Making Eurobricks More Active

[bombcar]

That brings up a note - the huge desire I have to go to Eurobricks is driven by the themes I DON’T follow - because I’ll know all about the latest train sets, etc, but Ninjago doesn’t interest me - but I still want to see reviews of parts, etc. 

[BrickJagger]

This topic is a lot to read through (in a good way!) but I haven't had time to type up my thoughts. Here are a few things that I've identified: 

1. One of my favorite things to do on Eurobricks is to look through old threads. Once you look through an old rumor thread from 2008/2009 or so, you'll realize just how much the site has changed. We don't have member numbers anymore, but I'm pretty sure that we're currently closing in on 200k if we haven't hit it already. That's great for the site, but not great for the community. In those old threads, it's pretty clear that everyone knew each other and didn't just shout into the void. People were genuinely friends. They cracked jokes, they even went off topic sometimes, but it just made for a more welcoming and engaging environment. Again, I only started browsing in 2011, so I'm just basing this off of what I can glean from those threads.

Nowadays, threads are an absolute disaster. That's not the mod's fault at all, in fact I think that they're doing a great job. Some threads get out of control and have over 10,000 replies of mostly useless gibberish and one-sentence posts. Everything is a wishlist, there are a million people typing the same things in a thread for weeks at a time etc. It makes for a boring read and I see no reason to check some of these threads more than two or three times a year. 

2. The actual content. In the past, insight and constructive conversations appeared to be the norm. Granted, you'd come across the occasional preteen using l33tspeak, but it wasn't really that much of an issue. Old threads were full of well-thought out speculation and a general feeling of *contained* excitement that makes them serve as a time capsule of what EB used to be. New threads are entirely disposable. I don't know when the trend of running up a thread's post count for the heck of it started, but it's one of the most confusing things on here for sure. If I had to guess, an old thread (ex: the Castle 2008/09 thread) probably has as many or close to as many words as last year's Star Wars thread despite having a quarter of the posts. Depending on who you are, that could be a good thing or a bad thing, but I'd rather not read a thread filled to the brim with "fake news" cycles that take up hundreds of posts apiece. One guy a few years back made like seven different accounts and probably accounted for a thousand posts of speculation in a single thread. If you're just casually reading that thread, would that make you want to keep checking back?

3. The atmosphere. EB is a Lego forum. EB is not a Marvel, Star Wars or Harry Potter forum that just happens to relate to building blocks. Years ago we really just had Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and a splash of HP, but the influx of casuals in the past few years is simply astounding. A lot of that is Lego's fault, as they seem to be pandering to people who like the license more than the brand, and that's caused a lot of new licenses in recent years and the forums to become bloated and watered-down. Now you may be reading this and I'm sure that it sounds like a "cranky old man" ranting, but only half of that would be true. 

4. LEAKS. That used to be what made EB. Leaks used to be an integral part of EB, and I only have to go back to 2011 or so to see mods actively discussing leaks with the regular users. I completely understand why the leak policy changed, but in my opinion it's not for the better. The leaks really brought people together for some reason. Maybe it was because you were looking at something you weren't supposed to be seeing yet (on second thought...yeah that's probably why). I have to admit that's it's quite fun to try to make out individual pixels taken by a potato-quality camera and hotly debating the meaning of Green Speck #17 with other members. Now, I have to drag myself over to Instagram to check Mario Power 122.0's leak bonanza, and tell fellow Eurobrickers that the images can be found there. Whopee. I have no idea where the site stands on this as a whole but the "Leak War" a few years back was hilarious and caused people to actually start talking to one another again instead of typing "I want a Thanos bigfig" eleven times in the Marvel thread because it keeps getting buried with other people's wishlists. The whole "leak war" was proof that that can work on the larger platform that EB currently is, and although Lego has obviously tightened the grip on us in recent years we're essentially falling on our own sword. People used to come here for leaks, but now there's significantly less reason to do so. It's hurting site traffic in a big way.

5. MOC disrespect. This is truly a shame. We have hundreds of bonafide artists posting MOCs in Pirates, Space, Historic Themes, etc. and they get barely any replies because all of those forums are now largely dead. The variety in those less-used forums is astounding, and I would strongly encourage anyone who has been viewing those MOCs and not replying to leave a comment saying that you appreciate their work. EB's purpose is for News, Leaks (formerly) and MOCs, and once again we're undercutting our own site.

