CUUSOO Index?

[CMP]

With the latest frontpage announcement being marshall_banana's Western town (go check up and vote for it if you haven't) and numerous other fantastic MOCs being put up on CUUSOO, I was thinking perhaps there should be a topic that, rather than discussing it, is primarily devoted to posting a picture of the MOC, and a link to the CUUSOO page? It'd keep things organized and keep you from searching through forums or the pages of the topic to find them. In short, a bit like the CMFTP.

Thoughts?

[Bonaparte]

We already have MOC indexes and people can look on CUUSOO to find out what's there. Not sure why we need an index (which is taking a good deal of effort to maintain).

[CMP]

Well, the people who have their creations on CUUSOO could post it. The maintenance wouldn't be too bad, I don't think, if that was the case. But you do have a point about simply looking on CUUSOO.

[Fallenangel]

On a related note, lately there seem to be members joining primarily to promote their CUUSOO projects. Is there a policy on this?

[Yatkuu]

Well, I think there is something that could be done around this idea. I believe we will all agree that the CUUSOO site is not optimal when it comes down to browsing for projects, maybe it’ll improve once it’s no longer in Beta but in the meantime it’s a bit of a mess. Opening a thread on EB or any other Forum to have people indexing their projects would probably be just as bad – it would quickly become impossible to manage and nobody would go there.

What we need is some kind of screening system where certain people would select a bunch of projects that they think are worth of being supported – I know this may sound harsh or unfair but there is no way every idea on the site could be promoted so there has to be some kind of selection at some point.

I realize it could be a lot of work for the people responsible for it but it is IMO the only way to do this.

Here are some ideas on how to implement it:

• Build a jury: ask for volunteers amongst the most seniors members of the boards and select perhaps a couple of lesser senior members but people who distinguished themselves in recent contests or events. 10 people would probably be a fair amount of people to get diverse opinions.
  
• Start by selecting the projects on CUUSOO that already have a certain amount of supporters (again this may sound harsh but you have got to start somewhere and nobody is going to do the work for you, you have to fight to get your project promoted in the first place)
  
• agree upon pre-defined eligibility criterias, idea / building techniques / set feasibility…
  
• discussions amongst the jury members could be done in a dedicated private forum on EB just like the reviewer academy, the projects that get picked would then be added to a locked thread that would be pinned in the forums.
  

[Bonaparte]

On a related note, lately there seem to be members joining primarily to promote their CUUSOO projects. Is there a policy on this?

This is being discussed by the staff but here's my view:

When someone posts a MOC on Eurobricks we are OK if there's one line included in the topic with a link to the project on CUUSOO. This way our members know where to find the project on CUUSOO and can place a vote if they like. But the prime focus of the EB topic should be discussing the MOC and not gathering CUUSOO votes! If we feel people are abusing Eurobricks for getting CUUSOO votes the staff will take action.

Exceptions may be allowed after per-agreement with the staff on individual basis.

The immediate danger I want to address is people starting to 'spam' our forums with "support this on CUUSOO" threads.

Well, I think there is something that could be done around this idea. I believe we will all agree that the CUUSOO site is not optimal when it comes down to browsing for projects, maybe it’ll improve once it’s no longer in Beta but in the meantime it’s a bit of a mess. Opening a thread on EB or any other Forum to have people indexing their projects would probably be just as bad – it would quickly become impossible to manage and nobody would go there.

What we need is some kind of screening system where certain people would select a bunch of projects that they think are worth of being supported – I know this may sound harsh or unfair but there is no way every idea on the site could be promoted so there has to be some kind of selection at some point.

I realize it could be a lot of work for the people responsible for it but it is IMO the only way to do this.

Here are some ideas on how to implement it:

• Build a jury: ask for volunteers amongst the most seniors members of the boards and select perhaps a couple of lesser senior members but people who distinguished themselves in recent contests or events. 10 people would probably be a fair amount of people to get diverse opinions.
  
