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The mass migrations have begun

News: Brickshelf gone for good (UPDATE 7/15 PM)

  • Andrew
    • |
  • Jul 15, 2007
    • |
  • LEGO, News
    • |

    • UPDATE (AB) (7/16 AM Pacific): Images hosted on Brickshelf seem to be working again. What this means I don’t know. More info as we find out.

    UPDATE (LB) (7/16 AM Pacific): Keith Goldman pointed out that MOCpages is now offering free hosting for lego images. A note on the front page states that this service may not be free in the future - I suspect it depends on how much it will cost to keep such a service up and running. The old galleries don’t work since they simply linked to the pictures on Brickshelf before this transition, but it’s still a very kind gesture by Sean Kenney, owner of the site.

    UPDATE (NW) (7/15 10:50 PM Pacific):  Troy Cefaratti has released similar posts on Classic-Castle.com as well.  Take a deep breath guys, not all is lost.  Remember, it’s only been less than 24 hours. Give it time.

    UPDATE (AB) (7/15 3:30 PM): Troy Cefaratti (aka “Mnementh” on BrickLink and Classic-Castle) seems to know something we don’t.

    (And my apologies to those of you got a page not found error when you clicked through from somewhere else today. I updated the timstamp and title for this post, and that seems to have changed its Web address. My bad.)

    ——————————–

    Whether you host your own images there or not, Brickshelf is one of the cornerstones of the online LEGO community. As many of you visiting this blog will have noticed, none of the images hosted on Brickshelf are currently working, and if you’ve been to Brickshelf.com in the last few hours, you will have seen the following text — and nothing else — on the home page:

    “Brickshelf has discontinued operation. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

    I’m furiously reading discussion threads, e-mailing, and chatting with my sources, but I don’t have any information about this issue right now. Unfortunately, given the wording of the message, this doesn’t seem to be “scheduled maintenance”.

    Discussions are popping up on LEGO forums all over the Internet:

    Blog reactions:

    Despite the magic of RSS, I won’t be able to monitor the entire online LEGO community for updates about this, so if you learn something definitive, please leave a comment on this post (I’ll see it in my e-mail) or use the Contact Us page to send a private message.

    EDIT: (NW) Added discussion topic link to Brickfilms.com. Also, Ecto pointed out in the comments section that https://www.brickshelf.com/ works. Remember to put the ’s’ after ‘http’. I urge everyone who doesn’t have a backup of their stuff to back it up now, and not upload anything new. It’s not known how long this version will last.

    EDIT: (AB) And now the SSL (https) site isn’t working either. Still no word from Brickshelf management as to what’s going on.

    Andrew posted this entry on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 3:31 pm. Posted in the category LEGO, News You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    40 Responses to “News: Brickshelf gone for good (UPDATE 7/15 PM)”

    1. charanim3000 Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 12:21 am

      Yeah, really stinks. Wish there was at least an explanation. Hopefully someone’ll find out why soon.

    2. Unclejoe420 Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 4:56 am

      Is a shame Brickshelf has disappeared - was wondering if anyone knew of any way we could help out and try getting it back up n running? I do hope nothing majorly bad has happened…

    3. Lord T Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 5:04 am

      I use Flickr now anyway (I like the interface) but I’m gonna be very sad to see this leave.

    4. Kikimaru Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 5:47 am

      Crap, I had my (lone) mecha pics up there! The one I built 5 years ago :’(
      Maybe I have a backup somewhere…

    5. TsoAutTmo Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 5:55 am

      *weepweepweep*

      This seriously stinks… argh! Brickshelf was the only LEGO Gallery account I had! Agh!! Stupid BHDOWAFAI!!!!!

    6. David Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 7:14 am

      Always back up pictures.

      I hated the site, but now this site has all the little red Xs.

    7. Scotty! Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 7:41 am

      I think they just got bored and tired and said aw F%#k it

    8. RichardAM Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 8:22 am

      I had stuff there, but recently stopped uploading due to essentially the community moving to Flickr. All my stuff is still on the hard-drive though, to the people moaning about losing everything- why wouldn’t you keep a copy on your computer? It’s the equivalent of cutting your leg off on purpose!

      Presuming the site’s gone forever it is a sad day, both for the lego community, as well as inspiration on lego building in general.

    9. Ecto Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 8:41 am

      https://www.brickshelf.com/

      It works there.

    10. Unclejoe420 Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 9:57 am

      Yep - the site works with “https” stuck in front of the addy. Even the Recent folders appear!!

    11. Onyx Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am

      Sorry folks, that https trick is kaput now too. This whole situation is quite curious.

    12. smcginnis Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 10:56 am

      As I’ve been saying on CC and VignetteBricks, this is really terrible. But I’ve been meaning to move to flickr anyway; and I have all my pictures backed up on my hard drive. The only problem is that now I’ll need a pro account; either that, or a lot fewer pictures.

      ~smcginnis

    13. Unclejoe420 Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 10:57 am

      Well, in the immortal words of Charles Darwin:

      “Oh bugger!!”

      Let’s just hope that this is only a temporary situation, and that Brickshelf does return!!