I obviously have a lot to say about the current state of the site, but I don't have any answers. A complete overhaul would only be possible if we had significantly fewer members, and I think the current format is fine as it is. Obviously, the Leak ship has sailed as well (pun?). I guess that the best way to fix this in the short term is just to...talk, actually talk. Not Morse code or smoke signals, an actual conversation. A paragraph, even (the horror)! I think that if people got to know each other, that would help the community greatly. If you want a modern example of what I'm talking about, the best one I can think of is Historic Themes. There hasn't been a Castle theme in years and yet we have several threads with hundreds, even over a thousand replies on there just discussing our favorite theme.

That's all I have. 

EDIT: Apparently not! Whoever added the Member numbers back, thank you. Also, @LegoModularFan this is a great thread and I'm happy that you started a discussion about something that's needed to be discussed for years. 

EDIT 2: I think that re-adding each member's join date under their avatars would be a good fix. It was easier to identify longtime members and it didn't make the profile information that cluttered anyway.

Edited May 6, 2018 by BrickJagger

[mocbuild101]

14 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Now I have a crazy idea that I think would help. I call it the Eurobrick awards or Eurobrickys for short.

That would be a good idea...

5 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

I think that re-adding each member's join date under their avatars would be a good fix. It was easier to identify longtime members and it didn't make the profile information that cluttered anyway.

You can see it when you hover over a member's avatar

[Hobbes]

7 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

[...] Whoever added the Member numbers back, thank you. [...]

Jee-suss! That's a fukking lot of members! 

[Peppermint_M]

19 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

I call it the Eurobrick awards or Eurobrickys for short.

By the members for the members. That sounds good! It will grow the community, so long as it is polite and not clique-like. There are also some useful LEGO pieces that work for tags:

 

[Hobbes]

10 hours ago, BrickJagger said:

[...] One of my favorite things to do on Eurobricks is to look through old threads. Once you look through an old rumor thread from 2008/2009 or so [...]

You should read 2005-7. Fun times...

New members should be required to take a history test. Read all threads from the start of the forum to the end of 2009 (a week's time should suffice) and then take a test about it (5 days/a workweek, 4-5 hours per day). You can register with 85 % correct answers. Non-passers must go to imug... imru... imgr... instagraph...

[Tariq j]

22 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Now I have a crazy idea that I think would help. I call it the Eurobrick awards or Eurobrickys for short. It would be an annual MOC awards and each forum would have a topic where people could nominate mocs from that forum eg. pirates ,star wars or historical, a short list could then be created from the nominations by judges/judge and then put to the polls, and the 1st 2nd and 3rd from entry category would receive a relevant tag. If permitted I could do most of the heavy lifting myself though we might want some one more skilled to make the tags (but I'd be happy to try.) and as well as the main subforums we could also have a few extras like ldd builds only, mircoscale or brickheadz etc. Just a crazy idea, I don't mind if you don't like it or want to put someone else in charge of it.

I really like this idea. And we could expand the awards to Reviews and other sub categories as well, “Best Review of the Year”  “Best Collaborative build” “Best SoNE build” “Best BotBS build” etc. 

[JLSD]

Judging by the respondents, there are very few “newbies” which have provided feedback.  This alone is worrisome.  It is by no means a reflection on the establishment – it tells me that of the many thousands of users, only a handful have responded.  ~1,300 views with a couple of users responding.  Trouble. 

This post warrants the main page.

I too fear the “political correct” when replying to posts – watch my grammar, choice of words, audience, that I often tell myself “f” it, and do not reply.

I joined EB to learn and be taught from others new ideas and ways to take this joy I have with ABS to other levels – there is expertise on this site, no question about this.

I follow Town, Train and General.  There is loads of “filler” in each post which is somewhat bothersome.  I like the idea of contest, yearly for best MOC.  I would like a rating system applied to a new MOC post, instead of replying with a “Sweet MOC! Thanks for posting” and getting a quoted “thanks”.  We can rate it for originality, use of parts, etc. 

I do scan the other forums for new ideas but it is rather difficult – pictures tell more than words, so I just look for pics embedded into the post and neglect to read anything in between because of what I mentioned above.

