Vader

Brickshelf up, down..who knows!

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I think the BS people might be starting to get things under control. Today, all my images disappeared, but now they're back, and if you go to BS, it shows a different kind of error message. Not sure if it means anything, but it's giving me hope that BS isn't completely lost.

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I keep copies of anything I upload on the internet and have plenty of space for images on my ISP account, but Brickshelf's main attraction is the exposure your pictures get. I'm not sure if Flickr or MOCpages compare to it in that respect.

I didn't realize Brickfactory (the hccamsterdam site) was down too. Does anyone know how long it has been? That site had more instructions and catalogs than Peeron.

Sorry guys but whatever you say will not change the fact that Flickr is not free. You can only store 200 images and this is ridiculous. You can only have 3 folders with it and that's even more ridicilous. It makes browsing a boring experience without folders. Not many people will want to pay for it. In Brickshelf you only need to click recent images to follow new MOCs but with Flickr you have to locate tens of LEGO related groups to find new MOCs. People will post in one group and not one other. It provides more challenges than the service it promises.

I never understood why people like it either. The free accounts are very limited and the interface is also lousy. The standard view shows pictures at too small a size and you can only see a few other thumbnails at once, while the flash-based slideshow mode is sluggish and unresponsive due to the animated transitions.

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Brickfactory will be back. They said they are moving to a new host due to icnreasing traffic. It's been a couple of weeks.. We never heard from them again though?

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I didn't realize Brickfactory (the hccamsterdam site) was down too. Does anyone know how long it has been? That site had more instructions and catalogs than Peeron.

The site - temporarily - can be reached at the following IP: http://83.163.163.126/

(source: Gerjan Lips @ LowLUG forum)

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Sorry guys but whatever you say will not change the fact that Flickr ... doesn't help us with our needs.

100% agree. Which is why after 2 days of getting to know flickr in detail, I've deleted my account. I still have faith in Brickshelf.

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Sorry guys but whatever you say will not change the fact that Flickr is not free. You can only store 200 images and this is ridiculous. You can only have 3 folders with it and that's even more ridicilous. It makes browsing a boring experience without folders. Not many people will want to pay for it. In Brickshelf you only need to click recent images to follow new MOCs but with Flickr you have to locate tens of LEGO related groups to find new MOCs. People will post in one group and not one other. It provides more challenges than the service it promises.

I have been using it for a long time and I have multiple accounts with different topics and it has served me very well for my other needs. But for LEGO it definetely is not a good alternative to Brickshelf. MOC images require folders and lots of images and Flickr don't provide those with a free membership. That's pretty much the end of it. I see that Flickr is very "in" lately and people like to follow crowds without putting much thought on it. Unfortunately it doesn't help us with our needs.

Clearly you don't like Flickr and nothing I'm going to say will be likely to change that, but I really don't understand your reasons given here. Flickr is free up to the 200 image limit, beyond that you pay for the extra space and features. That's quite different from asserting as a 'fact' that Flickr is not free. I have no idea what you're referring to with the "3 folder" limit. The equivalent of folders at Flickr are sets, and there doesn't appear to be any limit to the number of sets you can create. You even have the added feature of being able to include any single uploaded image simultaneously in multiple sets. So you can group your images in different ways at the same time.

I also think the 'group pool' feature you complain about is an improvement over BrickShelf. Instead of having to wade through MOCs or pics that are of no interest to me I can go straight to the group(s) relevant to my interests and see what is new. And if I want a broader more inclusive list of new pics I can go to the general "LEGO" group too. Plus if there is a particular builder who impresses me I can add him as a contact, and then my homepage will inform me of any new pics from that user.

And on top of all of that, Flickr has the massive advantages from a community perspective of allowing messages between users, comments from other builders about your MOCs, and especially notes on the actual image to point out specific areas that are good or could use improvement.

I'm as sad as anyone else to see BrickShelf on its last legs, but the more I use Flickr the more I prefer it over the BrickShelf format. But to each his own, and you are of course free to dislike it as much as you want.