    14. John Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 11:19 am

      http://www.maj.com/ still works!

    15. Gert-Jan Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 11:49 am

      Today is a very sad day because brickshelf is gone. I spent most of my time on brickshelf and uploaded manny picktures. Most picktures where moc’s! I don’t have any backup of those picktures so I am sad. Brickshelf was also the place where you could upload everything, MOC’s, new sets, computer creations and mutch more. Brickshelf always gave me inspiration to build grand things. I loved that site, who wouldn’t? You could find everything there! It was the place to be for a lego fan. So I think we all need to think about the grait things Brickshelf offerd and never forget it.

      Goodbye Brickshelf

      Gert-Jan

    16. Wolf01 Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

      what a bad notice :(
      that site was my center of the universe, i had about 30 bookmarks of my favorite galleries which i look to every week for updates
      and my tiny gallery which i wanted to update when i’ll have finished it :(

    17. Ecto Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

      Ah brickshelf, we hardly knew ye.

    18. Onyx Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

      Alas, the pain transcends lego fansites alone.
      http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=142801
      A Transformers site, but it grieves this loss.

    19. Nathan Cunningham Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm

      I’d move to Flickr myself, but I know I don’t have room in that 200 picture limit. Does anyone else know of some good hosting sites? In the event that Brickshelf actually does go (as it has not been confirmed yet), it would be nice to know where to go.

      A thread has also been started on Sly Piggery, but anything said there is about as good as what you’ll get from all the other fan sites. I’ll let you know if anyone says anything new, though.

    20. Fabio Fiss Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

      I’m reading all this blogs and websites talking about BS going down and I just can’t believe it… With all this massive reaction from the AFOL websites there is no oficial release or notification to explain what happened???

      I hope (like everyone) that this is just temporary…

    21. Dr. Paleo Ph.D. Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

      I’m so not happy about this. I’ve lost everything….

    22. Tom Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

      brickshelf was my only way of getting good ideas for my creations i hope it comes back

    23. Jesse Malchow Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 6:30 pm

      I am betting it was trolled

      I’ve been on forums that get trolled constantly

      but as too whom may have troleld it I am highly doubting its the same people who troleld the forums I’m on

    24. Ben R R Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 6:33 pm

      I sincerely hope this is only a temporary problem

      [Nathan Cunningham]-”Does anyone else know of some good hosting sites?”
      http://imageshack.us/ - Free, no picture limit, but slow. you could also try - http://photobucket.com/

    25. Ace Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 6:48 pm

      It says on MOCpages that they are working on the problem and that they hope verything will be back to normal soon.

    26. Jesse Malchow Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

      it could have been trollers with the CP strategy……

      meaning they have software too hide their IPs and they post CPs and report the site

    27. Keith G Says:
      July 15th, 2007 at 11:24 pm

      MOCpages is back up, with a new format. It may, however, become a pay site in the future.

    28. Ethan Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 6:16 am

      If you need a laugh in the midst of all this tragedy, just check out the Saber-Scorpion link. I had no idea such stupidity existed…

    29. Fred Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 8:53 am

      Someone give Keith a Sandwich!

      I guess we make the best of it. Perhaps this is an opportunity to make things even better… at least MOCpages allows us to comment on the creations.

      I do hope someone can squeeze out the files from brickshelf so that those who didn’t keep a local copy can learn from their mistakes and recover and those who are no longer with us an be posthumously honored. If I knew who those people were I would gladly take on the task.

      We need a place to organize the effort.

    30. Ty Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 10:23 am

      There is a (very short) reaction on my blog. It’s kinda dumb though.

    31. smcginnis Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 11:35 am

      Wow, the CC links are embarrassing, but sadly true…. The only site with multiple locked topics on this. Usually CC’s rather reasonable. :?
      ~smcginnis

    32. ry Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

      Andrew, thanks for the heads up.

      Time to go grab my goods while I still can!

    33. Jesse Malchow Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

      brickshelf us up until July 31 of this year, theres even a message on the site, so save while you can

    34. Dunechaser Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

      Thanks Jesse — I’d forgotten about those who might be subscribed to get e-mail updates on new comments to this post.

    35. Vidgamer838 Says:
      July 16th, 2007 at 7:03 pm

      I guess Flickr is going to be making a LOT of money this month…

    36. Ty Says:
      July 17th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

      Well MOCpages is free right?

    37. John Says:
      July 18th, 2007 at 9:29 am

      The user gallery part at brickery.net has been opened. Register for free and create your albums! http://www.brickery.net/

    38. Lego Shark Says:
      July 18th, 2007 at 6:27 pm

      Man… brickshelf.com, i will miss you. I am incredibly glad that maj is still up. i mean, they are pretty much the same thing.

    39. Jesse Malchow Says:
      July 19th, 2007 at 11:35 am

      it seems that brickshelf, though still working, has lost alot of images and only the main page can be displayed

      well for me anyways

    40. Jesse Malchow Says:
      July 19th, 2007 at 7:48 pm

      apparently brickshelf will not close, but they will be charging members money from what I can piece together, they will open when the trollers leave

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