Reviews – I do not believe the site can compete with what is out there already.  Really, how can anyone compete with JANGBRICKS or Just2good or other sites.  They are experts at what they do and do it extremely well. 

Games, FP, Tags – nope for me.

Thanks for your time.

[BrickJagger]

4 hours ago, JLSD said:

This post warrants the main page.

Seconded! This is certainly important enough.

11 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

You can see it when you hover over a member's avatar

Yeah but no one really does that. I just liked how it was before, that's all.

6 hours ago, Hobbes said:

You should read 2005-7. Fun times...

Those are always the hardest to find. Do you have any to recommend?

Edited May 6, 2018 by BrickJagger

[Hobbes]

1 hour ago, BrickJagger said:

Those are always the hardest to find. Do you have any to recommend?

Not really, I meant everything from back then...

[Littleworlds]

Times are changing and the wider user-base Eurobricks has today simply reflects the wider media-attention Lego as a brand has. That is - if you ask me - a good thing. The opposite would mean that Lego (and/or Eurobricks) lost its relevance and is a dwindling into obscurity. I don't think anybody wants that, so lets be happy we have many members here.

Sure, a more "intimate" forum with maybe a couple hundred or thousand users has its appeal. I was active in places like that before. Sadly most of them are gone now. Probably because the reason stated above.

I can understand though that a lot of the content posted today is not interesting for everybody. Actually there are some quite distinct groups of users around here, with often very defined interests and also often little overlap to other groups. Thats not necessarily a bad thing. If I am not interested in the latest SW-rumours, I don't have to read these threads. And I don't. Problem solved.

Getting elitist is certainly not the right answer. Rather a recipe to kill off a forum effectively and quick. If only the old regulars "get the joke", new blood won't feel welcome. If a forum is inclusive and welcoming, people might stick around and even if they came because of a certain (niche-)interest, they might eventually expand their horizon and find out what else there is. Same applies for "veteran users": look outside your box. Diversity is good!

This said, in reality there is often very little appreciation/interest towards new members. Dropping a friendly line or two in a welcoming thread isn't a big thing and costs maybe just a minute or two, but might make newbies feel a bit more at home.

Same about MOCs. I said it before, and others did as well, but I feel it can't be stressed enough. Feedback is essential to keep MOCer posting. Show them you care about their creations, or they move somewhere else where they get it. And yes, there are the occassional attention-seekers, but don't throw away the whole basket...

As for reddit, instagram and such: Yes, the internet isn't the same place it was 10 years ago. The big era of blogs came and went and forums too have peaked. Interaction seems to have become simpler, probably related to the omipresence the internet has in today's society. When something is "special", or even "underground", the dedication of the individuals who identify with it, is higher than when something hits the mainstream. Convenience seems more important now and social media platforms offer now one place for everything and are therefore a serious threat to more classical forums like EB. Maybe more accessibility and possibilities for interaction are an answer? Perhaps combined with exclusive content for members to give incentive to log in and be around? Just some thoughts here...

[makoy]

Just to add more info on my previous posts, I don't think I made it clear what it means about internal vs external motivations. 

So here they are:

Internal motivations (intrinsic values)

• Belongingness
• Knowledge-Sharing
• Learning
• Acknowledgment

External motivations (extrinsic rewards)

• Post counts
• Badges
• Leaderboards
• Prizes
• Points
• Money
   

I felt a lot of belongingness from @Itaria No Shintaku's minifigure game because there were a lot of interaction and a lot of friendly banter among each other's vote. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but contests and games doesn't mean you need to win a prize e.g. LEGO set or a badge. Sometimes even the smallest recognition matters.

With regards to encouraging more MOCs -- I know someone who quit building MOCs because he does not get the tiny bit of recognition he thinks he deserved. Yes, he posted several big collaboration MOCs in EB before but I won't mention his username. You may not think it is real and I didn't believe this thing happens to MOCers, until a friend of mine quit because of this very reason. It is really sad.

 

2 hours ago, Littleworlds said:

Getting elitist is certainly not the right answer. Rather a recipe to kill off a forum effectively and quick. If only the old regulars "get the joke", new blood won't feel welcome. If a forum is inclusive and welcoming, people might stick around and even if they came because of a certain (niche-)interest, they might eventually expand their horizon and find out what else there is. Same applies for "veteran users": look outside your box. Diversity is good!

