Decreasing number of MOCs: affected by criticism?

[Gray Gear]

26 minutes ago, scynox said:

if you see your instructions for that model exceeding 3000 piece which you spent hours to build, sold elsewhere you might think otherwise.

I do see that right now, my Honda NSX MOC has been for for sale on Aliexpress for some time now. They even stole my pictures, even though they were really not great  Its really not that big of a deal imo.

I build these MOCs for myself, and I enjoy doing it. Dont let others ruin the hobby for you.

 

@astyanax You are right, for me the LegoTechnicMastery Channel on Youtube has been a nice source of inspiration. Too bad the last video is 2 yoars old...

 

16 minutes ago, Lipko said:

For me personally (apart from having very small free time) seeing the flood of good quality looking MOCs was demoralizing (everything worthy is done and better that I could ever do) and also when I started this and got some success, Lego was not cool. Since then Lego Marketing became so aggressive (also for MOCing) that it became irritating. Maybe similar happened to the others of the older MOCer generations. I consider myself one of the last of the generation before Lego was cool. The greatest of that generation now has families, so we will see MOCs from them less often. Nevertheless, probably Eurobricks is now simply NOT a market leading forum (if it ever was) and we old farts don't know where to look.

The problem is that many really bad quality MOC instructions are sold for money. I agree that most MOCs focus on looks and functions and don't care about quality.

"everything worthy is done and better that I could ever do" That sound unlikely, exept if you only like a very small selection...

What year are we talking of where LEGO was not cool yet? I myself am 21 yo and have never had a dark age, so I would not count myself as an old fart just yet 

I do agree about the bad instructions being for sale tho. That is bad.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Gray Gear

[Lipko]

1 minute ago, Gray Gear said:

I do see that right now, my Honda NSX MOC has been for for sale on Aliexpress for some time now. They even stole my pictures, even though they were really not great  Its really not that big of a deal imo.

I build these MOCs for myself, and I enjoy doing it. Dont let others ruin the hobby for you.

 

@astyanax You are right, for me the LegoTechnicMastery Channel on Youtube has been a nice source of inspiration. Too bad the last video is 2 yoars old...

 

"everything worthy is done and better that I could ever do" That sound unlikely, exept if you only like a very small selection...

What year are we talking of where LEGO was not cool yet? I myself am 21 yo and have never had a dark age, so I would not count myself as an old fart just yet 

I'm not sure. Probably before 2014, when The Lego Movie came out. It was totally awesome, don't get me wrong. But by this time, we even have a Lego building reality show 

[2GodBDGlory]

I can't say whether or not output has been decreasing, since I have only been on Eurobricks for a few months, and comparing it with other websites, such as the then-dying Mocpages probably isn't fair. I do know that I have plenty of ideas left to build, (I have four or five MOCs currently planned out in my head!), and there have been plenty of inspiring new pieces these past few years, in my opinion. I can also agree that it seems that the majority of MOCs are styling-focused, mechanically simple, 1:8 supercars, and that this is likely because that is what the instruction-buying market asks for. This isn't necessarily a problem, since there isn't anything wrong with building that kind of thing with Lego, but it is still, in my opinion, relatively uninteresting to build. I have built at least a dozen 1:8 supercars, but probably only one of them could be called "styling-focused, mechanically simple."

[Glaysche]

The original post in this thread was complaining about not having many original MOCs.  I see that too but I assumed it’s because people aren’t interested.  I’ve made a few posts on EB about a robotic arm I’m working on. My specific design is quite original but I suppose the theme has certainly been done before.  I received no replies or other interest.  I’ve actually made a lot of improvements since my last post but I wasn’t going to bother posting again because there’s no interest. I don’t think I’m alone.  The topics that get the most replies and discussion seem to be mods of TLG sets and scale models as previously mentioned. I hope my experience here is just a fluke because I would love to see more original designs.

[jorgeopesi]

43 minutes ago, Glaysche said:

The original post in this thread was complaining about not having many original MOCs.  I see that too but I assumed it’s because people aren’t interested.  I’ve made a few posts on EB about a robotic arm I’m working on. My specific design is quite original but I suppose the theme has certainly been done before.  I received no replies or other interest.  I’ve actually made a lot of improvements since my last post but I wasn’t going to bother posting again because there’s no interest. I don’t think I’m alone.  The topics that get the most replies and discussion seem to be mods of TLG sets and scale models as previously mentioned. I hope my experience here is just a fluke because I would love to see more original designs.

