To make posting and reading more enjoyable...

[Follows Closely]

With very little effort, using custom BBCode tags we could make posting set names/numbers easier and more consistent. Wouldn't it be great if I could post something like [set]10179[/set] and get a nice display such as:

10179 - Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon (brickset|bricklink).

Of course you should add some flexibility such as [set links=none]10179[/set] and such. I know I would use this feature all the time. I developed a similar feature for a American Football site where I added a custom tag to link to player profiles. It was a big hit and was one of the most frequently praised feature. I even added a hover feature that fired a popup to view high level stats. Simple things like this can add great value to a site. Also, the effort to develop, would be only a few hours. And that is doing it right.

[Rick]

There is BBcode for creating links to the EB set index.

[sdex]8880[/sdex]

8880

[Siegfried]

Have you ever tried stuff like;

Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon

10179

Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon 10179

UCS

There is BBcode for creating links to the EB set index.

[sdex]8880[/sdex]

8880

One million points to Rick!

[fred67]

sdex is a nice feature, but it's not quite what Follows Closely was suggesting.

I'm a big LEGO fan, but I don't know what each set number is. Even as a fan of specific themes, I don't know what all those set numbers are. It saves me time while reading other people's threads to not have to look it up (even if given a convenient link, which requires you temporarily leave the thread, especially when I'm using my phone).

Something more like how it works on bricklink would be cool, although I think it would end up being a lot more work than a couple of hours. If you "borrowed" bricklink's images in exchange for automatically linking to bricklink, it might be easier.

[set]10194-1[/set]

Could produce something like:

Emerald Night; 10194-1

Note that the image is a link back to BL's catalog. If you enabled tables (I don't know if your forum software supports it), the formatting could be really nice.

In this way, I could see most of the relevant information (probably all I'd need) right within the post, without having to leave the thread to see what someone is talking about. Of course, it's all contingent on people actually using the tags, but isn't that always the case?

Without pictures, SDEX would be great if you could automatically include the name of the set.

[sdex]8080[/sdex]

Could produce:

8080 Super Car

Just my two cents... I know it's extra work, but I'd use it, and I'd certainly appreciate when others use it.

Edited April 19, 2011 by fred67

[Big Cam]

I don't want this to come off as rude, but you can easily do this with the url tags and image tags.

For the few that would probably use it, it might not be worth the staffs time to code it in, also I wonder if we would need bricklink's permission for something like that.

With that said I do like the idea, it would be nice for reviews, but it is easily doable manually.

[Follows Closely]

I don't want this to come off as rude, but you can easily do this with the url tags and image tags.

True, but we are lazy Actually a tag would add a consistent look and usage.

For the few that would probably use it, it might not be worth the staffs time to code it in...

Also true.

I wonder if we would need bricklink's permission for something like that.

With that said I do like the idea, it would be nice for reviews, but it is easily doable manually.

I would love to see this implemented to show just the name/number, then on a hover a small set details would pop up with the picture and some details, similar to your set index page, but much smaller. If there was a sexy popup with details, it would get noticed. And I expect users would adopt it. I would think that bricklink images would be preferred, as they are less of a competitor than brickset.

[Siegfried]

I developed a similar feature for a American Football site where I added a custom tag to link to player profiles.

Link please.

[Hinckley]

True, but we are lazy

Nice that you are honest about this. Keep in mind the more automated things get, the less likely people are to use their brains and the lack of challenge leads to Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders later in life. But, we'll make sure you don't have to put too much effort into posting pics & links in the mean time!