text:
Six SE sites currently in the beta stage are due to be scrapped
http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012/04/when-a-site-grows-quiet/

Next week, we’re shutting down six sites that fall into this category:

Astronomy
Economics
Literature
Firearms
Healthcare IT
Theoretical Physics

LEGO.SE which is very similar to Firearms in terms of age and statistics has been spared. I'm concerned that LEGO.SE may be at threat from any future site cull and is there anything we can and should be doing about it?

I'm concerned that LEGO.SE may be at threat from any future site cull

Well, yes it is! In fact, as of last Friday morning, it was on my list to close. The activity has fallen off precipitously, to the point where the stats are worse than many of the sites that are being closed.
It's not closed right now because I wanted to try something, as sort of a precursor experiment to some changes we're planning for the site creation process. LEGO made a good candidate for this because it's a fairly accessible yet extremely niche topic, there's not much in the way of controversy here, and the community has shown themselves in the past to be fairly active in dealing with perceived issues - as evidenced by you posting this thread soon after the blog post went up (and long before I was ready with my planned post!)
So what's gonna happen?
Well, it'd be awesome if you somehow managed to bring in a bunch of new users and get this place hoppin'... But frankly, I don't really expect that given the trends. My current impression of the site is that we've simply tapped out the interest among the current SE audience.
So the experiment is simply: can you maintain what's already here? The one good stat on the Area 51 page right now is the 99% answered questions. I'm not seeing any spam, or obvious broken windows. If it stays that way - if there are a few of you willing to keep the lights on and the lawn mowed - then fine. We'll have a tiny little site for LEGOs tucked away.
If I come back in a month and the windows are smashed in and weeds are growing everywhere, then it gets closed, just like that.
Like I said, it's an experiment. It might go "boom".

I'm glad you've spared Lego for now. It's the sort of site that has a lot of potential, but just doesn't quite have the audience yet. I'll certainly do what I can to help keep the grass mowed.

(singing) There's a zombie on your lawn... I'm fairly confident we can keep the lawn clean for the foreseeable future, and if it begins to grow wild, maybe it'll be a sign that the activity has improved much.

Also, the blog post says But when a site struggles to maintain any semblance of steady progress, and I don't think we fall in that category yet. Our progress is slow, granted, but it IS there. Just look at the new users registrations, and you'll notice that, given time, we'll probably start faring better on the third criteria (# users), and then hopefully on the rest.

@Joubarc ...and that's Shog's main point. A valuable contribution to the Internet doesn't necessarily have to be one that's growing at breakneck speeds. Hypothetically, we could have a microscopically small site which only receives a question on the rarest of occasions. But if those questions get good answers, and the current content is well maintained, the site should be able to go on forever. I'm not ceding that LEGO SE will remain microscopically small, but even if that becomes the case, our thinking is these sites continue to provide a good contribution to the Internet; let 'em be.

To which I fully agree, but then again, why not apply the same reasoning to the other sites?

While it's good to see Shog9's answer and that we were spared, I'd like to point out something I noticed, which I believe will be beneficial to the site in the long run.
Indeed, there are some users which are known AFOLs, such as Philippe Hurbain who still connects regularly (I wish he would answer the difficult NXT questions though) or Larry Pieniazek.
Now, maybe calling this a trend is overrated (although there are new users created regularly, even if not AFOLs - let's not forget that), but these are the kind of expert answerers we want. But I don't think our problem is on the answering side - as said, we've got a very high answered ratio.
So if the problem lies in the lack of questions, what can we do? One thing I wonder is if we aren't sometimes too harsh on some newcomers - sure, some questions maybe borderline, but we risk scaring off new users; if they feel their questions aren't welcome, they won't feel welcome either.

I know I've usually erred on the side of welcoming rather than shunning some of our borderline questions - usually by answering and then thinking "hmm, is that a bit off-topic, can we tweak it a bit?" Sadly I completely missed the news about AFOLCON here in the UK next week - would have been a good place to be to drum up some more interest :(

I've been wanting to go to AFOLCON since they started that, but so far it hasn't been possible. If the site is still live next year, let's have a booth there together :-).

Definitely up for that :)

I've heard from several AFOLs in the past about why to use SE if the info is going away.  If the experiment is actually happening, then that could be a good message to send out.


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Should questions about LEGO events, themeparks and other things unrelated to building be allowed?
I saw this question today about Legoland, which led to wonder whether such questions should be on-topic: Will it be fun to go to Legoland with my family?

I am 31 years old . My elder sister and mother are going to visit me. I want to see whether it is suitable to bring them to LegoLand. Thanks

The question strikes me as low-quality (it's subjective because different people enjoy different things, and very localized to one person's family situation). Besides that though, I'm not sure if it's on-topic, or whether it should be. The FAQ outlines the following as appropriate questions:

Building techniques for a particular part of a model
The history of The LEGO Group or elements
Care and organisation of your bricks
Techniques for getting the best out of your Mindstorms Robots
Replicating advanced building techniques in CAD applications (i.e. LEGO Digital Designer or LDraw based applications)

This question is only tangentially related to Legos, as it asks about the Lego themepark. It's not at all about building, history, etc. though. Should we be allowing questions like this?