I do feel there was an air  of elitism in EB that's why it took me several years to actually participate. I was browsing as early as 2010-2011... and see what year I actually registered and became active? Too late.

I don't know if it's just me but I feel like I interacted most with folks who joined around the same time as myself - mostly member IDs above 100k, like @Littleworlds. The only time I really had real interaction with the veterans is when I started posting my own reviews here. So imagine if you don't post reviews and you don't really know anyone.  It is very challenging to break through and get heard.

[Phoxtane]

Has anyone looked - like, seriously looked - at the page https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/ ? There's 25 subforums, not including the Reviewer's Academy, with some five sub-sub-forums dedicated entirely to that theme's flavor of RPG. There's so many sub-forums that I suspect the active users are spread quite thin across them

For example, why did we get a Scale Modeling forum? As far as I can tell, that's a variation of Model Team, which already has a forum. 

I'll be burned in effigy for suggesting these other moves, but...

- Pirates could move into Lego Historic Themes.

- Lego Mafia and Role-Play Games could stand to live up to its name and have all the RPGs (Nar Eurbrikka, Guilds of Historica, Brethren of the Brick Seas, Andromeda's Gates, The Great Brick War, Heroica, etc etc.) added to it. In fact, make a new sub-section for RPGs and get those games out of the sub-sub-forum categories where nobody can see them! Call it "Role Play Games" and make a new subforum when a new game is started, then lock it and archive it once the game is complete. This means Mafia gets its own sub-forum too.

- Culture and Multimedia could be rolled into Community, and Community could then be renamed something like "Everything Else".

- Action Figures could be moved into Special Themes.

- Town and Train could be put together.

- Why have an introduction forum? Maybe instead of that, encourage people to post into their favorite theme with a MOC to introduce themselves?

- Upon further inspection, why is Lord of the Rings in Historic Themes instead of Licensed themes? Why do we even have Licensed Themes? (I understand why we have a Star Wars subforum, as that would utterly drown out the other themes due to its overwhelming popularity).

 

Why keep index threads pinned when they haven't been touched for 5+ years in some cases, becoming hideously outdated? Why even have index threads?

Why keep threads for speculation from previous years pinned?

Why does the Technic subforum have a Hall of Fame? It looks a lot like people are playing favorites, even if that isn't the intention (and I know it isn't!). 

WHY ARE WE RATE-LIMITED ON SEARCHES? A personal pet peeve, but it makes the search function totally useless because I can't iterate through searches/search terms at a reasonable pace when trying to narrow down that one thread from forever ago. It drives me insane.

I'll be burned in effigy (again) for saying this likely, but do we have to change the entire forum's color scheme every three months? Why not just change the banner? It's incredibly jarring.

 

I don't participate in contests partly due to time, partly because I feel like many times it's just a game of "which of the ten veterans who post every day will get the win and the awesome cool set this time? It won't be me, I haven't got a chance". Maybe there should be prizes specifically for people who haven't been around all that long? Say, between six months and two years, with a minimum post count? What if we limit the number of contests somebody can enter for a prize to avoid the "steamroller effect".

Maybe contests should be limited in size/piece count more often, to give those who don't have as massive a collection a fighting chance? Call it "Building Small <$Year>: <$Theme>", limit to 200 pieces, start with a theme that doesn't get much love for contests (that is, pretty much any theme or forum that isn't the Technic one?).

Can we get contests for the smaller forums, like Trains? (not trying to point fingers or funnel contests towards my interests, but the Technic forum seems to have had a lot of contests recently compared to all the other ones).

Why are we hiding so much useful photography information in the Reviewer's Academy? Why not expose that to the general public, remove the whole 'secret club' aspect, and make a reviews-only forum, thus cleaning all other forums of reviews and keeping them focused on MOCs and such? This would allow both discussion and critique of the set in question and the review itself, respectively.

Push ambassadors to post in their relevant forums to have direct contacts there instead of hiding them away in the Embassy.

I think that's everything I can think of at the moment. I am a spiteful, terrible little man, so I'm sure I can come up with more complaints and negativity if desired.

