JINZONINGEN73

Ah, I gotcha. Like when kids make topics that they've seen the 2009 Lego Star Wars line. But can't show the pics because their computer's acting up. You always make so much sense. *wub*

It's not totally a non-issue. This Troy says he knows something behind the scenes that only he knows, reassuring us we should just be patient, because he knows something noone else knows and we don't know it yet because we're not him, he who knows something we don't know. Then again... I see your point. :-|

Yes, within his rights. But at times, within your rights is not the same as doing what's right. : /

Cajun (Bryce McGlone) of In_the_Bricks pointed out that webarchive.org is a good way to get at least SOME of your photos. Be warned though, alot will be missing. Even more, alot will have thumbnails, but no pics and no thumbnails and HAVE pics. Prepare yourself for a whole lot of hitting "next". (As a bonus, I noticed older saves on webarchive produced pics I'd long since deleted off Brickshelf! What an awesome place).

Age 5-7 Played with brother's Lego. Age 8-26... NOTHING. Age 27 Bought an insectoids Sonic Stinger, a buncha' discount sets in the summer, then Bionicle, Throwbots & RoboRiders. Now almost 34, going strong. *sweet*

I always like seeing Belville in the catalog, for their trans parts, crystalline pieces, etc... I must say though, this wave seems kinda' boring. No ice or underwater castles... no avenue for the really STRANGE parts.

Good for you. But for us, Kevin is habitually a person who does not answer email, pulls plugs on websites he gets bored with, etc... ...there's noone to go to and ask how to help. You're suprised by negativity? HOW? Habitually absent communication PLUS Other sites pulled PLUS Very final sounding message EQUALS "Oh my god, Brickshelf's been pulled too". The point is, it's moral. People devoted years of their life to this art. To not give them a chance to reclaim it is immoral, no matter how "free" it is. Add in too, some people HAVE donated money to the site. PROBLEM... there was no "fixing" of zerostuds or geekshelf. They were just GONE. And there was no avenue of communication to plea for their life, or the hard work (content) people contributed to them. The only "fix" appeared to be move on & create our own sites. The only "fix" is Lego fans coming together to restore off disks and hard drives what little of our work's survived the test of time. But fixing Brickshelf? We can't. How would the populace even go about it?!? You'll refrain? But you're "confident" Kevin is working on restoring it? What? That's an assumption that gives what appears to be false, time-wasting hope. Now, if what you know is not "dire", then what is the nature of your secrecy? Stop being childish and describe how you know what you know. If this crisis is just regular, run of the mill internet website crashing, then stop acting like you're on some childish, inner circle of super-secret spy stuff. Problem: Brickshelf went down with a final sounding message. Cause: (fill in the blank) It's not rocket science. And I'd be hard pressed to believe whatever data you have is so important, that it threatens the success of him fixing it. PROBLEM: It's easy to think, based on the past, and his final-sounding message, that he would have no care to be bothered handing over the data to a new operator. He got BORED / displeased with the direction of zerostuds, then instantly killed it. If the brief moment he was seen was any indication, it was due to "kids" who like Bionicle swarming in. Needless to say, Brickshelf has also been crushed under less-than-par Bionicle mocs as well. Classic castle: Very specific subset? You realize just how many people you were going holier than thou on? Lots of people use Firefox and never donate. Lots of people use Google and never donate. And with Brickshelf, if there was a plea to help keep the site alive, do you REALLY think it'd not be met with loving success? So you're saying you know it was a money thing? Or is it assumption? Granted. But saying, "Kevin did this AGAIN?!? Get the hell out! Is he selling it or did he lose interest again?!?" is trying to BEGIN to work to a resolution. For once you know the story to something, you can go from there. All he did was leave us guessing, which is NOT cool no matter how free it was. Again, we might not know why Brickshelf is down, but his message was MOST FINAL in tone. Look, if you were in an art gallery filled with your works that the owner let you place there for free (and which they aquired advertising revenue from)... you're saying it's A-OK for the doors to just be locked one day, your art still inside? Dude... seriously? 8-

But we wouldn't know. His statement on the blank, white page sounds most final. But we wouldn't know. His statement on the blank, white page sounds most final. Like it did with zerostuds, or the unanswered emails people send throughout the years? If this had come out of the blue, what you're saying would be correct. But it's not the first time. Know how the drama could be avoided? Instead of, "Brickshelf has discontinued operation. We apologize for any inconvenience.", a most final sounding "Seeya!" kind of thing, how about... and I know this is pretty darn abstract stuff, "Working on it. -Kevin" See what I did there? I just saved a ton of people migrating to the 4 corners of the internet, prevented people who think years of their life have been trashed, AND generally left only the most panicky of people in a panic. We all know that too. But where do you fit in to all this? Now that I'm thinkin' about it, what is so dire that you can't speak of it? Did the site go kablooey / get moved and Kevin's working on it? So what. We have patience. Did he run out of money? So what? We have money. Did he have no time? So what?We have volunteers. Beyond that... the only other reasons are dark ones (that I can think of anyway). Selling the site, disinterested in the site like he was with zerostuds, etc... in the absence of communicating with the community, all we have to fall back on is the way we know he's treated things in the past. So really, what's with this "I have a secret! neener neener!" stuff you're pulling? if it's such a simple, mundane, no big deal sort of thing, cough it up already. Yes, he created one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on the internet. No, he is not a good communicator. Yes, he's simply, suddenly "ditched" sites in the past. You HAVE to realize that one is not a "whiney vulture" to lament it's sudden closing. And I'm rather offended that you started the incivility by calling us names. Dear god, it's the 70's again, it's Saturday morning, the sun is just coming up, and I'm trying to get CBS tuned in clearer to watch the bugs Bunny show. SEE ALSO: McDonalds, Jordache jeans, etc etc lol

