Bricklink a fost cumparat de LEGO

[lapsanszkitamas]

N-am citit ToS ca era prea obscur pentru non-legal people, am dat doar ok, dar am impresia ca daca un expert GDPR ia la puricat tot ce face TLG cu datele personale de pe BL se vor trezi "fornicati pe la spate" cu o amenda frumusica*. TLG nu ar trebui sa uite ca este o companie europeana, iar legislatia UE ii afecteaza mult mai profund decat pe megacorporatiile americane (Google, Facebook, Amazon etc)

*not an expert, dar prin natura activitatilor am de a face cu GDPR-compliance in fiecare saptamana

[Bricky]

Primul mesaj din partea LEGO dupa valul de reactii (eu v-am redat doar o parte, dar au fost multe):

Sorry about the radio silence. I'm investigating answers.

Personal, cred ca sunt un pic depasiti de situatie si de hate-ul ce a fost iscat de noile conditii. Insa cei care scriu in LAN sunt doar mesagerii, sunt nevoiti sa dea explicatii despre deciziile superiorilor lor. Mai asteptam, sa speram ca in afara de un mesaj strict corporatist, vor mai veni si cu altceva.

[Vlad88]

"Radio silence" au sunat de la Marine Corps, isi vor purtatorul de cuvant inapoi.
Clar sunt depasiti de situatie si o sa escaladeze daca incearca sa puna piciorul pe cap comunitatii.
Este vreo corporatie care sa nu isi ia mare hate acum de sarbatori ? )

SIERRA FOXTROT CHARLIE
( Sarbatori Fericite Colegi )

[Bricky]

Cei de la LEGO au confirmat finalizarea tranzactiei - Bricklink apartine acum lui LEGO. Legat de ToS au zis asa:

Here’s what I can share regarding the new Terms of Service on BrickLink. As you might already have read in the announcement on BrickLink the new ToS is largely similar to the previous terms, however BrickLink did merge old MOC shop terms and at the same time grouped the base terms, the seller terms, and the designer terms. The custom items section was rephrased, and the billing terms were adjusted to help people understand the legal text better.

In addition, a few points in particular needed to be updated from our end before the deal was closed. Some of these points relate to Individual Privacy Rights, to protection of the LEGO brand and other to intellectual property rights.

I’ve shared feedback internally regarding the roll out of Terms and Conditions.

Some new pain points I'll share with internal teams:

-Terms and conditions roll out (no “warning” of change in T&C // cannot access own account and purchase history before accepting new T&C).
-Communication from LEGO Group mentioning “no changes” and then there’s a change (T&C).

Intre timp, la initiativa unui Ambasador, s-a creat un topic in care reprezentantii LEGO ne invita sa scriem facilitatile pe care le-am dori integrate in Bricklink. Va redau mai jos ce a aparut pana acum si daca aveti alte idei, va rog sa le scrieti aici.

USE DATA TO INFLUENCE RE-RELEASE OF SETS AND PICK-AND-BUILD SELECTION
I think it is a great idea to share suggestions in a positive way that might influence the direction of Bricklink. My number one hope is that the transaction data that TLG gets from Bricklink will be used to influence future trends in terms of re-releases and the Pick-and-Build wall. It would be great if interest in older sets on Bricklink could influence an official re-release of a kit so that fans would not have to pay exorbitant prices on the secondary market. Trends in the bricks that people buy could also be used to supply the Pick-and-Build wall at the LEGO Store. While I like the idea of being able to order bricks I need online when I have to, I am still old fashioned in the sense that I much prefer to go to the store and buy them myself.

VIP POINT INTEGRATION
I'd like to see Lego make their online pick-a-brick available through Bricklink's interface, so we can easily buy what we need from Lego if they have the best price. Bricklink's interface ain't great, but it's still way easier than Lego's. I'd want to be able to buy huge quantities too, because why not?
I'd like to be able to earn VIP points on Bricklink.
I'd like to be able to spend VIP points on Bricklink.
I'd like more accurate colour info, but I suspect even TLG doesn't know all the colour history.

