allanp Posted December 3, 2015 Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) Oh man, that guy deserves to be sold an megablocks whoopin! Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. There have been past cases here of people DEMANDING instructions as if they are somehow entitled to them. Maybe it's because you can't give kids a good smack now without them crying to social services and having you arrested! Maybe it's because this younger generation are "developing" their social skills by sitting alone in front of a computer. You don't owe them anything. Edited December 3, 2015 by allanp Quote
andythenorth Posted December 3, 2015 Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) Maybe it's because this younger generation are "developing" their social skills by sitting alone in front of a computer. You don't owe them anything. Yes, none of us did that, definitely, not ever never. Edited December 3, 2015 by andythenorth Quote
BusterHaus Posted December 3, 2015 Posted December 3, 2015 Sariel, let me play devil's advocate for a few minutes. I understand that the parts you collect for your MOCs are either rare or end up being reused in other projects. I also understand that replacing them once they're sold would often be a hassle. I also suspect that the vast majority of potential buyers would not pay a few thousand dollars for your time and some bricks. Not to mention people who demand stuff for (almost) nothing, like the case you described. This being said, do you think there is a serious market for your creations, sold for a price that would compensate your time and experience? Did you ever consider a MOC as a piece of art, and that offering it to the public would potentially bring in a serious offer? I'm not saying that you must sell every (or any) MOC, I'm simply wondering if there is a real market for one-of creations. You already benefit from a wide audience and name recognition - I doubt many would hold it against you of you decided to sell any of your MOCs. There is nothing wrong with making money or turning a hobby into a business. You've given plenty to the Lego community, and nobody could accuse you of selling out if you decided to add a revenue stream from selling your MOCs. That's about it for my devil's advocate argument. I'm fine with your current position of not selling anything, but I'm also wondering if you couldn't support your passion with an occasional sold MOC. Quote
Sariel Posted December 3, 2015 Author Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) This being said, do you think there is a serious market for your creations, sold for a price that would compensate your time and experience? Did you ever consider a MOC as a piece of art, and that offering it to the public would potentially bring in a serious offer? Can't say I have.Just like you said, there is usually so much engineering and parts I need behind every MOC that I can't really imagine parting with it. I'm simply unable to objectively estimate price that would compensate for these. And then, again - do I have to? Edited December 3, 2015 by Sariel Quote
allanp Posted December 3, 2015 Posted December 3, 2015 No you don't. What reason do you have to think otherwise? Quote
Lipko Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 (edited) I hope I can express myself, I have doubts. Many people still don't understand the difference between sets and MOCs, between "I built it but from instructions" and "I designed it". If they see a physical model, they keep asking if I have built it. I guess some people even think that you can buy these models already assembled, or that assembling from instructions is a great achievement and not different than building a MOC. Maybe they don't see designing MOCs any greater achievements than building from instructions, because they just fail to see the difference. Obviously I say yes on building the model if asked, but I always tell them it's a set I have bought and build it from instructions. Still I have to explain myself for quite long in some cases. Okay, I failed to be clear. Anyhoo, maybe I'm totally wrong, but despite the kid is being from the young generation, maybe he totally misunderstands how Lego models are built (maybe he's like 11 and never got Legos?). Maybe he thinks that every single Lego sets are made and sold by individual hobbyists Sariel is evil because he doesn't. Edited December 4, 2015 by Lipko Quote
2LegoOrNot2Lego... Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 And then, again - do I have to? Did follow this topic and read quite some comments... Don't need to add anything...except: No!!! You don't!!! Quote
zweihander Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 ...snip... Okay, I failed to be clear. ...snip... Not really, almost anyone who has built a MOC and shown it to non-AFOLs will probably understand what you mean. I have a MOC that I'm yet to unveil here, and I've shown it to my colleagues last week. They kept asking how much it costs, and I tried to explain that I didn't buy it, I designed it and built it with parts from different official lego sets, so price does not really apply but I don't know if I was successful or not. Quote
aeh5040 Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 I've shown it to my colleagues last week. They kept asking how much it costs, and I tried to explain that I didn't buy it, I designed it and built it with parts from different official lego sets, so price does not really apply but I don't know if I was successful or not. I think we've all had these experiences. It is a strange phenomenon. If you saw a painting someone had painted, would you ask if it was from a kit, or how much the paint and materials cost? Perhaps because most people's only experience of Lego is seeing sets for sale, they automatically think that everything must work like that - rather sad, really. Quote