 

EDIT: As mentioned by makoy, I feel like getting any sort of recognition - even if it's a "I like this thing, but what about X? Why did you do Y?" - is incredibly important towards getting repeated member participation. I don't think there's anything quite as soul-crushing as posting something - a question, a project, etc - and being totally ignored.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Phoxtane

[LegoModularFan]

On 5/3/2018 at 9:42 PM, icm said:

Perhaps it would encourage more people to post MOCs if moderators were to take a more active role in promoting MOC topics and in regulating behavior in them - setting the example by being the first to respond, with a thoughtful reply demonstrating personal engagement with the build, and preventing things from getting vapid or toxic. 

That would be great, I think this may even encourage some members to write comments on MOCs! 

On 5/3/2018 at 10:11 PM, Cyclone Titan said:

It's been a long while since I regularly posted on this forum.

Hey, this topic on its own activated some very old members!  Extremely nice to see older members on EB, especially on this thread! I mean, member ID 1285?! And @Hobbes, 359?!  178163 here...  

On 5/3/2018 at 10:11 PM, Cyclone Titan said:

Now that Twitter is unfortunately popular again, posting about contests and MOCs--making it a mini frontpage--could really help to get clickthroughs to the site itself, and hopefully resulting in discussion and activity. 

I agree. Some advertisement is important IMO. That would certainly attract some more fans here.

On 5/3/2018 at 10:11 PM, Cyclone Titan said:

Also, on Twitter, Just2Good posted that he rarely visits Eurobricks any more, because there are too many "fakers and immature people".

Oh, that's really too bad... I was wondering if the reason @just2good (I hope you don't mind the shout-out) visits rarely was he didn't enjoy visiting anymore or didn't have time to visit EB. So the first is true... I saw a several years old video of him, EB was an important part of his life... Maybe EB needs a small format change (if it would help attracting older members again and important members (such as @just2good) as well as new ones of course) as I quoted below from your post:

On 5/3/2018 at 10:11 PM, Cyclone Titan said:

I'm talking about getting fresh blood. Maybe a format change where this site is less of a forum and more like a Pinterest of themes and topics, with discussion triggering with a theme or topic's picture being clicked. It's a visual world now.

Anyway, really hope to see you active again, @Cyclone Titan! And thanks so much for taking time to write a long comment!  

On 5/3/2018 at 12:47 AM, bombcar said:

I think a big part of it is that in the "old days" you basically had to go to a forum for many things - now there are sources for various things easier found via Google than by posting on a forum. Reddit and Facebook together cover much of what forums used to do (but I hate them both).

I joined EB in only late November 2017 and I'm pretty sure I'm the newest member on this thread. I was looking for Lego forums and my reason for choosing EB was that it's the forum that was shown most of the times on Lego blogs and more importantly I liked the fact that how kind and clean the forum is. Reddit? Nah. It's great for leaks but I really don't like the community there. Facebook? I don't use it except some groups to discover new MOCs. I use various blogs and websites other than EB for news. The the feeling of posting and being a member of a respectful, kind forum is really different and I don't think Reddit and Facebook could ever cover this. I agree they pretty cover the rest though.

On 5/4/2018 at 7:31 PM, Robert8 said:

This thread should be named

"Make Eurobricks Great Again" 

Haha, I actually thought about it but didn't want sound like...  you know... 

On 5/4/2018 at 9:02 PM, Hobbes said:

Like what?

Well, you seem looking through things with a more nostalgic eye than I do (which is normal as you're member for 13 years and me even not one at the time of writing this comment). It's not that I don't agree, we just have some different thoughts... 

On 5/5/2018 at 4:21 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

I usually post where I can, when I can, primarily to give my two cents in the hopes of perhaps influencing those at TLG, and to steer set based discussions towards a more MOCing point of view. 

Thanks! And what encourages you to post that much?

On 5/5/2018 at 3:26 PM, Agent Kallus said:

Now I have a crazy idea that I think would help.

I like your idea and I'm glad a lot of EBers like it as well! It means it's likely to be considered (at least I hope)... 

 

I'll reply to more! Keep it up, guys!

[MAB]

11 hours ago, makoy said:

With regards to encouraging more MOCs -- I know someone who quit building MOCs because he does not get the tiny bit of recognition he thinks he deserved. Yes, he posted several big collaboration MOCs in EB before but I won't mention his username. You may not think it is real and I didn't believe this thing happens to MOCers, until a friend of mine quit because of this very reason. It is really sad.