While I agree that the question is rather localised (especially with the "my family" element), I felt that the question had some broader merit - I know a few other AFOL's without the excuse of kids whose partners/family aren't interested in LEGO - and so answered the question from that interpretation.
We mod's had a brief chat about it, and I felt that it might get lost over at Travel.SE, and that it was just about on topic for here - perhaps the question could be reworded to:

Will non-LEGO fans have as much fun at LEGOland as me?

Which was the question I tried to answer.
Note that the list in the FAQ is introduced with "In general, if you have a question which covers", the list isn't exclusive, it's a guideline, and we've not explicitly excluded the topic in the list of things that are off-topic.
As you can see from the answers and comments over on Six sites due to be scrapped we've taken a fairly lenient approach to borderline questions - if they get traction (good or bad) from the other users we'll act accordingly - if you feel strongly that something doesn't fit then please flag it so we know what you think - we're Pro-tem moderators, so unlike voted mod's we don't really have a full mandate from the users to act with autonomy ;)

I think that while that question wasn't a good help for its own cause of adding that aspect to the site, an events/locales tag might be a fun addition, especially coupled with events questions related to LEGO. Bu we'll need more quality answers to be sure whether or not to green-light this.

I think this is exactly the kind of question which in a general sense should be considered as off-topic (or too localized), but also for which if gets asked once in a while, doesn't pose any very serious problem.
At some point, we'll probably want to have one CW FAQ question about LEGOland parks (which are of interest to LEGO fans anyway), and point to it when closing other questions on that topic. But as long as we don't have one, I'd tend to leave these questions live. Notice that no one even voted to close it.

I was considering closing this question as overly broad or off topic but my vote would have been binding. I do think it's a question better suited to Travel.SE but it would probably be closed as 'too general'. As it stands the question doesn't suite the current scope of the site and I've decided to close the topic.

YES.  This site is too niche not to.
Having been to LEGOLand (Florida) recently, I do not believe there to be that many possible questions regarding it, so I do not see the harm in allowing questions regarding it and tagging them with a LEGOLand tag.
Here are the types of questions I'd expect:

Where are the Legoland parks?
What is the difference between each Legoland park?
What are the attractions at Legoland {name of location}?
Where are the official Lego places to go and their differences? (Legolands, LEGO Stores, and LEGO Discovery Centers)
What things can I do at LegoLand that I can't do at a LEGO Store or Discovery Center?
What is there at the LEGO Centers (wrong name?), like the one in Chicago?
What is the age range of visitors allowed at the LEGO centers?
(note recent news article)

Heck, we can pre-answer some of this stuff and that would drive page views, visitors, etc.

I see the point here, but I still don't think these questions belong. Almost all of those questions are a) general reference, and b) likely to change frequently as exhibits/activities change. I suppose there could be times when a question might work, but most of those examples seem ill-fitted to the site.

In my view, some questions about theme parks are right on topic. For example, questions about the LEGO models would seem to be well within the scope of this site. These questions need not be considered too localized, as we can all see pictures / videos of the models even if we can't see them in person.
So, the following could be on-topic:

What scale are the buildings at the theme parks?
How do the model cars at the theme parks know where to go?
Does LEGO use special colours / moulds for the bricks in the theme park models?

On the other hand, questions about rides and outlets would be outside the scope. The difference is that these questions aren't really about LEGO, but about attractions that happen to be LEGO-themed.
Of course, there are grey areas. We'll have to deal with these on their merits.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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Ideas for how to make ourselves known at events
I've commented in another message about about holding a booth at AFOLcon somewhere in the future and I'd like to expand on that.
Of course, having an actual booth may prove difficult, depending on the events. Most will gladly give you room to show your creations, but having a booth just to advertise something as bricks.SE may be overcooking it.
But of course, if we happen to have a booth to display some creations, we might as well publicize SE a bit. What's the proper way to do that? "Business cards" seems an obvious first step, but what should we have on them? Are there any official guidelines from the overlords on that matter? I imagine other SE sites do something like that regularly.
Another LEGO-specific idea is to build a QR code with white and black tiles, which work perfectly for people with a smartphone and doesn't take up much display room.
What if we're attending events as guests? I'll go to Fana'Briques this year (as every year), but due to the ever-increasing popularity of the event and overbooking, I won't have a stand of my own (just a few GBC modules, if that); so what can I do there to promote bricks.se?
If we're going to hand out business cards, we might as well try to find a design everybody agrees with.

Funny you should mention this, I've been thinking about the idea since you mentioned it on another Meta topic.

The Great Western LEGO Show

Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, England, UK.
6th-7th October 2012.

I live about 3 hours away and would like to attend the exhibition but I have no experience as an exhibitor.

See also this answer to How can I get Stack Exchange to send me to a conference?

-Woot!- I'll be attending BrickCon. It will be held at Seattle Center on Oct 6-7 of 2012 at the same time as the Great Western Show. Maybe @Ambo100 and I could do something to promote Stack Exchange from opposite ends of the pond? I have an idea regarding possible swag that we could hand out during the conventions... How about a couple of different color LEGO tiles imprinted with the names of several StackExchange sites? Nobody I know throws away free LEGO. I still have my Major Stackings brick from the badge I got at last years event. :)

EDIT- I had a great time at BrickCon 2012 in October. You can read
  about it here. I touched base with Stack Exchange before I went
  and SE was kind enough to send me a little SE swag to hand out while I
  was there. They even paid for my admission(Thanks Anna!). I wore my
  Major Stackings badge with gusto.