Indeed, there's nothing "level-headed" in banning a person who merely disagrees. Kevin's done something inexplicable, he's done it before, and Troy needs to realize that your reaction is based on those past actions of Kevin. The only bridge burning I see has not been with Starwars4j. True, we're all a bit frazzled and hurt, but banning people with opposing views is just not called for. Likewise, calling people who've put 5 or 10 years of their life into their art "whiney vultures" isn't called for either. And Kevin, doing this yet again... also not called for. It's not us burning bridges, we're only being burned alive by others. ...If you're not let back in to Classic Castle within, say, 24 hours... then it's unworthy of your presence. Any site that bans / punishes people for voicing their opinion when things are going wrong are better left cold turkey. (And to those who know me, you know I've made good on my particular problem with a certain site). Silencing members for wanting resolution to insane things that never should have happened? Inexcusable.

Old stuff, years old. Probably no longer relevant. Drama OFF! Far East of Eden (I think) was the rom I ripped it from, right before the ending of the game. Lol... I'm not sure if I approve of contacting him through his work's interface. Some workplaces look down on that greatly. :-P

Ah, I see what you mean. I'd not mind paying for my linked pics back... but to lose all images from the japanese / deceased / out of the scene mocers of the past? Hmm... yeah, that might not be worth it. No more Moko? No more Sugegasa? Pffft. Scary.

If it does become a pay site, but all the past history is inaccessible at the addresses previously located... THEN it'll be a failure. But perhaps the super-secret backdoor was intentionally dropped to show it's still there? Lol... this is making my head hurt. Backing away from internet now... :-D

Well, for some, you're talking about having to save, then re-upload hundreds of pictures all over again. In my case, probably over a thousand. THEN, they all have to go back and re-link all their images in every topic they ever linked them to. To pay to get granted link access back to where it was? Yeah, call me a sucker, but I'd pay. I'm grateful for what Brickshelf has been to everyone so far. I almost WANT to pay as a "thank you". One could have donated before this, but oh well, here's just a push to get that ball rolling. Yeah, i recall he didn't even have a Bionicle section, merely redirecting over to BPZ lol. He clearly didn't like all the Bionicle mocs and the kids who made it happen. So? Make it a pay site... then only the RICH kids will have to be tolerated lol.

I have no trouble in it becoming a pay site. But you know what MY fear in that is? New features lol. It might be basic, but I LOVE the simplicity of it. Aside from Google ads and whatnot, it's a pretty clean dealie goin' on there. Add too much junk, and it might as well be like trying to navigate a thread on Lugnet lol. Simple interface FTW.

That thought DEFINITELY crossed my mind. Temporarily deprive access, show investors the MASSIVE stream of activity. But mere access to daily traffic statistics could do that too, y'know? Now you have people migrating all over the internet as a result of this fiasco.

I never liked Peeron's color descriptions, or their attempts to gain power over other Lego community sites... but more power to 'em on this. I don't even care if my statements of disgust had me banned from a revived Brickshelf, so long as all the hundreds of thousands of links all over the internet from others were restored. The thing annoying me... the pics are clearly all still there. Why? WHY close the back door up?

Here's an interesting discussion on it: http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=53767&t=i&v=a The main creator of the post refers to the horrified users as "whiners". Hilarity ensues. This Troy forgets to mention that, had Kevin expressed a need for assistance, an ARMADA of people would have shown up at his door in every form possible. You don't survive over a decade on the internet without gaining trusted servants. Also,

Too nice. Needs more salt.

I too WANT to toss him the benefit of the doubt, but after seeing zerostuds vanish with no warning, geekshelf before it with only a 2-week warning... what would one expect me to believe? I'd also like to think maybe his service was interrupted by entities higher up on the internet ladder, but there'd surely have been SOME kind of impending warning, wouldn't there? And if it was hacked, would not there be a message relayed to the community by him? For every defense one can throw out, there's also a counter to it. Like I said, if I'm wrong, I WANT you to argue with me. Defend away! Even better, those of us migrating what little we have over to maj... won't that just get large and then vanish too?

There's people (as you well know) defending his actions tooth and nail. "Brickshelf is free, you got what you paid for har har!" "Kevin never even had to make it!" "OMG, you never backed your stuff up? lol" "You never contributed, what are you complaining about?" "Kevin did it ALONE!" Well DUH. --There's many a person who'd have jumped in to save it financially. --There's many a person who'd have devoted their time in it's maintenance. --There's many a person who'd have allowed temporary hosting on their server so everything could be backed up. --There was no call, to anyone using or visiting Brickshelf, that there was any kind of financial problem going on. But really, the worst is, and you're being intellectually DISHONEST to defend him on this, --He hasn't, as far as people seem to know, communicated what happened. I'm sorry, if I'm wrong, by all means, fire away.

I'm infuriated. This was INTENTIONALLY pulled. I thought maybe it was an unfixable crash that shot the site offline... but seeing the backdoor site go down too, with the same message... answers, man, answers. I hate everyone going,"HEY! Kevin has done this for free! Leave him alone!" Nonsense... there's years of works there, some by people no longer alive. And he doesn't issue a statement anywhere as to "why"? It's like some god coming down and taking your life back from you, silently, for no reason. In exactly WHAT degree do we need to "back off" this Kevin guy? Did he die? If not... what is this?!?

Ohhhh god,it's dead again!!!

BACK DOOR ARE GO!