• Start by selecting the projects on CUUSOO that already have a certain amount of supporters (again this may sound harsh but you have got to start somewhere and nobody is going to do the work for you, you have to fight to get your project promoted in the first place)
  
• agree upon pre-defined eligibility criterias, idea / building techniques / set feasibility…
  
• discussions amongst the jury members could be done in a dedicated private forum on EB just like the reviewer academy, the projects that get picked would then be added to a locked thread that would be pinned in the forums.
  

I don't have a final response, but right now the staff is having some discussion concerning CUUSOO. At this moment we don't have any plans related with CUUSOO or plan any special projects (indexes, etc.) around CUUSOO. It's still a rather new 'phenomenon' and I'd like to see how it will look once the initial dusts drops down.

[caperberry]

I can see value in an index if, like the current CUUSOO FB posts, they are dealt with by category since the site doesn't offer this functionality. In particular, I think it would be great if the online community got behind the new piece designs on CUUSOO. We've all had that moment of thinking 'I wish LEGO made a ......... piece" and I'll be interested to see how it all unravels on CUUSOO. Here comes the rant:

[edit: rant cut and pasted into the CUUSOO topic under Ambassadors]

Edited March 1, 2012 by caperberry

[Spaceman8811]

This is being discussed by the staff but here's my view:

When someone posts a MOC on Eurobricks we are OK if there's one line included in the topic with a link to the project on CUUSOO. This way our members know where to find the project on CUUSOO and can place a vote if they like. But the prime focus of the EB topic should be discussing the MOC and not gathering CUUSOO votes! If we feel people are abusing Eurobricks for getting CUUSOO votes the staff will take action.

Exceptions may be allowed after per-agreement with the staff on individual basis.

The immediate danger I want to address is people starting to 'spam' our forums with "support this on CUUSOO" threads.

I don't have a final response, but right now the staff is having some discussion concerning CUUSOO. At this moment we don't have any plans related with CUUSOO or plan any special projects (indexes, etc.) around CUUSOO. It's still a rather new 'phenomenon' and I'd like to see how it will look once the initial dusts drops down.

That definitely sounds reasonable. I currently have a MOC up on Cuusoo and am trying to get the word out. While I really want to share my project with everyone, I did stumble on this site while looking to get the project noticed. However, I am enjoying being a member of the site. I think allowing CUUSOO members to at least post their project is a great way to get new members interested in the online LEGO communities. It has certainly worked for me!

[Riley103]

Well, I think there is something that could be done around this idea. I believe we will all agree that the CUUSOO site is not optimal when it comes down to browsing for projects, maybe it’ll improve once it’s no longer in Beta but in the meantime it’s a bit of a mess. Opening a thread on EB or any other Forum to have people indexing their projects would probably be just as bad – it would quickly become impossible to manage and nobody would go there.

What we need is some kind of screening system where certain people would select a bunch of projects that they think are worth of being supported – I know this may sound harsh or unfair but there is no way every idea on the site could be promoted so there has to be some kind of selection at some point.

I realize it could be a lot of work for the people responsible for it but it is IMO the only way to do this.

Here are some ideas on how to implement it:

• Build a jury: ask for volunteers amongst the most seniors members of the boards and select perhaps a couple of lesser senior members but people who distinguished themselves in recent contests or events. 10 people would probably be a fair amount of people to get diverse opinions.
  
• Start by selecting the projects on CUUSOO that already have a certain amount of supporters (again this may sound harsh but you have got to start somewhere and nobody is going to do the work for you, you have to fight to get your project promoted in the first place)
  
• agree upon pre-defined eligibility criterias, idea / building techniques / set feasibility…
  
• discussions amongst the jury members could be done in a dedicated private forum on EB just like the reviewer academy, the projects that get picked would then be added to a locked thread that would be pinned in the forums.
  

I also think so.