Making Eurobricks More Active

[Cylo]

7 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

So here is a supplementary question for people:

How old/long ago should a MOC be before it is not valid for the front page? Days? Weeks? A month?

As everyone mentions, they miss some amazing builds because they are in areas that they do not frequent or they simply don't have the time to browse all the subforum. Something I am guilty of, even when trying to post a comment on three MOCs each day. However I want to share these excellent MOCs. 

What are your opinions?

I honestly don't mind. It'd be great to see interesting MOCs on the frontpage every time I log back in, and it would be disappointing to miss out on them!

I would suggest MOCs within a week, just to keep the freshness.

[LegoModularFan]

On 5/2/2018 at 3:07 AM, Captain Nemo said:

Without trying to derail this, I do have some random questions for the members, if anyone is interested feel free to reply here or to me/staff directly:  

I already responded to these questions before (see here) but I would like to respond again to as I think my view has changed quite a bit since seven months.

On 5/2/2018 at 3:07 AM, Captain Nemo said:

Would you like to see more contests?

I would definitely like to see more contests in every forum! There are some great MOCers who use Eurobricks only to enter the Christmas contest by @CopMike for example and more contests = more activity in my opinion. I think sponsors can be found and both members and moderator MOCers with a lot of followers on Flickr/Instagram like you, @Bob De Quatre, @ZCerberus, @Ecclesiastes, @Brickdoctor, @Leewan, etc. and maybe the future Instagram page of Eurobricks (I’m going to write a bit more about this idea as response to 5th question that you can see below) can really help spreading the contests. 

On 5/2/2018 at 3:07 AM, Captain Nemo said:

Do you use, if ever, Eurobricks reference materials (ie. lists of Reviews, lists of MOCS, lists of Forums)? 

If this includes topics like this one by @danth and this one I created, I use very very often! 

On 5/2/2018 at 3:07 AM, Captain Nemo said:

Do you use/visit the Eurobricks Facebook page? Eurobricks on Flickr? etc. 

I visit the Flickr page of Eurobricks but not the Facebook page. I think that a Facebook and especially Instagram page could help making Eurobricks more popular. Blogs like Brothers Brick and Archbrick also started Instagram pages, see below:

https://www.instagram.com/brothersbrickofficial/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/archbrick00/

On 5/2/2018 at 3:07 AM, Captain Nemo said:

What is the first page you visit when opening Eurobricks on your browser?

I visit this topic, the Town Forum, Historic Themes and Guilds of Historica (without any particular order). Some of the greatest castle MOCers are still active in Historic Themes so I think things like Guilds of Historica in other themes could really help attracting more MOCers.

—————————————————————————————————

I don’t know if this is fair to ask but I personally think @Aanchir could contribute to this whole topic in a great way (I don’t think she wrote anything here) as well as Eurobricks’ other staff members so it would be great to hear from them in my opinion! 

Edited November 28, 2018 by LegoModularFan

[Kristel]

3 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

So here is a supplementary question for people:

How old/long ago should a MOC be before it is not valid for the front page? Days? Weeks? A month?

I don't think there necessarily needs to be hard and fast rule, but a week seems good.

[pombe]

7 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

How old/long ago should a MOC be before it is not valid for the front page? Days? Weeks? A month?

This is why we have moderators/regulators who can exercise discretionary authority.  Each subforum has different levels of traffic that naturally will vary over time.  In one week, subforum X may see 100 new MOCs, while subforum Y may only see 1, so one size will not fit all.

[KotZ]

7 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

So here is a supplementary question for people:

How old/long ago should a MOC be before it is not valid for the front page? Days? Weeks? A month?

As everyone mentions, they miss some amazing builds because they are in areas that they do not frequent or they simply don't have the time to browse all the subforum. Something I am guilty of, even when trying to post a comment on three MOCs each day. However I want to share these excellent MOCs. 

What are your opinions?

25 minutes ago, pombe said:

This is why we have moderators/regulators who can exercise discretionary authority.  Each subforum has different levels of traffic that naturally will vary over time.  In one week, subforum X may see 100 new MOCs, while subforum Y may only see 1, so one size will not fit all.

I agree with pombe on this one, although I would say generally three months old at the longest.

 

[Kai NRG]

I'm with pombe also, a week makes a MOC old in some forums at some times; in other forums, a three week old MOC is almost new.