Certainly there are some resources around to help Stack Exchange sites with some "real world" promotion:

Intro to CHAOS Promotion Seminar

If we can come up with some sensible ideas, we can start talking about support if we need it, as well as materials, swag, etc.

To get a better idea of the process involved take a look at the 'Supporting Community Conferences' post on the Stack Exchange blog.
The Stack Exchange network ethos seems to be based on experts, so our target equivalent would most likely be experienced model makers and public speakers. People who get as much out of discussing LEGO bricks as they do building with them.

You mentioned QR code... Here it is:

QR code for http://bricks.stackexchange.com

Sound like a challenge, what would be the fewest amount of bricks required to make a bricks.stackexchange.com QR code?

I'll be putting that on all my GBC modules!

Also keep in mind the online aspect; As far as I've seen, a link is worth a thousand off-line words!
If we start showing off our custom Flair(tm) from our profile page, and that has Bricks.SE on it, somebody is going to be interested.
Also, there are plenty of forums and other sites where people ask about LEGO. All we have to do is provide a link to an answer for their question, and they're hooked!

I'll be displaying some (very crude) posters/flyers with unanswered questions and a link (+QR code indeed) to answer them at the LEGO Fan Weekend in Skaerbaek,  I'm curious to see if it will generate some traffic.
The design is rather simple: a big "WANTED" headline, then "Do you know: "+ unanswered question, followed by a pic and the link to bricks.se. I can upload the PDFs somewhere if someone wants to see/use them, but two of the links contain my userid so you'll probably want to make your own flyers.

I don't think they got much attention; maybe a few people actually seemed to be interested by what was on there. Then again, I was too busy chasing stray GBC balls to be sure.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Bricks self-evaluation: let's get critical!
You love your site and we love your site, but there is a whole world of people out there who might not even know it exists. When they do find it, their first impression will either scare them away or keep them around. Given this, let's take a hard look at the questions and answers here and make sure newcomers see the site at its best!
Below you'll find a few questions randomly selected from this site. What do you think about each of them and their answers? Are they the best they can be or can they be improved? Would they look interesting and inviting to an outsider or are they a little embarrassing?
Upvote the corresponding post here on meta when we're awesome. Downvote when our content just isn't quite up to par.
Oh, and do comment to let everyone know your thoughts and take part in this conversation. :)

There were only 3 questions that qualified, hence the shortness of this evaluation.

How does a question qualify?

There's an algorithm that picks these questions, with various criteria. Only three made the cut. :(

Thanks for your input, everyone!

What's the best way to link two (or more) LEGO Power Functions (PF) train motors together?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

I think this was a good question, with a good answer - I just forgot to dig out the example I'd found to add some more colour to the answers, thanks for the nudge ;)

I agree that the question itself is good, but the fact there's only one answer with a meagre 3 votes (and it's not even accepted) doesn't scream "good answer" too me. (Plus, the guy who answered was obviously lazy - seriously, is it that hard to add pictures?). The fact the OP only connected twice after asking this question and hasn't been seen for a month makes me think we disappointed him.

There we go, I've added my answer, thanks for the reminder ;)

Is it possible to build a full-size house with Lego bricks?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

One of the first questions on the site. I'm not a fan of this particular question and very few people are qualified to speak on experience. A good answer should highlight the challenges of building a LEGO home, like the financial and structural aspects. Anyone searching 'Life size LEGO house' is more likely to come across the James May news articles anyway.

Agreed on that, it's quite unlikely anyone would want to do that seriously apart from the one experiment which is indeed easy to find on the net. On the other hand, the answer isn't too bad, even if the whole "would it make sense" part of the question isn't even answered.

I've added more details based on the show, to make it a more canonical answer.

NXC Saturation algorithm for limiting motors?
What do you think about this question and its answers? Vote and comment to let everyone know.

I think the question is interesting, but it shows one of our limitations: we don't seem to have much experts on robotics subjects if they're a bit deep (there are a lot of questions with that same issue). The one answer isn't even really one, so I feel we're failing the asker here.


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'never tried it' type of answers
In this question about removing scratches on clear part, all the answers are guesses and untried concepts.
I could start flagging all of them as non-constructive or should somebody clean this up and mention that guesses are not a good answer?

I've protected it and added the standard "We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer" message.
There were some potentially useful (if untried) suggestions, which I've moved into the comments.
Cheers.
Edit to add:
That said, a little googling suggests that the last answer should be a good bet: Novus does appear to be a good fit for polycarbonate plastic - which is what the transparent bricks are made from...

There are 'never tried it' answers that still provide some value, based on knowledge about how the problems is typically solved in other arenas.  I took a stab at this question with that in mind and while there could be more a authoritative answer the general problem of plastic removal in scratches does not have only one type of solution.


