LDraw meeting in Billund 2024

[Orion Pobursky]

A few of the LDraw regular got together in Billund last weekend (Apr 26-28) for some camaraderie and discussion about LDraw.org. Additionally, we held an online conference with a few other invitee's.

In person:
Orion Pobursky
Willy Tschager
Philippe Hurbain (Philo)
Max Martin Richer
Magnus Forsberg

Online:
Gerald Lasser
Nils Schmidt
Rene Rechthaler
Fredrik Hareide

Meeting minutes:

General
- Orion presented the current state of the LDraw.org infrastructure including services used, software, and cost.

Discussion points

More communication with Stud.io team
- Would be nice but not required
- Not something worth pursuing in any concerted way
- The new zip file download is a large step forward in helping people get new parts into Stud.io
- Texture mapping compatibility is a concern for some but other felt it was not a huge deal

More reviews in the PT
- Over 7000 parts waiting for review
- Orion shared 2 new PT features to help out, the certify all tool and the user parts for review on the user dashboard
- Willy shared a concern with locating files to review. Hard to tell if a part waiting admin still need subfiles certified.
- Orion implemented an icon in the status to show if a part was not releasable
- The idea of turning off submits for some period was suggested. Other felt this would not solve the problem as people would just not review and wait out the no submit periods.

Modernize Community Model
- Start a Discord - Done, PM Orion for an invite
- Orion adamant that Discord will not replace the forums as Discord is not Googlable
- Fredirik suggested a tutorial on how to install an update.

Update or Rewrite Bylaws
- Bylaws need to be updated to acknowledge the extistance of video conferencing, allow in person meetings
- SteerCo not really that busy with things, maybe 3 year terms?
- Membership list is super old and there's been no formal mechanism to join since we switched from PostNuke over a decade ago

Reapply for RLOC status
- No interest in this.
- Not a good fit any more and no benefit as LEGO never communicated with us when we did have status.
- LEGO no longer does fan tours or meetings

Library Shortcuts
- Distinction between assemblies as parts LEGO distributes as one unit (e.g Legs + Hips, Torso + Arms + Hands) and shortcuts as discreet parts that are combined for convenience (e.g. a complete Minifig, Helmet + Visor)
- Orion wants torso assemblies in the library
- Nobody wants these types of to clog the PT
- Orion suggested having an enforced submit template. This would require at least one uncolored assembly to undergo the complete review process and be released. After that users could submit assemblies templated to the official assembly. These would required only an admin review to be added to the library
- Orion suggested a separate folder for assemblies. Consensus was that all parts should be in the parts folder.
- Sticker shortcuts were discussed. More discussion is needed but consensus seems to be allowing all types of sticker shortcuts as long as they are for parts in the set for the sticker sheet.
- Rene suggested a sticker shortcut reference where a sticker sheet number could be entered and all the stickers and the shortcuts could be viewed on one page. Orion is 95% away from implementing this

Other smaller discussions:
- Classic motorcycle helmet is wrong. How to fix it was discussed
- Getting rid of the .exe update installer was brought up by Orion. Fredrik said he used it as a newcomer. Decision was to keep it.

--

Thanks to all who participated. I plan to have more regular video meeting with the community and team. It will be harder as I'm 8-9 hours behind European time where most of the other regulars are based but could probably make it work on the weekends.

[Rene Rechthaler]

"- Rene suggested a sticker shortcut reference where a sticker sheet number could be entered and all the stickers and the shortcuts could be viewed on one page. Orion is 95% away from implementing this"
maybe someone else said that (but the idea is nice, like an inverted Pattern/Composite/Sticker Shortcut Reference from the sticker page side, could also be used for part variants)

"- Start a Discord - Done, PM Orion for an invite"
nice idea, but unfortunately there are many platforms like this (Discord, TS, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Matrix) and most of them cant be interconnected

-i forgot that in the meeting to ask about brick-built proxies (if you need a part which doesnt exist yet but the physical shape could be done with existing bricks): https://forums.ldraw.org/thread-26569-po...l#pid47341

[Willy Tschager]

More reviews in the PT
- Over 7000 parts waiting for review
- The idea of turning off submits for some period was suggested. Other felt this would not solve the problem as people would just not review and wait out the no submit periods.

A picture usually says more than a thousand words.

   

Looking at that number is really discouraging and something has to be done about. As I had plenty of time while waiting for my connection flight, I came up with the following idea. Feel free to copy:

The PT is a "give and take". If everyone who submits a part would review just two others - and this implies not only casting one vote but accompany the part 'til it is released - the 7000 would be brought down in no time. We all know that authoring is much more fun than reviewing, but unless we decide that certification is no longer needed, someone has to review them.

I cannot see any reason why I should review parts, knowing the author will never review one of mine, for the simple fact that he doesn't review. I decided to stop reviewing parts of senior author who - independently of their reasons - do not review. (This does not apply to newcomers, who just got their feed wet with authoring).

Sounds harsh? It is, but burden the load of the certification process on the shoulder of others isn't nice either.

w.

[Philippe Hurbain]

I cannot see any reason why I should review parts, knowing the author will never review one of mine, for the simple fact that he doesn't review. I decided to stop reviewing parts of senior author who - independently of their reasons - do not review. (This does not apply to newcomers, who just got their feed wet with authoring).

This won't affect me: since the large PT blackout during the license change event several years ago, I considerer that a LDraw part is a Ldraw part, official or not, certified or not...

[Orion Pobursky]

You're free to pick parts to review however you'd like. Keep in mind that not everyone has reviewer permission and those that do may be newer reviewers that are not as seasoned as you.

[Magnus Forsberg]

Thanks Willy for reworking all the rin primitives to be ring instead. I wanted to help, but since there was no list of files I never knew what you were working on, to avoid double work. Instead I decided to only review the reworked files.

I know from experience that when an effort like this is ongoing, it is vital to keep track of what's done and wha's left to do. A list helps. When I reworked the axleholes, I could have that focus. And when Chris and I reworked the legs we decided on a simple rule. "If you start from the top of the list, I will work from the bottom."

One solution to the backlog of reworks and reviews, is to use the tool we now have, the creation of different review summaries.
So, instead of not reviewing, we should pick a topic, issue or maybe an author, use the review summaries and focus our effort on one topic at a time.

When we join forces we can solve problems, but we need to focus and not stumble around picking random files to fix.

[Willy Tschager]

When we join forces we can solve problems, but we need to focus and not stumble around picking random files to fix.

I'm with you Magnus. Anyway you can always find me at the bottom of the PT with the poor orphans, abandoned by their fathers. Or reviewing newcomer's parts - I guess it is highly motivating seeing your stuff released, beside the fact I always learned more form a hold than a cert.

One thing I don't understand is when people submit new parts not carrying about their held parts.

w.

[Marc Giraudet]

I'm with you Magnus. Anyway you can always find me at the bottom of the PT with the poor orphans, abandoned by their fathers. Or reviewing newcomer's parts - I guess it is highly motivating seeing your stuff released, beside the fact I always learned more form a hold than a cert.

One thing I don't understand is when people submit new parts not carrying about their held parts.

w.

Dear all, I would like to expose my point of vue. Despite my effort, I am a poor author in quality (it's a little bit funny because it's my job department). 2 consequences : Some time, when a hold status is assigned to a part, the necessery rework asked exceed my competencies. And, I should really like to help the community as reviewer but I doubt to have competencies to make a good review too.