
Physical characteristic:
Use:
Generic physical size ("small"):
* | | 41865 Wheel Small Wide Hard Plastic Slick, Hole Notched for Wheels Holder Pin
Parts: Wheel |
Set name:
The word "with":
TLG "size:"
And then those where "Wheel" is not the first word in the title:
Former BrickLink category name:
Theme:
Use:
For a category with only 212 items, those are a significant amount of different
methods of titling. And then you have multiple instances where similar items
are titled differently (also, the comma in the second example causes items to
sort to the bottom of the list):
* | | wheel4 Train Wheel Spoked Large (29mm D.) with FreeStyle Pin Hole
Parts: Wheel |
In addition, the small and large identifiers are unhelpful. There are 29 train
wheels in the catalog. The words small and large clarify nothing.
Additionally, there are a few instances of wheels being not categorized as wheels
or non-wheels being categorized as wheels. There are missing item relationships
and additional notes. Variants are not known in some cases. Pictures are sometimes
poor quality and sizes are missing. Those are the reasons I called things a
mess - because the current state of things resembles an amateur effort rather
than a planned, professional cataloging system.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Author: | crazylegoman | | Posted: | Dec 4, 2022 10:15 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 41 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
StormChaser, that is the most complete and thorough answer to my question that
I could have hoped for. From all the examples you gave of different naming methods,
would the first one you mentioned (above) be the best one to use as a standard
for the rest of the category?
Overall, it appears that the Wheels category has become messy name-wise due to
a Too-Many-Cooks-Spoil-the-Broth situation. Over the years several different
people, all of whom had good intentions, submitted the parts, and there was no
naming standard, so now it is just as you said—a mess.
David
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | StormChaser | | Posted: | Dec 4, 2022 13:36 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:
| | StormChaser, that is the most complete and thorough answer to my question that
I could have hoped for. From all the examples you gave of different naming methods,
would the first one you mentioned (above) be the best one to use as a standard
for the rest of the category?
|
Thanks! To answer your question, I'm not sure yet. I think it would be
nice to keep certain wheels grouped together. A straightforward [Wheel] + [Size]
titling system would lose those groupings. See below for an example of wheels
grouped with the word "Wagon:"
Right now I'm thinking [Wheel] + [Category] + [Size] might be best.
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | jennnifer | | Posted: | Dec 4, 2022 13:42 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 43 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:
| | StormChaser, that is the most complete and thorough answer to my question that
I could have hoped for. From all the examples you gave of different naming methods,
would the first one you mentioned (above) be the best one to use as a standard
for the rest of the category?
|
Thanks! To answer your question, I'm not sure yet. I think it would be
nice to keep certain wheels grouped together. A straightforward [Wheel] + [Size]
titling system would lose those groupings. See below for an example of wheels
grouped with the word "Wagon:"
Right now I'm thinking [Wheel] + [Category] + [Size] might be best.
|
I do like the idea of keeping similar items grouped together this way. Good luck
with this project! Let me know if there is anything I can help with.
Jen
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | crazylegoman | | Posted: | Dec 4, 2022 16:39 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, crazylegoman writes:
| | StormChaser, that is the most complete and thorough answer to my question that
I could have hoped for. From all the examples you gave of different naming methods,
would the first one you mentioned (above) be the best one to use as a standard
for the rest of the category?
|
Thanks! To answer your question, I'm not sure yet. I think it would be
nice to keep certain wheels grouped together. A straightforward [Wheel] + [Size]
titling system would lose those groupings. See below for an example of wheels
grouped with the word "Wagon:"
Right now I'm thinking [Wheel] + [Category] + [Size] might be best.
|
That does make sense to keep those keywords in the same section of the part's
name so that parts like the wagon wheels end up near each other in search results.
I agree that the size being the last part makes sense too.
David
|
|
|
| | | | | |
| | | | | Author: | StormChaser | | Posted: | Dec 8, 2022 22:07 | | Subject: | Re: Wheels | | Viewed: | 48 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| I've submitted requests for all the wheels. I was missing five new wheels
that came out after I completed my collection in the spring, but I'll see
if I can pick them up soon.
I narrowed themes down to these four generalized categories:
1. Castle
2. Technic
3. Town
4. Space
Themes were based on my own whim to some degree, so these changes may be controversial.
But surely they would be better than what we have now.
To whomever are the catalog decision-makers on this website: I'm available
to answer questions, re-measure, discuss, or anything else you require to make
some progress in this area.
|
|
|
|
|
Netherlands, Zuid-Holland
Canada, Ontario
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