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Winter Bash 2012 Preparations

Last year, on our Gaming site, we hosted an event called Hat Dash,
  where users earned "hats" for their gravatars by completing certain
  tasks (analogous to badges). Certain actions would trigger the user
  receiving a hat, which their gravatar could then "wear".
For example, editing a post would yield an editor-themed hat (fedora
  with pen) to the editor.
This year, we're expanding the promotion to all sites which choose to participate, and redesigning the hat selection to be more
  appropriate to the entire network (no severed Wampa heads). Some of
  it is holiday-themed, some of it is a bit silly, and all of it is
  (hopefully) fun!
This event will run from 19 December 2012 to 4 January 2013. Users
  will be able to see their entire hat collection on http://winterba.sh.
  That site will also have a landing page, explaining the rules and
  other details of the event.
Individual users who don’t want to participate, don’t want to see
  hats, and/or are generally  anti-hat will have an "I hate hats" option
  available, just as we had on Gaming last year.
The only visual change to the site itself will be the presence of the
  hats and the "I hate hats" button in the footer.
All responses will need to be in by 28 November 2012. Sites that
  haven’t responded by then will be considered to have "opted out" from
  the event.

I like hats. Do we get to choose which one we would wear from the several that will be earned?

Yes, you do. People, please do wear your hats :-)

I like the idea of the competition. I think it suites the playful nature of LEGO bricks but I worry the sites community may be too small to benefit.

I don't think we're too small - and it might help spread the word among the network ;)

Especially if we can get LEGO-themed hats, which I think we should ask for

So is that a unanimous yes then? ;)

@Zhaph-BenDuguid From the moderators only, it looks like it's a yes.

And on the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any "no" anyway, so I'd say, let's treat it as a "yes", and if people complain later it'll be a good opportunity to tell them to read meta too.


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Should we try to get all Mindstorms questions from robotics.se?
I noticed the beta for robotics.se has started.
Not too surprisingly, they already have a question about LEGO Mindstorms robots, and the corresponding tag.
This may mean there is some overlap with us, and in order to make sure both sites don't lose visitors through confusion, maybe we need to establish which kind of questions are best asked here, and which ones are best asked there. We could of course try to get all Mindstorms-related questions, or we could make sure they all land on robotics.se, but these two solutions look too extreme to me.
I'm not sure if we can even pinpoint subtopics as pertaining to one or the other site; for example I'm thinking of the following sub-topics:

Programming and typical robotics algorithms - line following,...
Firmware issues - flashing new firmware, custom firmware,...
Mechanical robotic construction - stability, sturdiness,...

I thought at first to list such topics as answers and ask to up/downvote if you thought they belonged here or not, but then I realized this didn't make much sense - these questions are always more or less valid on robotics.se insofar as they could be asked about other types of robots as well.
Yet I'm sure some questions would be best asked here if they specifically pertain to the LEGO aspect of things. Maybe we could warn the users in the corresponding tags, both here and on robotics.se?
What do you think? When we have some more input, we can contact the robotics.se community and try to negotiate. Or send our Mindstorms robots destroy their puny non-LEGO creations and impose our will.

We've kind of covered this a bit before when there was a separate Mindstorms proposal - and even then we noted that there was a Mindstorms tag on StackOverflow (which is small but still active).
We should certainly accept any build specific questions that are sent our way, and perhaps encourage their Mods (eventually) to direct them over - as they seem to be fairly happy so far to have "Software only" questions:

I think Mark captured it with "when the problem domain of the questions is specifically robotic in nature." The question can be purely software, or hardware, or a mix. But the problem domain should be robotics.

Also, we've not got a great answer rate on our mindstorms questions, with only around 54% with accepted answers, and 10% unanswered :(
Perhaps we should offer and ask for a cross site link in their Mindstorms tag wiki?

thanks for the links on their meta, it seems they've discussed the issue quite a bit yet

I don't think that you want all Mindstorms questions moved away from here.  You certainly need a deeper bench here for answering that tag though, and I may be stepping into that arena soon.  I would encourage the view that "software only" has a home on StackOverflow, and Robotics-centric has a home on robotics.se, but there will always be some cross-pollination.  The central challenge is determining what level that you want to enforce.  A zero-tolerance policy would make sense if there was a Mindstorms.SE site.  The depth of the bench at each SE site will help to self-select the questions that gets asked and over time, a little guidance to the new users will augment this.  For my own personal case, my interest in Mindstorms is coming from an interest in LEGO, and I would rather go to one SE site for those questions and answers.  There will be others that approach it from an interest in robotics, and they will be likely to come from robotics.se, and may not be inclined to visit bricks.se.

Thanks for your input, it seems a rather wise position. Hope you'll be able to answer a lot of Mindstorms questions in the future!

I might try to propose a mindstorms site on area 51.

This screen makes me think that we have kind of degenerated a bit into near-robotics-only, and the people here don't have answers for these things. Overkill NXT/EV3?