1

It is sad if people don't comment on MOCs (both positively and negatively). But it is even sadder if people stop building MOCs just because they don't feel they get recognition. Surely the primary point of MOC building is for the fun of the building, not for the recognition the builder feels they deserve.

[Hobbes]

7 hours ago, LegoModularFan said:

[...] Well, you seem looking through things with a more nostalgic eye

Of course, that's all we old people have 

7 hours ago, LegoModularFan said:

which is normal as you're member for 13 years [...]

You trying to make me look old?!

 

Changing EB to a more visual "pinterest"-like platform is a nice idea, but near impossible to do.

EB doesn't have a corporation or paid staff behind it. It uses a relatively "cheap" (i.e. payable with the current "income") forum software that more or less dictates the format of the content. The layout is somewhat customizable, but that's about it. You can turn off/on certain features but not more. It's a web forum, it is what it is.

Changing that would most likely require a new software. Invision (the forum software people) does have Gallery and Blog modules, but those don'really represent the current "community life-style" as we have asserted (despite looking "modern"). Maybe it's possible to combine these three, I can't say how well they interact (i.e. "user experience"). To really get what was suggested you'd need some sort of very freely customizable content management system, like... I dare say, Typo3. Those things cost more than a forum. And you need even more staff to tweak it and run it. And the biggest question is: can the current content be preserved?

Right now there's not many "techies" behind EB (from what I gather). And running a "visual platform" that is not a standard would require a lot more techies who spend as much time at the platform as they spend during their day job - for the love of doing it, at that. I mean, I did pay for the software once from my pocket. That was shortly before I retired, and back then it was dirt cheap and I did want to upgrade "at all costs" just to see the new version. That's how I invested in EB I was. The first server farm it ran on was cheap, too. That has changed. And a more visual platform would require even more resources. A few Google Ads (that are being blocked by Adblockers) won't pay for that.

And from an attractive platform the users expect more. If that can't be met, they won't be that invested and it's "Just another platform". Same situation as now, just more money wasted.

Being old and all, I think it's a nice idea. And I could probably even "understand" and be intelligent enough to use it. But it's not feasible the way EB (the "organization") is set up...

</rant>

[VBBN]

Hearing feedback from the community is a major key in deciding where we take things from here. Internally we discuss the topic of activity and modernizing Eurobricks; but EB is a community, and as a result each and every member makes this site what it is. Reading all of these comments really does help to understand everyone's differing point of views.

And really, point of view is a major factor. I was here in 2007, and I understand many of you when you value how small the community was back then. Forum popularity has changed over the years. And while certain communities may still exist in that original format, many have moved on to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc. As someone who is in their early 20s, I am surrounded by this change to social media. And to be honest, outside of Eurobricks, that is how I have evolved as well, I partake in those kinds of social media because I'm the generation that it has really been built around. I went from browsing 10-15 forums to only one. 

So I understand the "nostalgic eye" & at the same time the shift to social media and the potential that it could bring to the forum. It's a delicate balance, because each decision will be positive to one person and negative to another, and each member will have their own beliefs on what would be best for the community.

I would like to throw in a couple of additional open ended questions in case anyone wants to give their thoughts on these. Like Nemo's questions, you guys answering these helps us to understand what further we can provide to the community and is an essential "next step" toward realizing our future and where we head from here. 

 

•  What do you believe Eurobricks has too much of? 
•  What do you believe Eurobricks does not have enough of? How would you like to see this addressed?
• What do you value the most about Eurobricks?
• What do you value the least?
•  What value would you find in a Eurobricks YouTube channel? What kind of content would you like to see on one?
•  If we place more attention to our Twitter / Facebook, would you value these as a news source? Would you use them more or less than our front page?

[mocbuild101]

9 hours ago, VBBN said:

1. What do you believe Eurobricks has too much of? 
2. What do you believe Eurobricks does not have enough of? How would you like to see this addressed?
3. What do you value the most about Eurobricks?
4. What do you value the least?
5. What value would you find in a Eurobricks YouTube channel? What kind of content would you like to see on one?
6. If we place more attention to our Twitter / Facebook, would you value these as a news source? Would you use them more or less than our front page?

