The future direction of the Pirate LEGO Forum

[tedbeard]

The forum is no longer there but it appears the domain is still registered.

Is there no way we could acquire the rights to the domain? Or why not simply register either piratebricks.NET or piratebricks.ORG which are both available? We could even register one or both of those and still try to get .COM to cover all the bases.

We cannot use "LEGO" in the domain so lets not waste any more time on that question.

As for "Classic", well that actually refers to older themes as opposed to "today's" incarnation and since there is NO current Pirates theme sets it seems a little silly.

[Mister Phes]

The question will be asked regardless. The purpose in doing so is beyond the obvious motive. >8-)

However, www.piratelego.com is currently being parked...

[tedbeard]

The question will be asked regardless. The purpose in doing so is beyond the obvious motive. >8-)

However, www.piratelego.com is currently being parked...

The one and only non-TLC website allowed to use "lego" in the domain name that I am aware of is LEGOfan and they are tightly controlled by LEGO. Now, that can be fine and good and if you want to make a site under those conditions for Pirates and they are willing, more power to ya.

My preference is for sites that are at arms length from the company so we can criticize if neccessary and focus on the ADULT fans.

It really boils down to two choices.

PirateBricks.org (or whatever) could be up and running tomorrow under the control of the community.

PirateLego.com could take months of negotiations and would always be under the thumb of TLC.

Now the questions is, are we making this decision as a community in which case lets call the question, or is this a personal project in which we have no real say?

[Mister Phes]

There hasn't been enough community input to determine a name, so far you've suggested piratebricks.org and Norro suggested classic-pirate.com.

But I'm already aware of the ramifications of registering pirate-lego.com, but what I'm not aware is the ramifications of making an inquiry to use it...

[Bonaparte]

I like the name PirateBricks.org.

Doesn't contain "lego" or "classic".

It's the most accurate!

How can we raise funds to buy this (or another) domain?

I did some checks on the price (I recently bought a domain on www.one.com).

Web Space Small - 12 months: EUR 15.00

Annual domain fee (.com/.net/.org): EUR 12.00

Setup fee: EUR 12.00

Total excl. VAT.: EUR 39.00

So the total price for the first year (including 15% tax) will be EUR 44,85.

Afterwards this will cost EUR 27 + 15%= EUR 31,05/year

For this price you get 1G webspace, supports ASP, PHP5, MySQL, email-addresses,....

I'm I going too fast?

[Mister Phes]

I'll have to fit the bill myself then attempt to make the money back through adds or something.

[tedbeard]

... but what I'm not aware is the ramifications of making an inquiry to use it...

Not a whole lot really just:

1) Time delay/wasted time - as I suggested above IF TLC is willing to even consider the request it could take a long time to convince TLC that it is worth their investment of their good name. You should contact Joe Meno (LEGOFan) and Steve Witt (or the Euro Community guy if there is one) and ask what it took to get LEGOFan off the ground. In the end they could still say no and you would have wasted a lot of time trying to accomplish something.

2) Loss of control - IF TLC allows the use they will place restrictions on what can be said or done on the site and might at any time of their choosing terminate the agreement rendering any work done to promote the site null and void as it would have to be switched to some other domain name.

If you have some other positive reasons why using LEGO would be so wonderful then please share.

The only positive you have stated is the ease with which people could find the web site. Given the sophistication of web search engines and the narrow area of interest I would think the advantage of having "LEGO" in the domain name is negligible.

[Mister Phes]

I was going to contact Steve just to see what he had to say about the matter. But I wasn't really going to push the www.pirate-lego.com domain any further.

[Bonaparte]

I'll have to fit the bill myself then attempt to make the money back through adds or something.

That's a possibility.

Or you could try to raise some money from the pirate fans on Eurobricks...

[Mister Phes]

And how would I do that? I want the Pirate LEGO forum to be completely free indefinitely.

[Bonaparte]

And how would I do that? I want the Pirate LEGO forum to be completely free indefinitely.

Well, we can open a thread and explain the idea of a pirate portal page.

Then ask who wants to support it (also financially) on a purely voluntary basis.

If 9 members each donate 5 euro's (thats 45 euro), then we are in business and independent of external sponsors. The donating can be done via Paypal.

I would have no problem to sacrifice 5 euro (that's only 1 imperial guard :) ) for a just cause!

When you also give 5 euro's, then we only need to find 7 more sponsors....