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Are speculative questions on-topic?
There are a few questions on this site about future sets/themes. This site is not affiliated with The LEGO Group and we cannot expect to find a statement from LEGO for every question posted.
The most our members can do is speculate, and until a certain set/theme has been confirmed or discredited there is no right or wrong answer.
It's also important to consider how valuable these questions will be considered to future visitors of the site.
Under the current Stack Exchange guidelines for closing questions these questions can be considered 'not constructive' or 'too localised':

As of November 2011, should I buy the NXT 2.0 now, or wait and buy
the NXT 3.0 later?
Are there plans to release new trains for AFOL?
Is LEGO testing the market with the Minifigure Series?
Is there going to be a lego simpsons advent calendar

The text for "too localized" goes as such:

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable

Which for me is a good enough reason to close such questions, and as you'll notice, I've ended up doing so for the NXT 3.0 question, as it was very obvious in that case.
My feeling on the two other questions is slightly different, however, as I feel they are more general in nature, not really asking about what LEGO does right now but more about what they're doing. Still localized in time, but less so. Well, I contradict myself as my first comment on the train one is that it's speculative, and the answers so far indicates that the question is indeed going nowhere. Yet I can't bring myself to close it, not sure why - I'd feel more comfortable if it was closed by regular users, actually.
The question on minifig could be interesting, and seems less speculative, but again, maybe we'll be able to judge from the answers.

I think we should add a custom "Off-topic" reason to cover these - "Off-topic - Speculation" - I didn't catch the question Is there going to be a LEGO Simpsons advent calendar when it was asked, but I don't think we can answer this one until it's either released/announced (along with the other usual Advent Calendars: City, Friends and Star Wars) or not, and eventually it will be "too localised" under the date reason.
While these are often questions we'd like to know the answer to, I don't feel we're ever going to be able to answer them officially before any other source - so we won't be adding any value to the internet.
I've added the following "off-topic" reason, but it needs another mod to approve:

Questions asking when or if sets are going to be released or retired are off-topic because this information is controlled by The LEGO Group and not something we have access to.  For more information see Are speculative questions on-topic?.

I have to admit that, since bricks.stackexchange.com is not is good health, I'm trying to generate more questions lately.
I'm trying to approach LEGO from different perspectives and I do indeed ask questions that I would normally not ask.  On the other hand those are things that I really would like to know even though, in the case of the Minifigure Series, only an official LEGO statement could really settle the question.  So, in a way, it is possible that LEGO has or eventually will releases information proving or disproving this (e.g. through an interview or a YouTube video).

I'm not denying some of these questions are interesting and are popular with LEGO fans, but they do seem better suited to something you would find on a forum.

I agree. I stretched the rules a bit on the last ones.  I trying to find a new line of questions that would help the site.  I wish I had more 'building' type of questions.


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Does the LEGO Answers site get credit for hats earned by the users that opted out of the "Winter Bash" promotion?
I was checking out the Hat leaderboard. We are currently holding 89 of them. Does the site get credit for hats earned by the LEGO Answers users that met the criteria to earn a hat, but opted out of the "Winter Bash" promotion?

At the bottom of every page, there is a button labeled, "I Hate Hats!"
  This will turn off all hat-related events on all sites for you. You
  won't see people wearing hats, you won't be alerted when you earn a
  hat, and you won't be seen wearing a hat by any other users.

I believe all the 'I Hate Hats!' button does, is disable the javascript that displays hats on the site. Your username is removed from the leaderboards but the total hats remain the same. Remember you can always opt-in and out whenever and as often as you like.

Thanks! Have a Fez on me.... ;)


text:
Are questions relating to LEGO.COM on-topic?
These questions don't relate to a product, but a service run by The LEGO Group (the LEGO website).
Here are a few similar questions based on star-wars and advent-calendar relating to LEGO.COM:

How do I unlock the daily surprises?
Can't open the page to enter my LEGO Advent Calendar code
I have entered codes for days 1-7 on the LEGO Star Wars Calendar site
and now can't enter any more

Dec 2013 Update
We've been getting many more advent-calender questions this advent month:

What are the codes for the LEGO advent game?
Star Wars 2013 Advent calendar codes
We have a 2013 advent calendar and have entered the code from Sunday
but there doesn't seem to be any codes for the 2nd or 3rd
Star wars advent calendar 2013
How do I unlock the sunday surprise on the 2013 Star Wars Advent
Calendar?

Do we really want these kind of questions? Most of these questions would have been closed as 'too localised' prior to June 2012.

closed as too localized
This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only
  relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an
  extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to
  the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question
  more broadly applicable, visit the help center.

¨Per se, I don't mind questions on LEGO's websites, but my problem with these uestions is that they're very localized in time - there's a good chance LEGO will pull the plug real fast on these pages, and by then the question pretty much makes no sense.
I guess this would be true for a lot of other pages though, but especially for these.

Should we have an off-topic close reason for these kind of questions considering we no longer have a 'too localised' flag?

Not sure - I guess they are similar to the ones we've had on Software support:

LEGO Mindstorms NXT Software Error

We're not really the best people to help with these - as they are really support issues for LEGO to resolve, but we've got a group of people here who may well know an answer.
Personally, I felt the first one (How do I unlock the daily surprises) was fairly "on topic" and easily resolvable.
The second one is certainly dubious, as it's more general Mac/Browser support (probably not even a LEGO Support issue).
The third one I'm unsure of - not having the calendar myself nor the daily codes, I've not seen this issue, so can't comment one way or another.


text:
Bug in LEGO® Answers Badges
I have noticed this bug in
LEGO® Answers where my badges don't show in the list of Accounts I have in StackOverflow and other StackExchange Accounts. I have earned about 8 badges and none show up.