1. Not sure...
2. MOC front-paging/showcasing.
3. Guides, problem solving topics (they've helped me many times).
4. Games (they're fun, but not very useful).
5. Not sure really, but it might be good for showcasing MOCs.
6. No. Less (not at all).

Edited May 8, 2018 by mocbuild101

[Jim]

I really love this topic. Thanks for taking the time to chime in. Like @VBBN said, we have been discussing some of the things addressed here among staff as well. It's not so hard to find some of the problems, but it's difficult to find solutions.

On 7-5-2018 at 4:32 AM, Phoxtane said:

Has anyone looked - like, seriously looked - at the page https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/ ? There's 25 subforums, not including the Reviewer's Academy, with some five sub-sub-forums dedicated entirely to that theme's flavor of RPG. There's so many sub-forums that I suspect the active users are spread quite thin across them

For example, why did we get a Scale Modeling forum? As far as I can tell, that's a variation of Model Team, which already has a forum. 

Why does the Technic subforum have a Hall of Fame? It looks a lot like people are playing favorites, even if that isn't the intention (and I know it isn't!). 

I do think that re-organizing the different forums isn't a bad idea at all. Especially since some of 'em aren't very active anymore.

We have been discussing the Scale Modeling forum quite extensively and there was some debate. Giving the scale modelers a dedicated forum was a form of appreciation to have them have their own place for showcasing their MOCs. Scale Modeling isn't just a variation on Model Team, although I understand why you would think that. 

The Hall of Fame is meant to collect all the great MOCs in a single topic and give the great builders the recognition they deserve. Actually, it's one of the indices which is actively maintained, so I consider this an asset, instead of a nuisance or something else. Members can propose MOCs for the HoF, so it's not only a staff decision. Sometimes things that are done with positive intentions are regarded as a negative thing. We can stop doing things like the HoF, but that would yet be another thing which isn't continued. 

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Thanks @makoy, I'll make new games asap.

[JLSD]

4 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

1. Not sure...
2. MOC front-paging/showcasing.
3. Guides, problem solving topics (they've helped me many times).
4. Games (they're fun, but not very useful).
5. Not sure really, but it might be good for showcasing MOCs.
6. No. Less (not at all).

So agree with @mocbuild101 , specifically points 2 and three...never enough of #3!  I'd open another account on EB and vote for these two...oops.

For point five...I think we missed the boat already.

[Digger of Bricks]

On 5/7/2018 at 6:16 AM, LegoModularFan said:

And what encourages you to post that much?

Believe me, it just happens. I just have a lot to share, ask, and discuss here on Eurobricks; and ultimately, the hopes of potentially influencing those at TLG through ambassadors is what drives me to post, and was the foremost reason I did join Eurobricks in the first place! My favorite sort of topic are wishlist/idea discussions, particularly ones like @Peppermint_M's Future Action and Adventure Themes where you can elaborate in detail on your many dreams. 

15 hours ago, VBBN said:

What do you believe Eurobricks has too much of? 

Not sure exactly at the moment.

15 hours ago, VBBN said:

What do you believe Eurobricks does not have enough of? How would you like to see this addressed?

Ambassador interaction and activity over on the Embassy subforum. I'd like to see more official surveys like that "Gift-With-Purchase" inquiry from last year.

15 hours ago, VBBN said:

What do you value the most about Eurobricks?

One-on-one interaction with the Ambassador program, first and foremost at least.

15 hours ago, VBBN said:

What do you value the least?

Not certain at the moment, but pretty much everything serves a purpose, so I can appreciate it for what it's worth.

16 hours ago, VBBN said:

What value would you find in a Eurobricks YouTube channel? What kind of content would you like to see on one?

Not certain of that either, but while it could be nice to have in some respects, I don't think it would help generate activity or bring new members to the forum, as non-members who watch the videos would rather comment on YouTube instead while EB members would comment on the forum anyway. In other words, I don't think the forum would gain much from a YouTube channel in the end.

16 hours ago, VBBN said:

If we place more attention to our Twitter / Facebook, would you value these as a news source? Would you use them more or less than our front page?

I don't use either, so no, I myself primarily use Eurobricks itself for pretty much everything pertaining to the forum.

