posades

Yes that's Latin, what are they teaching you kids in school these days. Seriously though, I took Latin for 4 years in high school and probably remember about 4 days worth, so don't feel too bad.

Nothing to see here, move along (shhh, we are only supposed to be trading lego remember...) And that's a good song by Papa Roach, weren't they supposed to be coming out with a new album soon (or is it already out)?

Mine is pretty simple really, a Latin phrase meaning "To the stars through difficulties".

It fit the new Transformers movie well, I like it more than some of their newer stuff. I know I'll probably get made fun of for this but I enjoy listening to bands like Three Days Grace, Hoobastank and Chevelle (what would be referred to as alternative?). Been listening to Vena Sera (Chevelle) the most lately, I like almost all their songs on that CD which is saying something since I usually only like 3 or 4 songs from any one album.

An aspiring aerospace engineer myself, this set is awesome in so many different ways. I can't believe I didn't even know about it until now; now I may have to buy one myself which is going to be tough to find at a reasonable price. Great set to commemorate one of the greatest achievements of mankind, and nice timing too.

I was under the impression that any trade that involved LEGO in some form was acceptable, but I guess I was wrong. I'm assuming the same rules apply to PM's.

Be my guest, I've got so many MOC's in my head right now but unfortunately I don't have the time (or bricks) to go through with them. That's a cool idea though, building a cave sounds like a neat thing to try. Haha, nothing wrong with green tights, maybe it makes them more aerodynamic when flying through the forest or something.

I tend to not sort, but I do like to keep the smaller pieces together. I guess I do a half-way sort with big plates in one pile, bricks and things in another and the smallest pieces I keep in the bag they came in. For larger builds I might sort by color, but it depends on how much time I have.

Woah, that is quite the city setup! I see it's slowly taking over a room, better watch out. I love all the buildings you made but especially the Chick-fil-a, it looks exactly like the real thing. Gets a big from me!

Ok ok, looks like you guys have won for now, but I'll always keep hope alive. How's this for another, less controversial suggestion: Would it be possible to work in an "away status" (maybe like the banned image except not as ominous and mean looking)? I'm going on a 10 day trip this Saturday, and I know some other people have had similar times when they aren't able to check the forum for several days/weeks (Natman, etc.). I actually thought at first that the 'Taking a Break' status was exactly that, but then I found out that was more like a forced vacation. Seems it would be nice to know when someone is away from the forums so people wouldn't be concerned if their PM's weren't being returned or promised feedback wasn't being given; all you would have to do is input the date you are leaving and coming back and your avatar could change to the away image. And apologies if this is already a feature, if someone could point me in the right direction if it is...

Wow, thank you very much for the info Jordan S.! I know I'm going to be there for sure, and I think Alice said she was going as well; now we just have to wait and see what the exclusive set will be. One thing that is a bit confusing, is the opening date simply when you can start shopping there while the Grand Opening is when all the festivities/exclusive set is given out?

Sure, Unknown Entity +9999 [Given for trying (unsuccessfully) to add a reputation system with one of the rank titles being 'Unknown Entity'; at least I have a lot of rep points now!]

I would have preferred World Renowned or Local Hero myself, beggars can't be choosers I guess though.

I dunno, I kind of like the cards, but for people expecting an exclusive set I can see why they'd be disappointed. I can also see where they were going with the groupings on the cards (droids, aliens, "bad guys", etc.), but I have to agree with Clone O' Patra in that they could have thought out the groupings a little more in dpeth.

Thanks. I know, that torso always seemed forest-ey to me (is that pine cone armor? ), though it was a little too dark for regular forestmen to use. I need to pick up a few more on Bricklink when I get a chance, but it's not that high on my to-do list right now.

Someone care to explain my title to me?

Wow, someone that agrees with me, what is this world coming to? Those are good suggestions, and it would also make people think twice before handing it out left and right. Moderation of the bad rep could be an option, though maybe it could automatically be given and then reviewed if the receiving member feels it was unjustly given to them (to help out the admins/mods).

Fair enough, though we'll never know for sure unless we try right? It depends, I'm not sure how much power the admins and mods have when it comes to this. They might be able to see everything that's going on in the background or they might have a list of top rep receivers in a day for instance, can't say for sure since I've never been behind the scenes. However, there could be a 'Report' button or something similar to help identify the people you expect of foul play. Well I would think when someone like that does post they would make it more worthwhile instead of just simply posting a frivolous comment, thus increasing the amount of "quality posts". No, I said the title ranks would be visible in the member's profile, not the actual number of points. The ranks would change at different point values yes (for instance maybe 10, 50, 100, etc.) but that would be the most anyone would know.

The other forum I frequent uses it as well, and I haven't seen any problems where they abuse it. Siegfried himself claimed it was also implemented successfully in another forum, so it's not like it can't be done. As I said, I have a rosier view of the Eurobrick community at large; if there are some that want to abuse the system, that should call for an automatic ban in my opinion. And if it turns out the ones abusing it are underage, maybe the 18+ rule should be more heavily enforced. The false representation would only apply to those that misuse the system, and I think we can both agree that would be a very small minority of the population. Do people want to be part of the community and participate as Svelte mentioned or do they want to primarily look/comment at peoples' MOCs and cruise the boards? With the rep system, both paths can be followed and both can be rewarded. The specific number of points each member has wouldn't be publicly displayed so this hypothetical conversation would never take place.

