Flickr vs Brickshelf

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Lord_Of_The_LEGO
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Flickr vs Brickshelf

Post by Lord_Of_The_LEGO »

Recently I've noticed a lot of LEGO pics being host on Flickr instead of Brickshelf. I have been wondering, what are the pros and cons of both sites? I'm feeling loyal toward Brickshelf, but I like Flickr's clean layout and the ability to add comments. And how does the deal with highlightly certain parts of an image, like seen here?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser ... 102936088/

Thanks for the input.
In the process of converting to [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanwells/]Flickr[/url].
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J_Chartowich
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Post by J_Chartowich »

BRICKSHELF!
Josh
[url=http://www.bricklink.com/aboutMe.asp?u=J_C]About me[/url]
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

For stories, I think brickshelf is superior since comments on pictures (and comment highlights) can get very annoying. Also, if you post a link from brickshelf from the first pic, it doesnt get spoiled.

For everything else, it depends. For large portions of random pics Flickr may be the best, but for MOCs I believe Brickshelf is the best.

I prefer Brickshelf of another reason; the name doesnt make me giggle.
[url=http://s14.invisionfree.com/brick_central/index.php?act=idx]Brick Central[/url]
[url=http://s13.invisionfree.com/Castle_World.php?act=idx]Castle World, for your Lego castle stories![/url]
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Dunechaser
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Post by Dunechaser »

I'm in the process of writing this up, but I'll tip my hand now and say Flickr. The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. Flickr's free version has some limitations, but donating to Brickshelf doesn't add any functionality, and you're missing tons of the features even the free version of Flickr has:

* Titles and captions (rather than file names)
* Multiple image sizes
* Commenting
* Tagging
* Image organizer
* Photo sets (instead of folders)
* Groups with built-in forums
* Contacts
* Image metadata (from JPEG and within Flickr)
* RSS feeds on just about anything

On the community side of things, there is no Brickshelf community. There's a C-C community and a FBTB community and a CSF community, and we all use Brickshelf to host our pictures, but the only thing Brickshelf provided was a one-stop shop to see everyone's latest MOCs. An RSS feed for all photos tagged "LEGO" on Flickr does the same thing, with way more community-oriented features.

One important note is that Brickshelf is very kid-friendly. This is both positive and negative. On Brickshelf, you don't have to worry about being two clicks away from something you wouldn't want your grandmother to see, but you have to wade through piles and piles of Bionicle MOCs and giant, poor-quality images. The (mostly) adults on Flickr seem to be able to use their cameras with a bit more skill. The flip side to the predominantly adult community is that there's more *ahem* adult content.

I'll update/repost when the article's done. Good timing, Nathan, thanks! :wink:
-Andrew B.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/]Flickr[/url] | [url=http://www.brothers-brick.com/]The Brothers Brick[/url]
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Modesty
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Post by Modesty »

Well, Brickshelf has it's advantages for image use and MOCpages and all, but like Dunechaser said, there is a Flickr Community, which makes it a lot more fun.

I actively use both however....
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Anubisconq
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Post by Anubisconq »

I like Flickr! Brickshelf is nice as well, it just takes a lot longer to upload photos.
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Reejoc
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Post by Reejoc »

Brickshelf is an ancient site that obviously hasn't been overhauled for some time and it has far too many limitations:

> Poor design, navigation and UI
> Image moderating
> Poor (or no) indexing of images
> Limited search feature

Still, it's free
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Bruce N H
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Post by Bruce N H »

Hey,

In my view the advantages and disadvantages of Brickshelf and Flickr go hand in hand. The big advantage of Brickshelf is that it is (or was) the "one stop shop" for MOCs, even more than Lugnet at it's height. By checking the "recent" page you can quickly see the state of the hobby across all themes. Even as Lugnet lost its semi-monopoly, you could still see what was up in trains or space or whatever. The down side of this is that it's kind of insular, which leads to the big advantage of Flickr. Flickr is great in that everyone goes there, so it is a great way to get some recognition for the hobby outside our own little circles. I think that the AFOL community has done a great job of building itself up, but we need to do more "LEGO evangelism" if that makes sense. So with Flickr you get comments from people who would never have heard of an AFOL site. The downside, of course, is that you don't have an automatic way to see all the recent LEGO stuff.

The features vs ease-of-use is the same way. The same thing that makes Brickshelf so easy to use and very friendly for kids to start up a gallery also means there is very limited functionality. Flickr is much more functional, but seems more complex (though I haven't gotten an account yet myself.

The other advantage of having other sites (Flickr, Photobucket, Maj, etc) is that when Brickshelf has its occasional shutdown it used to shut down the community. Now it doesn't so much.

I think eventually I'll get a Flickr gallery and post selected images with links to my website, Classic-Castle, etc, but I'll continue to use Brickshelf for the bulk of my images.

Bruce
[url=http://comicbricks.blogspot.com/]ComicBricks[/url] [url=http://godbricks.blogspot.com/]GodBricks[/url] [url=http://microbricks.blogspot.com/]MicroBricks[/url] [url=http://minilandbricks.blogspot.com/]MinilandBricks[/url] [url=http://scibricks.blogspot.com/]SciBricks[/url] [url=http://vignettebricks.blogspot.com/]VignetteBricks[/url] [url=http://www.classic-castle.com/bricktales/]Brick Tales[/url]
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