Edit: The "Badge Bug" has been fixed.

Curious - they are appearing on your overall Network profile:

Could possibly be a slight caching issue - when did you earn those badges? If it's fairly recently that might explain it.
If it's not cleared up in a couple of hours I guess we should escalate it further.
Following it further, I can see that your Ask Different badge count has increased across the network (it's now 3) - I've raised this on meta.SO, it may be closed as a duplicate.
Looks like there's a more systemic issue - I've just noticed that a lot of our users are missing a large number of badges in the summary.

Edit to add:
It's been fixed, thanks for raising it :-)

Thanks for your Post. I hope StackExchange fixes it soon..

Lego is the only Account with Issue.

Almost - it seems to be happening across all sites with a ® in their name - so ExpressionEngine® Answers users are also seeing it.

When do you think the issue will be resolved?

Not sure, I'll see if I can ping a dev for their take on it...

Thanks the "Badge Bug" is fixed. Thanks for your Help :)

Could you add the Status-Completed tag to my Question :)

Doh, knew there was some thing I'd forgotten ;)

Thanks for all your Help :)


text:
Area to display MOCs on LEGO Answers
I have been using LEGO Answers for about a week and love it (Pure LEGO Fan). At the moment
LEGO Answers in BETA and I would like to contribute some ideas to make LEGO Answers a better Website and even make it out of Beta.
Feature Request Idea:

Create an LEGO Presentation Page to show off your Creations, Something like NXT Log.
  You could add your LEGO Creation to the page and show the World your Creation. We could have contests like the best log-House, Robot Arm, or best RC Car. Each Post (Creation) must have an Description, (Optional) Video, (Optional) LDD, and at least 4 Photos.

I hope you like my Feature Request, (Please spread this post for more Answers).  :)
Why would this Feature Request make LEGO Answers get out of BETA?
The LEGO Presentation Page will improve the post numbers for LEGO Answers.

Whilst this might indeed "bring in more users", it's not really what the Stack Exchange sites are designed for:

We welcome questions that are clear and specific, representing real problems that you face; Stack Exchange is not the place for conversation, opinions, or socializing.

In fact it's even in the image you included (emphasis added):

15 questions per day on average is a healthy beta, 5 questions or fewer per day needs some work.

As you mention, there are already a number of sites on the web that are geared up around showcasing your latest MOCs, from dedicated sites such as MOCpages, through to common tags on Flickr.
The best the Stack Exchange engine can really offer you is the ability to update your avatar and possibly include some images in your profile - you don't have to copy this around the network if you'd like to keep it just to LEGO Answers.

Responding to the suggestion that "Photo.SE" does it:
Yep, I'd forgotten that Photo.SE has the weekly featured image image in the header - we could probably do something similar, although I'm not sure how good the small size header image would be at showcasing MOCs.
That said, there's nothing to stop this sort of discussion happening here on Meta.Bricks :)

I think the Stack Exchange engine can handle MOC (Lego Creation). The Photography StackOverflow shows Top Images up top. We could do that with lego.

Photography SE does have a weekly photo contest, but it is running because the site is otherwise active and successful. It's not active and successful because it has a photo sharing contest. This isn't to say Lego SE couldn't grow to that point, but creating a feature that moves away from our Q&A mission and exists largely to boost some numbers isn't going to happen. Those stats aren't the be all and end all of a site. Focusing on quality questions and answers and growing an audience, even if small, tends to pay off a lot better.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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How can I be moderator?
I want to help in moderation of this page. How can I be moderator ? I have experience in this.
Thanks,

As Ambo100 states, the best way to help is to use the site - as we say in the FAQ:

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and ♦ moderators. That is very much intentional. We don’t run LEGO® Answers - Stack Exchange. The community does.

While we are still in beta, the reputation requirements to access the tools is significantly lower than on a fully fledged site.
That said, we are only "Pro-Tempore" moderators - a few users were invited to be mods while the site was in beta to help nurture and grow the site, when we graduate we will hold full elections, at which point members of the community will be able to volunteer, hustings will be held, votes counted, and so on.
Note that often the criteria for standing in the elections include those traits listed in A Theory of Moderation.
You might also want to check out the following post on Meta.SO as well:

What is community moderation, and what can I do to help?

I also had a similar response when we moved from private to public beta ;)

Becoming a diamond moderator is rather hard. Once this site graduates, there will be periodic elections and you can take part in those. Of course, you need to have good standing with the community to have any chance of winning :)
However, if your aim is just to help moderate the site, then that's pretty easy. There are many, many ways to help out (and the more reputation you get, the more you can help since you get additional tools)
I wrote this guide as a one-stop tutorial about the various aspects of community moderation on Physics.SE. Yep, it's long, but not all of it applies to you. There are a few site-specific things there, though, like the bit about the homework policy. The rest pretty much applies just as well to bricks.SE
This FAQ entry, on the other hand, also teaches these aspects, and is site-agnostic. You may find that more helpful :)

Users gain certain privileges with an increase in reputation. At your current reputation, you have the ability to flag posts, flagged posts are handled by users with access to moderation tools, ♦ Community Moderators and Stack Exchange Employees.
With the amount of flags we get per day, the flag queue is very manageable.
The most powerful way for regular users and moderators alike to make a difference, is to: comment, vote, ask, answer, edit and improve posts.