It doesn't just have to apply to new members. I don't know about about you, but being rewarded and recognized by others is a great feeling (yes I realize this is the internet, but still ). If you know that posting a well thought out comment that is truly helpful to the topic starter or another member will potentially net you this reward (albeit for yourself), I'm guessing most people will strive to do this more often than not. Right now it just seems new members will say anything to get their post count up; I guess it would decrease the amount of less useful posts more than increase the amount of quality posts, so I can see where you'd be confused.

Lots of replies to an apparently unpopular idea. Changes in rank are great but it tells me little about a member (only that he/she has been here for a long time or they tend to comment on every single topic they come across). Titles to me are also fairly useless; most of them are inside jokes or are changed on a regular basis so you never know what they are talking about. Tags I'm not too familiar with but I'm assuming they are the expert MOCer, etc. pics I see at the bottom of member's name (which is fine). I have to disagree with you on the rep system catering to the younger crowd because of "instant results". We aren't talking hit points or popularity points or anything, it's simply a way to reward deserving individuals when they post something extraordinary. No one is forcing you to judge your peers as you put it, so if you feel that is something you are not comfortable doing then there's no reason to do it. In my mind giving out rep would be somewhat of a rare occurrence, but I guess that would depend on the member's philosophy toward the system. As I mentioned, it could be something that is discreet. The number of points you have wouldn't be shown, just your rank (changes after 10, 50, etc.) in your profile. I also forgot to mention the person giving the rep would also have a certain amount of characters to leave a message along with the rep to explain themselves; this would also not be viewable by the public, only the specific member it was given to. I can't remember what word I used, but if it was 'good' then I apologize for the nebulous categorization; maybe finding 'quality contributors' to these boards is a more accurate description. Not sure where you going with the goldfish comment, maybe something to do with how you pick a certain one out at the pet store? While this new system does incorporate newer members more so than the current setup, I'm not seeing how it would be pandering to them. If anything, I think this new system would encourage more thoughtful and meaningful dialogue and participation by the newer members instead of the "That's a good MOC" or "Me too" comments I see simply to raise their post count. Older, more established members like yourself would naturally be more respected throughout the Eurobricks community so it wouldn't take long for your reputation to reflect that. Newer members might find it more difficult to obtain reputation (only given to them in those exceptional cases) which is good, right? As for the whole mature members and abuse of the system argument, I'd like to think the majority of people here wouldn't misuse the system like that but that may be the optimist in me talking. Safeguards can be put in for situations like that (like the idea I gave earlier). And the negative rep could be tweaked where you aren't automatically banned but instead put on a "watch list" for the admins and mods to decide your fate.

Funny you should say that, that's exactly what I did yesterday with my niece (I needed a dark bley horse hitching), and I felt really bad about it. Oh well, guess it might be time to buy her another brick bucket. I tend to do the same thing as Peppermint_M, that is try to limit myself to smaller sets that aren't as big a hit on my wallet (pretty much all mind games though because they add up quickly). I also have a problem of getting "caught up in the moment" and start buying lots of sets on ebay even if I don't really need them, so I tend to steer clear of places like that now. As for Bricklink, I only go there when I'm missing some parts for a MOC or something, and I try to limit orders there to under $10.

Filled it out, thanks for the link. Interesting to see a Rewards Program mentioned; hadn't thought about that, but I think it's a great idea!

DISCLAIMER: I'm taking this idea almost directly from another forum I frequent (BigSoccer, I doubt anyone else goes there but you never know ), so this isn't my idea and I'm sure a ton of other forum type sites use this general system as well. DISCLAIMER #2: This is a long post by the way, sorry. So my suggestion goes a little something like this: Since I don't frequent and post on these boards as much as I like, I tend to not know who many of the better members here are. Wouldn't it be great if there could be a way to see who really contributes meaningfully and is generally a well respected member of Eurobricks? Enter the Reputation System. For instance, if I see a post from somebody that I find particularly on-topic to the conversation at hand, contains top secret info that is punishable by death if TLG finds out, is genuinely funny or that I just plain agree with, all I would do is add to that particular poster's "rep". After a certain amount of reputation points there could be certain titles that could be achieved such as "World Renowned", "Local Hero", "Unknown Entity", etc. Since this is supposedly an 18+ forum, there theoretically wouldn't be any childish abuse of the system (rewarding friends back and forth), and there could be restrictions in place where you had to rep 5 other people before repping the same person again or something to that effect. For the sake of this not turning into a popularity contest the points attained by posters would not be publicly shown, and this doesn't have to be something that is trumpeted around. It can be hidden away on someone's profile if need be, with only the title you've obtained visible. This could also go the other way as well. If there is a spammer, someone who isn't adding anything useful to the conversation or a post that is disrespectful or demeaning they could receive negative rep. After a certain number of negative points against them they could "Take a Break" or be "Banned". Would it be possible to incorporate a reputation system? I'm no computer programmer and I don't know the first thing about code so for all I know this could be impossible to implement in an established forum like this. If this isn't possible that's ok, I've just wasted 10 minutes of my life writing this down in a post that is pointless (kidding). So what do you guys think, is this a viable option to consider? Flaws/tweaks/comments?

Watched Transformers 2 a couple weeks ago; thought it was good, mindless fun. Not really the biggest fan of movies (working at a movie theater for 2 years probably scarred me for life), but I'll go if someone invites me. How was Bruno? A couple of my friends wanted to go watch it the other day but I've heard it's not nearly as funny as Borat.