You should post your stuff because there always are someone interested, I have more replies when I do cars but I still preffer doing and posting heavy machinery. 

[Jurss]

I just don't have time anymore - work, teaching my childrens, as scholl is in remote mode etc.

Mostly to to build something new, to think.

At the moment mostly I build some old sets, which I havent built, from parts I own, or even order needed parts. At least I have time for that.

I have unboxed vestas windturbine, sian waiting for their chance to be built.

[Lasse D]

3 hours ago, Glaysche said:

The original post in this thread was complaining about not having many original MOCs.  I see that too but I assumed it’s because people aren’t interested.  I’ve made a few posts on EB about a robotic arm I’m working on. My specific design is quite original but I suppose the theme has certainly been done before.  I received no replies or other interest.  I’ve actually made a lot of improvements since my last post but I wasn’t going to bother posting again because there’s no interest. I don’t think I’m alone.  The topics that get the most replies and discussion seem to be mods of TLG sets and scale models as previously mentioned. I hope my experience here is just a fluke because I would love to see more original designs.

Bingo. The "0 replies" threads are extremely demotivating and will turn people off from posting more of that type... or even turn them off from posting their creations on EB. Others will see these threads and similarly be turned off from posting anything similar. Why spend days or months on creating something when people will reject it outright? I, for instance, would never post a robotic arm concept in here. It will be posted on facebook and on Instagram instead - especially videos of it since people seem to love those on these other platforms.

When this happens, then you get the diversity of creations culled and people will focus on building what they can see others being interested in.

Whenever you see such a thread without any replies, but a lot of effort clearly being put into both model and presentation, then think of it as you personally saying "I do not want that on here" as a very, very, clear message.

[Good old Lego builder]

As Lasse mentioned, I also see the topics that get no reactions. Some very nice Mocs. That is not very rewarding to continue posting.

I would also like to add that some great mocs ‘disappear’ in the scale modeling forum. Indon’t visit that one frequently since almost nothing happens there.

I think Covid also had tomdo with it, for multiple reasons. (Time, money)

Edited November 15, 2020 by Good old Lego builder

[keymaker]

@Lasse D totally nailed it. There is nothing to add to be honest. There is so much more feedback (positive, negative but at least there is one!) on other sites like FB, YT or rebricable than in here... I am here maybe for 2 years, but for me forum slowly becomes the place only for checking the leaks...

[brickphisto]

40 minutes ago, Lasse D said:

Bingo. The "0 replies" threads are extremely demotivating and will turn people off from posting more of that type... or even turn them off from posting their creations on EB.

I could not agree more. About half a year ago I shared a model which I thought was quite original (Porsche 911 same scale as 10265 Mustang but fully RC, working suspension and fake engine). It did not get no but only very little attention. Ironically I was offered a cooperation by an alternative brick company for exactly that model. That says quite a lot I feel and I drew my conclusion.

[howitzer]

All these comments about people not getting feedback or commentary on their creations is of course criticism for all of us. Why are we not engaging more with others? Even if it just a few words, any comment on a thread makes you feel like someone out there cares and this helps to keep you motivated, so why are we not doing that more?

[Gray Gear]

I think we should try to aprreachiate each others MOCs and work more. I myself try to push myself to comment on any post that I enjoyed to look at and try to find something nice to say or some constructive criticism. Even if it is farming equipment or other stuff I would notreally care about irl. In those cases I just try to find intresting building techniques and clever solutions.

Nothing is worse than just getting no response at all, as others have already mentioned above.

[jorgeopesi]

I do not think that more comments bring us more MOCs, years ago when I did not know how to write here, neither now, I build much more than now, but it is true that so many times I do not comment because I do not know well how to do it enough well. Maybe the average level is soo high that do awesome MOCs is too difficult.

Edited November 15, 2020 by jorgeopesi

[scynox]

37 minutes ago, jorgeopesi said:

I do not think that more comments bring us more MOCs, years ago when I did not know how to write here, neither now, I build much more than now, but it is true that so many times I do not comment because I do not know well how to do it enough well. Maybe the average level is soo high that do awesome MOCs is too difficult.