VintageLegoEra Posted December 4, 2015 Posted December 4, 2015 (edited) Remember 1 important thing, No one in this world can force anyone to sell what he owns. It depends on you if you if you want to share your idea with others and this doesn't mean the person is selfish if not! Edited December 4, 2015 by VintageLegoEra Quote
Sariel Posted December 10, 2015 Author Posted December 10, 2015 Sorry to dig this thread up again but it has a surprising continuation. Here's my MOC presented by somebody as their own Lego Ideas project, and I have reasons to believe the same "you have to sell me your MOCs" is responsible: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/124552 Some people really are incredible, I guess... Quote
aeh5040 Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 Sorry to dig this thread up again but it has a surprising continuation. Here's my MOC presented by somebody as their own Lego Ideas project, and I have reasons to believe the same "you have to sell me your MOCs" is responsible: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/124552 Some people really are incredible, I guess... What a jerk. If you inform Lego Ideas, I expect that they would remove the project and ban the user. Quote
Sariel Posted December 10, 2015 Author Posted December 10, 2015 (edited) I've flagged this project, we'll see what good it will do. It was really smart of him to pick a MOC that has "sariel.pl" on the front bumper :) On another note, I may have a stalker problem. There's a person - possibly none other as the Lego Ideas guy - who has been trying to get my home address under various pretences for no less than 6 months now. I've blocked this person everywhere but they're still making new Facebook accounts and commenting at my fanpage. They were also asking my Facebook friends for my address and they've made a fake FB profile pretending to be me (gone now). I'm considering reporting this to police as that person apparently isn't going to stop. Does anybody have legal experience on dealing with online stalkers? I imagine it's an extremely difficult matter as all I have to start with is maybe this person's IP address and they're most likely located in another country? Edited December 10, 2015 by Sariel Quote
aol000xw Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 (edited) Wow, is there any way to become even more pathetic than that? Report it to police, better safe than sorry. Also doesn't Facebook itself have some kind of reporting tools for those cases? Edited December 10, 2015 by aol000xw Quote
Sariel Posted December 10, 2015 Author Posted December 10, 2015 Also doesn't Facebook itself have some kind of reporting tools for those cases? It sure does. I've reported this fake profile to Facebook as an impostor, it even used photo from my website as the profile pic. Facebook's answer was that they can't see resemblance. Quote
aol000xw Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 So is this guy https://www.facebook.com/AlexFilms-Production-1456486914575045/ ? Lego Ideas pic and name match but that also might be fake. Quote
Sariel Posted December 10, 2015 Author Posted December 10, 2015 Hard to say. This profile looks genuine, perhaps someone just used the name and photo to make a Lego Ideas profile. Quote
Blakbird Posted December 10, 2015 Posted December 10, 2015 On another note, I may have a stalker problem. You can hide out in my LEGO room. Quote
Saberwing40k Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 I know you don't live in the US, and laws about this kind of thing are probably different, but my recommendation is going to a thrift store, and finding a nice baseball bat. Try to keep up with what this person says online. If they make a direct threat, screenshot it, as posts disappear. But, I'd say that the odds of this stalker doing anything are slim. I don't know if anything they've done is actionable to police either. Quote
pyro690 Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 Sorry to dig this thread up again but it has a surprising continuation. Here's my MOC presented by somebody as their own Lego Ideas project, and I have reasons to believe the same "you have to sell me your MOCs" is responsible: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/124552 Some people really are incredible, I guess... Nice of him to use one with your name on the front of it! Quote
Geekphysique Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 I've flagged this project, we'll see what good it will do. It was really smart of him to pick a MOC that has "sariel.pl" on the front bumper :) On another note, I may have a stalker problem. There's a person - possibly none other as the Lego Ideas guy - who has been trying to get my home address under various pretences for no less than 6 months now. I've blocked this person everywhere but they're still making new Facebook accounts and commenting at my fanpage. They were also asking my Facebook friends for my address and they've made a fake FB profile pretending to be me (gone now). I'm considering reporting this to police as that person apparently isn't going to stop. Does anybody have legal experience on dealing with online stalkers? I imagine it's an extremely difficult matter as all I have to start with is maybe this person's IP address and they're most likely located in another country? Absolutely file a complaint with the police. Even if there is little evidence now, you start the paper trail in case things get more serious. Quote
N-4K0 Posted December 11, 2015 Posted December 11, 2015 U-hu. You never know how crazy those stalkers might be. Quote
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