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SpaceMonkey, this is not a question of good or bad. It's just about one thing - having a platform which is specifically designed for MOC uploading and suits the needs of the AFOL community best.

In that aspect, Brickshelf may have been sloppy in terms of giving users no way of messaging, contacting or discussing things with each other, and it might also have been rather dated in its core structure, but at the end of the day it did its job quickly and efficiently. There are a lot of external forums where one can actually present and discuss their MOCs and Brickshelf's primary function was never about showcasing, it was merely aimed at providing a place where people could host their photos. Comments and presentations belong elsewhere. Furthermore, I think we all have to accept that the occasional downtime is something which could have been expected from a service that's offered to any and all LEGO fans for free and has no limits in regards to the size or amount of uploaded files. I'm not a fan either of there being no information whatsoever regarding what's going on and no guarantee that the photos you upload today will be there tomorrow - but that's a chance you accept to take when you sign up for a free photo hosting service.

Flickr, on the other hand, has proven to be a useful gathering point for AFOLs and I can see why that is so - the features you've noted (such as the ability to pinpoint details and discuss them or organize events) are a wonderful feature, but to me those are far from being decisive. What I care about most is having a simple and assessable structure which can be expanded in the way its user finds fitting - which flickr obviously doesn't propose. I personally am not new to flickr and thus baffled by its arrangement - I have been checking out users' photo collections ever since the website's inception, and I still feel that it's not the best platform for MOC sharing, precisely because it is supposed to be chaotic as it is. On the other hand though, it is that precise interconnectedness that appeals mostly to its users, so I guess we can rightly say - to each his own.

I just hope Brickshelf comes back. And offers unlimited hosting & some nice features at a reasonable yearly subscription fee - at least then the site's stability will have to be guaranteed.

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Well, at least (some?) of the pics are visible again. I can see my avatar. :cry_happy: Maybe they will fix BS again?

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Flickr is not free. It doesn't have the easy-to-navigate/upload system like Brickshelf. You have to find and follow tens of groups to reach LEGO images. MOCPages is a better hıst when it comes to LEGO but still they are no alternate to Brickshelf unfortunately. It was an idiot proof web site and it did its job just perfectly. I hope someone else can come up with such FTP-like web site for LEGO images.

Flickr is completely free.

Only if you want to purchase a pro account will flickr cost you anything. otherwise it IS completely free, and much better than brickshelf ever was.

Sorry guys but whatever you say will not change the fact that Flickr is not free. You can only store 200 images and this is ridiculous. You can only have 3 folders with it and that's even more ridicilous. It makes browsing a boring experience without folders. Not many people will want to pay for it. In Brickshelf you only need to click recent images to follow new MOCs but with Flickr you have to locate tens of LEGO related groups to find new MOCs. People will post in one group and not one other. It provides more challenges than the service it promises.

I have been using it for a long time and I have multiple accounts with different topics and it has served me very well for my other needs. But for LEGO it definetely is not a good alternative to Brickshelf. MOC images require folders and lots of images and Flickr don't provide those with a free membership. That's pretty much the end of it. I see that Flickr is very "in" lately and people like to follow crowds without putting much thought on it. Unfortunately it doesn't help us with our needs.

Why is 200 images for free ridiculous?? IT'S FREE!

People expect so much for nothing now a days. Brickshelf was a great idea but it was destined to fail, unlimted free uploads of any size for anyone??? Someone was paying for that site, now that it's gone it seems like everyone expects everything to be free like brickshelf. Nothing is free in life. I don't mean to start an arguement, I think people are just expecting too much for free, that's all.

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Why is 200 images for free ridiculous?? IT'S FREE!

People expect so much for nothing now a days. Brickshelf was a great idea but it was destined to fail, unlimted free uploads of any size for anyone??? Someone was paying for that site, now that it's gone it seems like everyone expects everything to be free like brickshelf. Nothing is free in life. I don't mean to start an arguement, I think people are just expecting too much for free, that's all.

I totally agree with you, Big Cam :thumbup: we should never complain about something completely free.