I agree on first part. second part about awesome MOCs, well most of them are on sale now, and they are also posted here.

I see many technic MOCs on other sites. I still feel it is something with what those sites offer. they offer something else than what this site offers here and people want that instead. it is like losing to a competition. more appreciations/recognition could be something but I do not think it is the main reason. remember the time about latest contest? it is something other sites do not offer so we saw many MOCs. was not it a record of contestant numbers? but if you do another contest of building ships/boats would we have that many contestants? I do not think so.

I feel the problem is not a single factor. it is combination of many things happening at the same time. different sites for different purpose and gains, technic part limitations (getting closer to roof perhaps?), (reduced) complexity in sets which makes people to produce less complex MOCs, cars cars cars because people like seeing them, pandemic impact on lego which is expensive for some people, chinese stuff and so on... if one of these hits a MOCer then you lose one (in my case). other people might be hit by something else

maybe a mod can have a look on if site has a decline on visits/posts nowadays. maybe the problem is elsewhere. I searched for "lego technic MOCs" and I did not see this site on google's first page. this should be treated as a hint perhaps.

[howitzer]

3 minutes ago, scynox said:

I searched for "lego technic MOCs" and I did not see this site on google's first page. this should be treated as a hint perhaps.

Yep, when searching with that specific set of words, Eurobricks is only the twentieth result for me. But very often when I search for something more specific (like just earlier today the slipping torque of the clutch gear) I see Eurobricks as one of the top results and often with the best answer to whatever I was searching for.

EB has been around a long time, and has a huge amount of information which is hard to find anywhere else. Of course much of that is buried in the long-forgotten topics but still a search often turns up answers to whatever you're wondering about Lego. There is a value in that, and while bulletin boards like EB are somewhat dated form of social media, I think we should all work to keep this place alive and active for years to come. This will come down to posting MOCs and keeping up with the commentary on them.

[scynox]

44 minutes ago, howitzer said:

Yep, when searching with that specific set of words, Eurobricks is only the twentieth result for me. But very often when I search for something more specific (like just earlier today the slipping torque of the clutch gear) I see Eurobricks as one of the top results and often with the best answer to whatever I was searching for.

EB has been around a long time, and has a huge amount of information which is hard to find anywhere else. Of course much of that is buried in the long-forgotten topics but still a search often turns up answers to whatever you're wondering about Lego. There is a value in that, and while bulletin boards like EB are somewhat dated form of social media, I think we should all work to keep this place alive and active for years to come. This will come down to posting MOCs and keeping up with the commentary on them.

yes, you have to be very specific on searches. but not many people search for that (the slipping torque of the clutch gear), right? how many would search complex lego machinations nowadays since the sets are getting less complex? they search for ferrari MOC, or lambo MOC or car MOC. the trend is cars, not complex or awesome stuff. first thing I built as MOC was a car of course, and I would search for car MOCs for sure.

EB has many old and outdated stuff, I would not rely on a few years old stuff I find here; re-asking is always a better idea if you are involved in lego for a long time. TLG introduces new pieces every year and some designs become a lot different, simple and sturdy now, in most cases. that is why https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/175235-help-generic-building-help-topic/ seems a better idea than old long-forgotten topics for hard-to-find-elsewhere information. And it is very new, Jim started the topic this January. I do not know which is best for sharing such information though, I believe it is a good direction.

search for gearbox of a car now (quite common topic I guess) and old topics found are not very relevant anymore with the switcher mechanisms changing. search for ackerman steering with old hubs (8070, 42000) and todays black hub, even the crawler's hub; the results are very different. search for telestopic arm for crane, pre-42043 solutions are old now and in some cases new solution is better, depends on scale and size. if TLG introduces a new design with new pieces then not many people shall focus on the old design anyway. I left lego after I bought 42056, paddle shift was a big change for me, perhaps everyone. I followed MOCs and almost every new model had those. paddle shift and sequential gearbox. then with chiron the orange switcher came (it was with chiron, right?). majority of people moved over to sequential gearboxes and now people are making 8gear ones (sorry, I forgot designer's name but posted here). if TLG introduces a new brake system for their new 1/8 car then forget all pneumatic brake designs from old topics here. no, I do not rely on old topics I find here. it really depends on what you are looking for of course.

topic is about MOCs, yes, we want those shiny good MOCs.