[Trekkie99]

I think another thing that helps keep Eurobricks active is WIP topics. Things like WIP modular layouts, citys, train yards, etc. are the type of topics I'd like to see more of. @tmctiger's WIP layout topic for example has been a blast to follow.

So I think more people should post topics for their MOC as their working on it vs after the model is complete. And it doesn't have to be a huge layout or something of large scale in order to warrant it as a WIP topic. Most of the MOCs I make are small, but I'm always changing and tweaking them. Even models that I've made years ago I'll still come back to to change something or what not. 

 

16 hours ago, VBBN said:

• What do you believe Eurobricks has too much of? 
•  What do you believe Eurobricks does not have enough of? How would you like to see this addressed?
• What do you value the most about Eurobricks?
• What do you value the least?
•  What value would you find in a Eurobricks YouTube channel? What kind of content would you like to see on one?
•  If we place more attention to our Twitter / Facebook, would you value these as a news source? Would you use them more or less than our front page?

1: I personally can't think of anything in particular that we might have to much of.

2: Same as my answer for #1. Can't think of anything in particular.

3: I greatly value the supportive community, and the discussions we have about what the future holds for Lego and stuff like that.

4: I think @Digger of Bricks said it best.

39 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Not certain at the moment, but pretty much everything serves a purpose, so I can appreciate it for what it's worth.

5: It might be fun. I think it would be a great place to host set reviews and that sort.

6: I personally don't use FB or Twitter.

 

4 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

Thanks @makoy, I'll make new games asap.

YAY! 

Edited May 8, 2018 by LegoMonorailFan

[Lind Whisperer]

On 5/6/2018 at 9:32 PM, Phoxtane said:

- Lego Mafia and Role-Play Games could stand to live up to its name and have all the RPGs (Nar Eurbrikka, Guilds of Historica, Brethren of the Brick Seas, Andromeda's Gates, The Great Brick War, Heroica, etc etc.) added to it. In fact, make a new sub-section for RPGs and get those games out of the sub-sub-forum categories where nobody can see them! Call it "Role Play Games" and make a new subforum when a new game is started, then lock it and archive it once the game is complete. This means Mafia gets its own sub-forum too.

Those RPGs are highly tied to the communities of people that use them, and people specifically looking up those specific themes for the first time are the exact sort of people who might want to join those sorts of communities.

Dragging them away to some other part of the site will result in people missing them, because they have no idea they're supposed to navigate somewhere else, or even that they want to navigate somewhere else to see, etc., etc.

 

If they're just going to get locked, subsections work just fine. If twenty-five forums - not actually that many, and pretty well organized, too - are too many - increasing that number isn't going to help. Subsections work fine, and don't fill up the main page with a bunch of games people can't play.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Lind Whisperer

[Lind Whisperer]

- Why have an introduction forum? Maybe instead of that, encourage people to post into their favorite theme with a MOC to introduce themselves?

Most forums have introduction themes. Sometimes, a warm and friendly welcome is what gives people the courage to stay and put their work up for public inspection. 

WHY ARE WE RATE-LIMITED ON SEARCHES? A personal pet peeve, but it makes the search function totally useless because I can't iterate through searches/search terms at a reasonable pace when trying to narrow down that one thread from forever ago. It drives me insane.

Eurobricks is a privately owned forum, that survives through ads. Each search uses data, and data costs money. Also, probably something to do with limiting bots.

I'll be burned in effigy (again) for saying this likely, but do we have to change the entire forum's color scheme every three months? Why not just change the banner? It's incredibly jarring.

I don't notice the change, personally - I'm afraid this is very much YMMV. 

I don't participate in contests partly due to time, partly because I feel like many times it's just a game of "which of the ten veterans who post every day will get the win and the awesome cool set this time? It won't be me, I haven't got a chance".

I've never observed this effect on Eurobricks - although, admittedly, I don't spend too much time interacting with any of the contests.

Maybe contests should be limited in size/piece count more often, to give those who don't have as massive a collection a fighting chance? Call it "Building Small <$Year>: <$Theme>", limit to 200 pieces, start with a theme that doesn't get much love for contests (that is, pretty much any theme or forum that isn't the Technic one?).

This actually gives me an idea...though I have absolutely no idea how to act on it.