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Don't bite the newcomers?
I don't have a ton of SE experience, so take what I'm asking with a gain of salt. I am a fairly established Wikipedian, and over there we have a policy called WP:BITE which basically explains how to be nice to the new users. While it seems like we aren't being particularly hostile to newcomers in the things that we say, I have been noticing that we tend to down vote bad questions from new users into oblivion. Here's one example:
Why are new LEGO bricks softer than old ones?
This is admittedly a somewhat vague and biased question, and could use some work. We seem to have done a good job of explaining what the issues were with the question, but then we down voted it a bunch (at the time of writing this it has 4 down votes). If I were a new user on an SE site, I wouldn't want my first question to be a -5. It would make me feel rather unwelcome. I'm not sure what we can really do about this, but I'd encourage us to not continue to down vote poor questions which are already negative.

I had hesitated to close the first question myself, considering it was essentially just a long rant and not a real question. However, seeing it did came from a newcomer, I considered trying a more gentle approach, but I knew this would take some time (as it required a well-written comment) so I didn't do it immediately, and then the question was closed by someone else. Frankly, I didn't shed a tear on that.
On the principle, I do agree that we should be welcoming to newcomers, so that the community can grow, and that so far we haven't been that gentle.
However, we are not wikipedia. We strive towards good answers as well as good questions. And sometimes, questions are just junk which just isn't salvageable. Maybe we should let the voting system do its job, but then we risk that junk answers are affixed to the junk questions, increasing the total junkiness of the site. We don't want that. So sometimes, it's better to just root it out as fast as possible.
Sure, it'll shun the poor newcomer who asked his question in good faith. But in all honesty, I also feel that if the newcomer is to become a valuable member of the community, he well be able to learn from the experience and understand what good questions are. And if he doesn't, well, that's harsh to say, but do we need him that much? Of course, there we have an important thing to do which is to document the reason for closure properly. A well-written comment is usually the best way to do. Possibly including some basic element of answer as well as the reasoning for closing.
I did close one speculative question recently myself, instead of relying silently on other moderators to do so.
I can't quite shake the feeling that I have been harsh in doing so, but on the other hand maybe that's the best way of working.
Note that when we finally graduate, we will elect proper moderators, and maybe they will have other views on the subject; at the very least it should be a discussion point during the elections, so that the opinion of the community as a whole is better represented.

Edit: to expend on the "we're not wikipedia" part, keep in mind we're part of a network of Q&A sites, and while our focus is very different than, say, the one for Stack Overflow, it makes sense to follow the same guidelines to be consistent across the network. More importantly, if the approach worked on SO and contributed to make it thrive, maybe it'll work for us too.
In that regards, there are of course posts on meta.so which deal with new users, and I found the question On closing new users' questions quite close to this one. The accepted answer goes "If a new user asks a bad question, it should be closed."

Personally, I think the spec question you linked to should have been closed - a more generic version would have been closed as a duplicate anyway. In general yes, I agree we should be trimming the bad stuff fairly fast, I'm just aware that (Ts & Cs not withstanding) we may attract a slightly younger audience that might appreciate a slightly gentler approach.

Thanks for the response. Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that we keep bad questions open or refrain from down voting them. I just don't like seeing questions from new users that have down votes piled on to -5 or so. I know that when I see a question that I think isn't constructive and is already at a negative score, my instinct is to flag it as not constructive if it isn't already closed, or just leave it alone. Obviously, those with more rep can just close it straight away.

I think, having some experience with the other  SO sites, that it shouldbe a good habit to comment when downvoting. I don't know  if the system asks for this, but if not, it could. This remark refers to all SO sites.

Forcing comments on downvotes has been discussed ad nauseam on meta stack overflow, and it won't happen. However, users with less than 2k reputation should get a message advising them to comment when downvoting. I guess users having more than 2k rep are considered wise enough to understand it's usually good etiquette to comment.

I have to admit I did notice the other day an fairly swift close on a question that could have had a gentle comment added to it prior to the close.
While I'm not saying that the question isn't without it's flaws (there are still many even after the first edit), I'm not sure what the best option is.
I think my preferred approach is probably:

Comment on issues with question, maybe with a down-vote. In the case of the set quality question this could have been salvaged with some specific examples of what the perceived issues are - however even then it may end up being too subjective.

If the question isn't updated after period, close.
If the question is updated and has merit, remove down-vote.

If there's absolutely no hope of salvage, close, but with a comment beyond the boiler-plate.

I think the "give it some time" approach included in this is probably the wisest as it gives a chance for the newcomer to understand what's going on.


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Can we incorporate some building block colors somewhere in the LEGO Answers banner?
Is there some way we can get StackExchange to incorporate some classic LEGO colors somewhere in the LEGO Answers.SE page banners? Some old school yellow, green, red and/or blue would fit in nicely.

Really we should have some more traction on Can I suggest a more LEGO-y skin ;) Perhaps we can get Jin to take a look and make us a little more welcoming.