[syclone]

EB technic certainly seems to be dying in my eyes, looking at posts 10 years ago or so there was some crazy stuff uploaded, and the forum seemed way more alive with people actively commenting on builds. Nowadays MOCs posted here feel crazy professional as if it were a company presenting a product at some tech expo rather than a fan-made MOC. Lack of parts certainly isn't the case, there were many ingenious solutions before and we have a LOT of new parts recently, frames, pins, even pneumatic switches and substitution of the beloved PF. 
Also, in regards of sets - they don´t feel all that inspirative or teaching anything, feels more like a toy or a scale model in case of high-end ones than anything else, older sets while may be "ugly" and just shells for some, but they were (judging by instructions and some limited experience) way more challenging to build and that was FUN!!! Bigger does not equal better, but it does mean more expensive and out of reach. Was exited for Lamborghini, but colour consistency problems, almost copy-paste mechanisms, and price tag aren't my thing.
Can't say anything certain though, as have lost interest in technic for the most part mostly due to TLG sets not cutting it for me and needing more time for uni.

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by syclone

[doug72]

Part of the problem of no comments to posted new topics for low interest builds MOCs etc. is that any new posting quickly drops off the bottom of page 1 tnto page 2 & beyond, where it is out of immediate sight.

This is a particular issue when ever there is a Technic competition.

Too many individual topics about the same thing that should be brought together into one main topic heading.

i.e. Car s/ Construction vehicles / Gearboxes etc

This was done for GBC Modules and GBC Train System Modules as it had become increasing difficult to find related postings.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Doug72

[howitzer]

33 minutes ago, scynox said:

yes, you have to be very specific on searches. but not many people search for that (the slipping torque of the clutch gear), right? how many would search complex lego machinations nowadays since the sets are getting less complex? they search for ferrari MOC, or lambo MOC or car MOC. the trend is cars, not complex or awesome stuff. first thing I built as MOC was a car of course, and I would search for car MOCs for sure.

EB has many old and outdated stuff, I would not rely on a few years old stuff I find here; re-asking is always a better idea if you are involved in lego for a long time. TLG introduces new pieces every year and some designs become a lot different, simple and sturdy now, in most cases. that is why https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/175235-help-generic-building-help-topic/ seems a better idea than old long-forgotten topics for hard-to-find-elsewhere information. And it is very new, Jim started the topic this January. I do not know which is best for sharing such information though, I believe it is a good direction.

search for gearbox of a car now (quite common topic I guess) and old topics found are not very relevant anymore with the switcher mechanisms changing. search for ackerman steering with old hubs (8070, 42000) and todays black hub, even the crawler's hub; the results are very different. search for telestopic arm for crane, pre-42043 solutions are old now and in some cases new solution is better, depends on scale and size. if TLG introduces a new design with new pieces then not many people shall focus on the old design anyway. I left lego after I bought 42056, paddle shift was a big change for me, perhaps everyone. I followed MOCs and almost every new model had those. paddle shift and sequential gearbox. then with chiron the orange switcher came (it was with chiron, right?). majority of people moved over to sequential gearboxes and now people are making 8gear ones (sorry, I forgot designer's name but posted here). if TLG introduces a new brake system for their new 1/8 car then forget all pneumatic brake designs from old topics here. no, I do not rely on old topics I find here. it really depends on what you are looking for of course.

topic is about MOCs, yes, we want those shiny good MOCs.

I feel that the more specific the question is, the more likely it is to see EB topic high in search results. If you only want to see Ferrari MOCs, then EB isn't great place for you anyway, because other sites like Rebrickable offer much better search and categorization, plus easy to use unified interface, whereas EB posts are all different in the way they are presented and the search results are cluttered with all kinds of irrelevant topics. But that's sort of beside the point, EB is a platform for discussion and I'd much rather ask a question or post a MOC for feedback on platform like this than in Youtube or whatever.

It's true of course that parts introduced with Chiron gave a huge boost to novel gearbox designs and much of the old designs became obsolete. Still, even if something becomes obsolete with new parts, the old stuff is still there for those with historical interest or maybe for those who don't have the newest parts and need to design around them.

I also think that EB is one of the best places to find info on new developments as well as the older stuff, but that of course is entirely dependent on people presenting their builds in here and getting feedback on them.