[WesternOutlaw]

I'm not very active these days, but I still choose Eurobricks as my first source for LEGO news.  I was disappointed to not find news of the 2019 City and Creator sets on the front page. Nice quality images have been out for several days.  In the good ol' days, EB would have front-paged these pictures faster than Quick Draw McGraw.  Heading over to Town to see if any are buried in a topic.

[rodiziorobs]

I think frontpaging a MOC from the last 2 to 3 weeks is probably good for any forum. Those who have seen it will still feel it's recent.

I don't want to see EB become a place to spotlight MOCs only; there are others perfectly good places like the Brothers Brick that do exclusively that. EB, as a forum, could highlight some tutorials, reviews, and contests, to generate more conversation. I know that's tough because there are fewer active members to contribute that kind of thing, but that was what brought me (and I'm sure many others) here in the first place and made this a worthwhile place to check in at.

I have more to add but need to get to work so I'll try and post later.

[edge_nl]

I'm very new to this forum, but if you like more content, let's start a "LEGO/Duplo 3D print" topic.

Would be nice, within the "SPECIAL INTERESTS" secton ?

I think a lot of people could post in this forum with a lot of MOC's and other interesting discussions  ;)

[LegoModularFan]

On 11/28/2018 at 5:21 PM, pombe said:

This is why we have moderators/regulators who can exercise discretionary authority.  Each subforum has different levels of traffic that naturally will vary over time.  In one week, subforum X may see 100 new MOCs, while subforum Y may only see 1, so one size will not fit all.

About the question of @Peppermint_M, I'm going to agree with this. It's great to see the moderators already started to post more MOCs to the front-page!

By the way, I think that it would be great to see an Advent Calender on Eurobricks! Any possibilities about that? 

[Peppermint_M]

3 hours ago, LegoModularFan said:

it would be great to see an Advent Calender on Eurobricks!

It should be on the way, there might be a slight technical hitch. (I need to go check!)

[Peppermint_M]

https://www.eurobricks.com/sieg/cal/

Here it is!

[LegoModularFan]

Just wanted to say that I’m extremely glad to see that so many MOCs are being featured and frontpaged!  Keep up the great work, @Ecclesiastes and anybody else who is working on this!  

[Holodoc]

On 11/28/2018 at 1:13 PM, LegoModularFan said:

I would definitely like to see more contests in every forum! There are some great MOCers who use Eurobricks only to enter the Christmas contest by @CopMike for example and more contests = more activity in my opinion.

Well, it may sound harsh, but the example you gave might not be the best in my opinion. The entries in Copmike's wonderful advent raffle are not a great source of inspiration (this year). Have a look at the entries again and tell me if you find more than 10 entries (of almost 200) that are really MOCs and not only some bricks put together or a minifig with a red cape. The reason? Freebies. It's just that simple.
I see a MOC as a kind of art and my personal understanding of art is, that a certain amount of time has to be put in it. But there is no dispute about art, is it?

In all other contests I agree we do see great MOCs and extraordinary creations.

On 11/29/2018 at 4:08 AM, WesternOutlaw said:

I'm not very active these days, but I still choose Eurobricks as my first source for LEGO news.  I was disappointed to not find news of the 2019 City and Creator sets on the front page. Nice quality images have been out for several days.  In the good ol' days, EB would have front-paged these pictures faster than Quick Draw McGraw.  Heading over to Town to see if any are buried in a topic.

Exactly my thinking. I don't like the frontpage to be covered up with MOCs when we could have important news instead.
But then it's the good old "someone has to do it" discussion again. 

On 11/30/2018 at 6:34 PM, edge_nl said:

I'm very new to this forum, but if you like more content, let's start a "LEGO/Duplo 3D print" topic.

Would be nice, within the "SPECIAL INTERESTS" secton ?

I think a lot of people could post in this forum with a lot of MOC's and other interesting discussions  ;)

Just do it!

If you ever feel an idea is good enough to open a topic about it, please never hesitate to do so!
The community is living from the members who actively take part in it!

[LegoModularFan]

4 hours ago, Holodoc said:

Well, it may sound harsh, but the example you gave might not be the best in my opinion. The entries in Copmike's wonderful advent raffle are not a great source of inspiration (this year). Have a look at the entries again and tell me if you find more than 10 entries (of almost 200) that are really MOCs and not only some bricks put together or a minifig with a red cape. The reason? Freebies. It's just that simple.