[Capn Frank]

i'm all for this site being called www.piratebricks.something. escpecially if lego would keep a tight leash around us pirates. i dunno about yous guys. but this pirate ain't gonna be on a tight leash. Aaargh! X-D

[tedbeard]

Then ask who wants to support it (also financially) on a purely voluntary basis.

Great idea! I'd be hapy to chip in 5 euro's and be listed as a "Founding Contributor" or something silly on a history/about page. :)

Ongoing money could come in from little ads, an Amazon affiliate program, maybe a CafePress store.

[Mister Phes]

Yes I was thinking of ads. I.e. Google but I know little about the Amazon affiliate program or CafePress. Could you elaborate further upon these?

[El Bucanero]

I don't feel like paying for a forum...even if it's the pirate forum, that's why I don't register to LUGnet..

[Bonaparte]

I don't feel like paying for a forum...even if it's the pirate forum, that's why I don't register to LUGnet..

Everyone could decide to sponsor or not.

But it would not be for a forum, rather for a pirate portal page that can be used to highlight some stuff that's in the pirate forum. Provide a detailed listing of topics in the forum (E.g.: an overview of all the MOC-ships with some information and links to the relevant threads,....).

The pirate-forum will act as a sort of a database.

I'm making a similar portal page (and forum) at this moment (still under construction).

It is just a portal page in front of a forum and all links in the portal direct to topics in the forum.

You can have a look if you want (it's all in dutch :)).

[Mister Phes]

Yes, your website is definitely Dutch to me :-D? So what's this forum supposed to be? Some kind of social hub where users in your area can congregate online and plan events?

But I understand Mr Tiber's attitude since many here don't have full time jobs and are still students who need every spare penny to buy more LEGO. So because of this I would never ask for money from the users because I wouldn't want to make them feel obliged to contribute.

[Bonaparte]

Yes, your website is definitely Dutch to me :-D? So what's this forum supposed to be? Some kind of social hub where users in your area can congregate online and plan events?

Jep, its a place to discuss the nightlife of my local town X-D

We plan to start promoting it by the end of the year.

I also made a sales part in the forum. I put a topic to ask if someone has some old lego that he/she want so sell (or give ;-) ).

But I understand Mr Tiber's attitude since many here don't have full time jobs and are still students who need every spare penny to buy more LEGO. So because of this I would never ask for money from the users because I wouldn't want to make them feel obliged to contribute.

You're probably right. Some people might feel obliged to sponsor...

[Mister Phes]

But its something consider.

I won't be registering any domains for at least another month and that depends on how long my festive season lasts. I suppose more accurately I'll reevaluate the situation in about a months time.

I still need to buy a new digital camera and finish off the Pirate Forum skin - that banner up the top is screaming to be redesigned.

[Bonaparte]

I still need to buy a new digital camera and finish off the Pirate Forum skin - that banner up the top is screaming to be redesigned.

I like the current banner, but it might be better if there was a pirate ship on the horizon.

My digital camera is also broken since a few days.

Just when I was trying to take some pictures of my new English army 8-|

I'm going to borrow an old one from a friend that just bought a new camera.

[tedbeard]

Yes I was thinking of ads. I.e. Google but I know little about the Amazon affiliate program or CafePress. Could you elaborate further upon these?

Amazon Affiliate: websites sign up and use special code to link through to Amazon in a general ad-type link or through a book title/listing. When someone clicks through to Amazon using one of these links it keeps a record of any purchases made during that session result in a small percentage going to the affiliate. Highlighting pirate books and making them links lets people buy books we recommend and get small amounts of money to the site.

CafePress: anyone can setup an on-demand print shop through Cafepress.com They have t-shirts, hats, mugs, clocks, bags, magnets... basically anything that can be printed on with a custom design uploaded via a web interface. You set the prices and anything above the "cost" is earned. I am sure we have enough creative types to create some cool items people might actually want to buy.

[Mister Phes]

We could create Pirate LEGO merchandise however, would there any legal issues concerning that given that LEGO is a trademarked brand?

I like the current banner, but it might be better if there was a pirate ship on the horizon.

If you like that banner you'll absolutely love the new and improved banner X-D

[tedbeard]

We could create Pirate LEGO merchandise however, would there any legal issues concerning that given that LEGO is a trademarked brand?

We would create PirateBricks merchandise that does not infringe LEGO's trademarks. Something like LUGnet's CafePress Store only much cooler. X-D

[Mister Phes]

But as for the LEGO itself, so long as we don't reveal the "LEGO" written on the brick studs, would we have any problems using that in our creations?

[Scouty]

Yes. I would. Sorta. But what would we make with these unofficial parts?