INVOLVE BRICKLINK MEMBERS
My initial suggestion is for LEGO to really take seriously the importance of gathering feedback from BrickLink members before implementing any changes. This can take the form of polls, questionnaires, live AMAs with core LEGO representatives, and having a dedicated customer service person to manage and respond to questions and concerns at the BrickLink Forum. I also suggest involving not just the current members of BrickLink's management, but also the largest and oldest store owners on BrickLink. As I mentioned in a comment in the announcement thread, the current management was quite disconnected from the core membership of the site, so it's important to involve them both.

INCREASE RARE BRICKS AVALIABILITY
What would be interesting is if LEGO could restart production of elements no longer produced that are very sought after and with extremely high prices to be sold at a resonable price. Somebody has to say that: MONORAIL!

REEDITIONS OF SOUGHT AFTER SETS
Making reeditions of old sets would be interesting - but not to destroy the value for collectors of the old sets, those could be made with new boxes. I would gladly get all the classic space sets i owned as kid, aswell as those i drooled on during looking trough catalog if they were produced now with prices aligned to today, and made with bluish grag instead of old gray. Those, technic Figs and FABULAND minifigures. Maybe update fabuland minifigures with better hands and not flimsy legs.

DIGITAL BUILDING TOOLS IMPROEVEMENTS
I would love the software that is crossover between Stud.io and LDD. Interface of LDD with the bricks base, instruction making and rendering of Stud.io. That would be a perfect mix. And funding more developers and testers to do it would be a plus. Curently Stud.io crashes way too often. LDD still has the best interface - nothing beats that - please do not abandon it! That is the single one most precious LEGO IT achievement of all times!

A NEW INTERFACE FOR THE MARKETPLACE
BrickLink's interface has been obsolete for more than 10 years now. When it was sold a few years ago there were some changes, but they were very basic and nothing really major (in the interface) changed. There were some great new features - this must be said - like the wish lists section that is just amazing.
But it's just impossible, in 2019, to have a website that's not responsive. It was impossible ten years ago! :-)
Of course, and this is very important, the new interface should keep every single feature that exists now, nothing should be cut because "only a few users use it".

PLEASE, LEGO, DO NOT TOUCH THE BRICKLINK CATALOG!!!
The BrickLink Catalog should always and forever remain the property of the AFOL community. Dan wanted and consistently confirmed that the Catalog should remain open source, maintained by BrickLink volunteers, and available to all.

GENERATE A BETTER FORMULA TO CALCULATE THE AVERAGE PRICE
As you know, the calculation of the average price of a piece / set in Bricklink is done simply by adding all the prices and dividing them for availability ... This means that if someone puts an absurd price, like 9999.99 euros or 0.01 euros , this strongly changes the average price up or down. The new formula could exclude the lowest price and the highest price and then add the prices and divide them by availability, this would allow you to calculate a price with a better price accuracy.

RECONSIDER SOME OF THE NEW TERMS OF SERVICE
It's not really clear where the new terms of service that were just publish come from... if they come from TLG or from the old/current ownership getting ready to finalize the sale. But, since we're at the very beginning I think it's important to consider them carefully.

Some of the new rules are pretty obvious and make absolutely sense. LEGO brand only, no counterfeit items... I believe that everybody agrees those are fine. Also the military stuff (not explicitly mentioned in the TOS, If I'm not mistaken)... I think that most people understand that. And the IP stuff... most people probably don't understand that, but I guess that in this case it's not really up to TLG, so... (feel free to prove me wrong, though!)

But the other things... modified parts, custom parts and so on. Please, do reconsider. On a personal level I don't particularly like their presence on BL. But we need to look beyond our personal preferences here, and think of the community in general. And while I know there are other people who feel the same way as I do about these items... I believe we can live with it. And I also believe we are not the majority and most AFOLs would rather have these things available on BL. Mind you, I think that most of them would never buy these parts, anyway, but it's probably nice for them to know they could, if they wanted.

So if it's not a huge deal for TLG (for some reasons we can't see), I suggest you (re)consider these things. It's mostly a matter of perception, but unfortunately, perception is important and I believe that it really needs to be played as smoothly as possible.

[iuliand]

Un pic cam late dar uite o sugestie:

Continue the development of Stud.io and ensure that the parts catalog is up to date. Stud.io should not have the faith of Digital Designer.

[Homersapien]

https://www.bricklink.com/r3/announceme ... l_faq.page

detalii noi despre viitorul BL