12 minutes ago, Doug72 said:

Part of the problem of no comments to posted new topics for low interest builds MOCs etc. is that any new posting quickly drops off the bottom of page 1 tnto page 2 & beyond, where it is out of immediate sight.

This is a particular issue when ever there is a Technic competition.

Too many individual topics about the same thing that should be brought together into one main topic heading.

i.e. Car s/ Construction vehicles / Gearboxes etc

This was done for GBC Modules and GBC Train System Modules as it had become increasing difficult to find related postings.

Topics dropping quickly to obscurity is a real problem yes. It would be nice to have the topics per page increased in order to keep more stuff on the first page.

[CalimeroLego]

here is an humble opinion of a shadow builder : I don't post MOCs because I feel like the quality has gotten so high in certain Mocs that mine are just not worthy of posting them. I could currently post a JCB 1CXT that I've done but it looks mediocre I believe. As I'm here, I just want to say that it's really myself not feeling good enough and not you guys being too mean ! This community feels healthy so don't worry for that, maybe quality is indeed better than quantity ;)

[mktechniccreations]

20 minutes ago, CalimeroLego said:

here is an humble opinion of a shadow builder : I don't post MOCs because I feel like the quality has gotten so high in certain Mocs that mine are just not worthy of posting them. I could currently post a JCB 1CXT that I've done but it looks mediocre I believe. As I'm here, I just want to say that it's really myself not feeling good enough and not you guys being too mean ! This community feels healthy so don't worry for that, maybe quality is indeed better than quantity ;)

your point of view is faulty i think, i saw many mocs, many were not that great, but lego isnt just model itself, but all the pieces together, even if you are not fan of your moc, there may be some part of it or technique that u used that somebody may found interesting and helpfull, etc, that is my idea, and not many people hates on moc, exept one unnamed, but exept him everybody is more than welcome to see any moc, and if he likes it, he will, if he not, its a MOC. so if you dont mind spend time posting it, then i dont see any reason why not.

[jorgeopesi]

14 minutes ago, CalimeroLego said:

here is an humble opinion of a shadow builder : I don't post MOCs because I feel like the quality has gotten so high in certain Mocs that mine are just not worthy of posting them. I could currently post a JCB 1CXT that I've done but it looks mediocre I believe. As I'm here, I just want to say that it's really myself not feeling good enough and not you guys being too mean ! This community feels healthy so don't worry for that, maybe quality is indeed better than quantity ;)

I think the same sometimes... when I come back from my dark ages someone called Sheepo made me some criticisms in the Spanish forum, with the time I learned that they were good advices but without enough knowledge I thought the opposite and even I got angry  . It will be hard for beginners because everybody has a first MOC and all are bads but necesaries for tne next one.

[Gray Gear]

21 minutes ago, CalimeroLego said:

here is an humble opinion of a shadow builder : I don't post MOCs because I feel like the quality has gotten so high in certain Mocs that mine are just not worthy of posting them. I could currently post a JCB 1CXT that I've done but it looks mediocre I believe. As I'm here, I just want to say that it's really myself not feeling good enough and not you guys being too mean ! This community feels healthy so don't worry for that, maybe quality is indeed better than quantity ;)

If the quality of MOCs is quite high, this might be a double-edged blade. On the one hand it might push MOCers to increase their MOC quality as well, on the other hand it might scare people away from posting their MOCs, or even trying to create MOCs to begin with.

[steph77]

1 hour ago, CalimeroLego said:

here is an humble opinion of a shadow builder : I don't post MOCs because I feel like the quality has gotten so high in certain Mocs that mine are just not worthy of posting them. I could currently post a JCB 1CXT that I've done but it looks mediocre I believe. As I'm here, I just want to say that it's really myself not feeling good enough and not you guys being too mean ! This community feels healthy so don't worry for that, maybe quality is indeed better than quantity ;)

So,

What i propose to you is just to take a deep breath and then post this JCBMoc!

I'll be pleased to see you back in this futur topic.

 

You never have to be afraid to share your model. Even if it's build ids Under the usual quality on this forum, there will ALWAYS be something interesting, new approch, new possible use of part..etc.

So, please, post it!

S.

[amorti]

@CalimeroLego if you feel short of confidence, post it as a WIP. You can always get good tips in here.