What Brickset will do for you
Posted by Huw,
Last week we asked What can Brickset do for you? in these challenging times. We had a terrific response in the comments. We read them all and yesterday and picked out those that we intend to pursue.
So, here's what we have planned:
Brickset Tutorials -- it's clear that some of the more advanced functionality of the site is buried away and often lies undiscovered. We will therefore provide more tutorials (which can be accessed at any time from the orange More... menu above) including on how to mark minifigs as missing and how to create custom queries.
Parts articles -- Many fo you said how much you enjoyed our articles that take a look at specific types of parts, e.g. the one on Technic pins, so we'll try and do more. However, bear in mind that they are time-consuming to research.
More competitions -- You made some great suggestions for building competitions. We plan to kick-off the first one this week. We will try and have a couple running concurrently so you can hopefully find one that interests you.
Guest author articles -- We'd love to publish articles by guest authors but of course we need them to write them first! If you have something you'd like to contribute let us know.
Featured classic set -- We really liked the idea of a curated set of the day and this will be one of the first things we do. Rather than us choosing them all, though, we will ask YOU to contribute and pick a set that has some meaning to you. We'll provide more information about this later on today.
User interviews -- Interviews with Brickset users about their first set, their favourite set, their collection, that sort of thing, is another thing we'd really like to do but of course we need volunteers! If you're up for it, let us know. To make them more interesting we'd like to include a picture of you, so bear that in mind.
Guest reviewers -- We'd love to publish more of your set reviews on the home page but of course we need to ensure they meet the expectations of our readers. We will therefore look to set up some form of reviewer mentoring scheme to provide feedback and ensure quality. Again, if you're interested in getting involved, get in touch.
If you're interested in getting involved please get in touch using the contact form, rather than commenting below. It makes it much easier for us to keep track. Thank you!
That should hopefully be enough to keep us going for a while...
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23 comments on this article
I would love to expand on my review of 70825 to something more complete and comprehensive worthy of the Brickset home page given the set's niche status! I'd have to reshoot it though since the photos I produced for my own site aren't consistent with ones normally seen here.
I would really like to be able to record Blocks magazine issues on the site as I have quite a few but unsure of which ones I am missing. I think this was suggested a while back but I haven't seen it put into action. I was very interested in the reviewing since I want to review every proper set that I own this year but then I read that you had to put a picture. Not so keen any more.
I really like the idea of different competitions but they need to be friendly for everyone. For example, the displaying competition to win £50 had to be submitted on Instagram and a lot of people were complaining that they don't have social media. I myself am a TFoL, meaning that I only have a limited amount of money to spend on parts on Bricklink or just Lego in general. I usually rely on Christmas and my Birthday but, seeing as neither of them are very close, I doubt I'm getting anything other than what I already have. Coronavirus has made sure of that.
As well as all of that, I'm a TFoL meaning that I have to do schoolwork online, which is in fact 5 1 hour long lessons a day. That limits how much time I have to build. I'm sure the majority of people who are not classed as key workers are working at home, limiting their amount of free time.
Anyway, thank you @MeganL, @Huw and @CapnRex101 for making Brickset a much better place during times of struggle, with reviews, being open to members and offering us new things. Keep at it!
Seconding the above request that the competitions be accessible to people who don't use social media too, please! It would be nice if any image-hosting site could be an acceptable medium to upload the contest entries to ^^
Also seconding the thanks: you all do so much for us on this site, and it's really appreciated! :D
Thanks for readimg our comments and as for the Classic sets returning I would like to submit the first Tie Fighter LEGO did (blue lines and came with a Stormtrooper, a pilot and a stand), that wasn't the first set I owned but it's the oldest one that is still assembled, minus the stand and I decided the pilot needed a handgun and the Trooper had to be upgraded in gear.
I mentioned in the original post about doing MOC reviews. Is that a possibility or would there be issues/lack of interest?
We tend not to cover MOCs, instead leaving them to the experts at Brothers Brick.
@Lordmoral, email me a couple of paragraphs about why it's special to you and we'll take it from there.
For build competition there should be limits on size / number of pieces, so that people with not many parts aren't too disadvantaged.
So, build competitions were suggested to occupy peoples spare time when at home etc. A fine idea.
Now a comment about limiting the size of these builds because people won’t have that much time due to remote work or education commitments!
Build what you can when you can, don’t worry about winning, in this case it really is the taking part that matters. I’m sure the judges are wise enough to appreciate a fine model made in a few hours from a few parts anyway.
Wow I love all of these ideas Brickset! Thanks for helping our community.
I've always wanted to write for you so I'll definitely brainstorm and reach out to you with ideas.
Right, back to what I was originally going to post...
I wanted say a genuine thank-you to the website for being the sort of place that asked this question in the first place, i.e how can we help?
I’ll appreciate anything the Brickset team can publish and realise the extra effort ramping up output will take. So as member’s let’s play our part and not ask for anything too unrealistic.
@Huw Can we already do nominations for the featured classic set?
I'd like to see the ability for users to change tagging on set pages, similar to what we can do on parts pages. I've noticed there are several missing or out of date tags and it gets frustrating having to contact the admins all the time.
With the amount of analysis I've done, I feel like I could probably contribute something as a guest author, but I'm not quite sure what.
@myth, yes please! The first one will be published at 8pm GMT today. See what I have in mind then sens us your suggestion!
Featured classic set: The 6285 Black Seas Barracuda would be a great start considering the exciting news from today regarding the release of The Blackseas Barracuda Pirate Bay
^ Happy to feature it if you want to write it!
Thanks for all this work put into making these awesome reviews and articels. Keep up the good work and also- even if more people need to read it during this period, there is no need to rush the articles. Quality over quantity!
It sounds like a lot of people really need this hobby and your website to get help get them through the current struggles.
Thanks for asking what you can do and then doing all of these things!
Has anyone done a history of baseplates? That might be something I could try.
What about a top 10 worst LEGO sets list?
I've got a collection that includes nearly every single Lego Marvel Super Heroes minifigure based on the MCU, if you'd like to do a user interview about that
@TheWackyWookiee said:
"What about a top 10 worst LEGO sets list?"
Yep. The Blocks Magazine already did that. Quite a few issues ago as well. Not sure which one though. See @Huw, if we could log Blocks magazines, I would definitely know!
AND ALL AT MY FAVOURITE PRICE.
Thanks Huw.