This is unfortunately true. But I can still name some great builders who almost share only their christmas MOCs on Eurobricks: Swan Dutchman (Koen Zwanenburg), Full Plate and Legopard (Jonas Kramm) and Wineyard.

[Holodoc]

13 minutes ago, LegoModularFan said:

This is unfortunately true. But I can still name some great builders who almost share only their christmas MOCs on Eurobricks: Swan Dutchman (Koen Zwanenburg), Full Plate and Legopard (Jonas Kramm) and Wineyard.

Good to know! 

[Jim]

You might have noticed, but we have been working on a frontpage tool, using the forum’s Api. The tool makes it easier to frontpage featured topics. The frontpage is more active now. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction. I am planning on doing more cool stuff with the Api.

[jimmynick]

I have noticed a profusion of posts to the front page by a mysterious user known as "Eurobricks". Thanks for the hard work; it's great to see MOCs that I miss when I'm just browsing.

[Jim]

9 hours ago, jamesn said:

I have noticed a profusion of posts to the front page by a mysterious user known as "Eurobricks". Thanks for the hard work; it's great to see MOCs that I miss when I'm just browsing.

Hehe. I indeed created a mysterious user called "Eurobricks". It didn't feel right to make automated posts with a regular user. Unfortunately, I can't see who featured the post. At least not by using the Api. Otherwise I could have used that user. 

[LegoModularFan]

On 1/5/2019 at 9:39 PM, Jim said:

You might have noticed, but we have been working on a frontpage tool, using the forum’s Api. The tool makes it easier to frontpage featured topics. The frontpage is more active now. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction. I am planning on doing more cool stuff with the Api.

I’ve indeed noticed that, it’s great to see so many amazing MOCs frontpaged! Can’t wait to see what you plan to do with API! 

[KotZ]

Hi all, wow I thought this thread had grown bigger. I wanted to say I definitely notice the frontpage is more active in the past few months, so great job!

[Holodoc]

@KotZ Thank you for the reply here. We deeply appreciate any feedback on our website! Especially when it is positive...

What we really would need is a "good spirit" in staff being able to focus on news on a regular meaning daily, or even more than daily basis.
So we could do better with more staff - I am faced with work issues myself in the last months, so I can't be active as I would like to.

[Umbra-Manis]

As someone who just spent a year away from Eurobricks, I'd say things are slightly more active than they were a year ago, especially the front page, which is great to see! 

Also @Holodoc seeing you as LDD moderator made me do quite the double take 

[KotZ]

11 hours ago, Holodoc said:

@KotZ Thank you for the reply here. We deeply appreciate any feedback on our website! Especially when it is positive...

No problem. I love the community here and really only have positive things to say.

[Mister Phes]

On 5/2/2018 at 8:24 AM, LegoModularFan said:

 (@Jipay, @Bonaparte, @Hinckley, @Siegfried, @Shadows, @Rick, @Jim, @Bob De Quatre, @WhiteFang, @Fugazi, @Captain Nemo, @Clone OPatra, @CorneliusMurdock, @Brickdoctor, @Stash2Sixx, @Ecclesiastes, @ZCerberus, @Peppermint_M, @Mister Phes, @Phred, @Pandora, @JopieK, @Milan, @VBBN, @Rufus, @LuxorV, @Superkalle, @Dragonator and @CopMike)

Excuse the late reply @LegoModularFan but I've barely been active in almost 3 years and have only returned in the past couple of months so I'm still catching up.

I think many of the senior staff members are in a similar situation, we're pushing 40 now (or some already have) so we get tied up with other responsibilities like family and work, and thus Eurobricks gets put on the back-burner .

Before I get too busy to visit the forum again I intend to put a few things in place for the LEGO Pirates Forum.

One of those will be training a volunteer to post Pirate MOCs on the Eurobricks Frontpage, but if that goes well, I could perhaps train more volunteers to do the same for other themes. I see this was discussed several months back but it doesn't seem as though anything eventuated from it  - correct me if I'm mistaken!

Currently, I'm updating the frontpage myself so I can ascertain the best process for doing so, but this isn't something I intend in the long-term. I'd rather put a system in place so the task can be delegated enabling me to focus on other areas.