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Back to normal for me now but Im gonna try out Flickr anyway as Big Cam has convinced me to do so.

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Why is 200 images for free ridiculous?? IT'S FREE!

There are other free sites that have larger or no limits (and a much less cluttered interface as well). The fact that Flickr's basic accounts are free is irrelevant because most of the alternative sites are also free.

Anyway, at the moment Brickshelf is up and running. :thumbup: For those of you who don't have backup copies of your pictures stored locally, you should get them now in case it goes down again.

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Back to normal for me now but Im gonna try out Flickr anyway as Big Cam has convinced me to do so.

Even if you don't, I implore eberyone to go save your favorite images from brickshelf since it seems to be running at a decent level right now.

Feel free to ask me any question on flickr, also see VBBN's tutorial.

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IT'S BACK ONLINE !!!!! :grin:

Yep, she's back and now I can start using Brickshelf again - SWEET !!!!! :grin:

I highly recomend saving all your pictures, as I don't think it's staying up permenantly.

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How can I get multiple flickr accounts? At the moment its all tied to my rather naff Yahoo! ID... Plus I keep forgetting my password.

I love brickshelfs simplicity, please come back :cry_sad:

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How can I get multiple flickr accounts? At the moment its all tied to my rather naff Yahoo! ID... Plus I keep forgetting my password.

I love brickshelfs simplicity, please come back :cry_sad:

Umm... It's back :cry_happy:

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Strong advice from me!

Don't assume it's back for good. Assume the worst; backup your photos NOW... and try to be gentle when backing up other peoples photos. Also, seriously consider finding another image host.

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I agreed with what Siegfried has mentioned.

To add on, Brickshelf image upload ability has been restored. Not sure how long will it last or whether the whole chaotic cycle will start once more. No one knows for sure, but please don't take Brickshelf privileges for granted.

I really wish they could give us some sort of announcement to let users like us to be aware.

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Finally it's back up!

Well, I'm not sure what to do now. I'll probably be uploading my future review photos to a different Flickr account than my main one, but I don't really like the idea of logging in and out into two accounts. I don't want to get a Pro account since I would much rather have an extra $25 to spend on LEGO every year instead of having unlimited uploads, the original size of a photo, and a stats chart.

Anyone have an idea of what I should do?

Edited by ILikePi

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Finally it's back up!

Well, I'm not sure what to do now. I'll probably be uploading my future review photos to a different Flickr account than my main one, but I don't really like the idea of logging in and out into two accounts. I don't want to get a Pro account since I would much rather buy a $25 set instead of just having unlimited uploads, the original size, and a stats chart.

Anyone have an idea of what I should do?

I'm just going to keep uploading to Flickr. In case Brickshelf crashes again, I'll continue the move, but not as quickly as I might if Brickshelf wasn't functioning. I don't intend to upload any more to Brickshelf, because I don't want to cause something like the crash again, but I won't move my old stuff if the deeplinks remain.

I'm willing to upgrade since I also believe that Brickshelf won't last forever, like WhiteFang and Siegfried. And since I'm not uploading to Brickshelf, I don't need to log in.

Did I make any sense?

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I agreed with what Siegfried has mentioned.

To add on, Brickshelf image upload ability has been restored. Not sure how long will it last or whether the whole chaotic cycle will start once more. No one knows for sure, but please don't take Brickshelf privileges for granted.

I really wish they could give us some sort of announcement to let users like us to be aware.

Good advice, but at the same time, they're probably on an American server and it could simply have been a routine server problem that took longer than usual to fix because everyone at the host company was off work for the Thanksgiving weekend. Notice that it was fixed today (Monday) morning.

I'm going to stay with Brickshelf for the moment. I have plenty of space on my ISP and university accounts as well as some gaming websites, but as I said earlier I like the exposure that pictures get on Brickshelf. If the site goes down again, I would have all my stuff backed up anyway and can easily put it up somewhere else.

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BS is back up, but maybe only temporarily. Use this little program here to save all your pictures so you don't lose them!
Wow, thanks for that! It'll save me hours of downloading each picture one by one. :sweet:

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