Nice. I'd say the skin post makes my question a duplicate. I voted the other question up +1.


text:
Let's get critical: Jul 2013 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 6 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Part of the problem is that, due to its use of the plain-jane Area 51 banner, instead of something fun and LEGO-y, the initial impression might be that this is a scam site which steals answers from other places.

Final Results

Power Functions battery box and receiver limits
Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

How is the LEGO plastic different from Megablok plastic?
Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 1)

Damage Boiling LEGO Bricks
Net Score: 5 (Excellent: 5, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

How many standard 2x4 LEGO elements are produced in a single 2x4 mold injection?
Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

What is the purpose of the hole in the 12 x 12 boat bow (6051)?
Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

How should I connect two LEGO cylinders with pistons to measure the movement caused by sea waves?
Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)

I love this site, but it's too niche.  It is almost like having a StackExchange site solely for, I don't know, Spring Framework.
I toss "LEGO help" and "LEGO Discussion" into Google and Bricks is on page two.
I think it needs to allow expansion into all things LEGO and not restrain itself to building, and the existing base should try to generate questions on their own that might attract visitors. I posted at least one idea in the "Is LEGOland off-topic" meta question, suggesting we allow questions regarding LEGOLand, LEGO Discovery Centers and LEGO Stores.
Also, that LEGO movie is coming out and we are going to get some hits due to it, so I highly recommend getting prepared to handle that.


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Create the tag synonyms "cloaks" and "capes" for tag "accessories"
Just added the tag for "capes".  I feel "cloaks" can be a synonym, but honestly BOTH should be synonyms for "accessories"  Can someone with the appropriate amount of reputation please create the synonyms?

To be honest, I'm not quite sure we even need that tag

I'm an optimist.

Indeed, we've tended to use [tag:accessories] for those previously

Cool.  That works, but it is 100% not obvious.  You might want to consider adding some synonyms. Changing question to reflect that.


text:
Shopping Questions?
I've recently suggested we close the following question:

Where to find older sets (eg. Classic Space)?

I've given my reasons in the comments. They are (I believe) broadly in line with the policy on shopping questions on other SE sites. Indeed, I'm even not sure that it is a question that applies specifically to LEGO - I could ask the same question about other things (Action Man figures, Comics, etc.)
However...
Joubarc, for one, sees merit in the question, and I can see his point - there does seem to be value in providing a comprehensive list of places to obtain old LEGO. Moreover, we already have numerous questions tagged shopping, and to be honest, most (if not all) of these seem to fit well within the scope of this site.
The other thing that bothers me is that questions that promote list-style answers and "requests for resources" have also frowned upon elsewhere on SE... but I'm not sure that the "rules" have always been applied in a sensible way, nor that they should apply to this site in particular. There are already several questions whose answers are lists, and questions whose answers provide external resources. To me, the seem perfectly fine - indeed, I may even have contributed to some of them. In my opinion, then, they provide value to the site, and I'd be sad to see them go.
So, my question: as a site, what is our policy on shopping questions? Assuming we allow them, how can we differentiate the good from the inappropriate?

I must admit I forgot about the policy on shopping on other sites - whihc is a very valid point, and seen as such, it should apply here as well.
However, I still believe shopping questions are actually a classic interrogation point for a lot of fans, and this goes back to rec.toys.lego. As such, I believe such questions have a room here, although we should make sure there aren't too many of them, and that they are as broad as possible. The one referred in the original post is, in my opinion, a very good example: "where to find old sets" is as broad as it gets, and fans still need to know that.
I'd suggest to CW these question/answers though.

A valid set of good points all round.
My thoughts are:

Shopping questions need to be applicable - this has been covered in a number of places, most notably in Q&A is Hard, Let's Go Shopping! - there are ways that these questions can be asked and answered helpfully.
These questions should be CW - most of our other list questions are, and are better for it.
I think there is some value in a (one) general "Where to buy Old Sets" question, but we should probably close as a duplicate the "Where can I buy older sets such as the VW Beetle" as it's a little too specific (remember we don't have to close the most recent, only the least useful), and any others that crop up.

The classic post about shopping questions focuses on such questions being temporary by nature.  It's a lot harder for such questions to stand the test of time.  If a LEGO set is currently on sale at one retailer, that's the best place to buy it today, but not tomorrow.  Temporary questions are just not the best use of a Stack Exchange site.
Shopping questions can also be a problem because of Parkinson's law of triviality AKA bikeshedding.  The idea is that if you are designing a nuclear power plant, it's unlikely that there will be many people who will know enough about the problem to offer solutions.  But if you want to design a bike shed (for the operators of the plant to park their bikes during the day), you'll get as many suggestions as there are people you ask. Of this sort are purchase questions with fairly boad criteria (Lego set for 17 year old,  LEGO for a 1 year old, How to start with technic?, etc.).
So one criteria to evaluate this and other shopping questions is: Do you need to know something about LEGO to answer?  If there's something unique about a purchase that only a LEGO enthusiast could know, then go for it.  Collectors go about shopping far more deliberately than the average shopper.
Now reading the shopping questions I see the same answers recurring:

BrinkLink
Ebay
Pick-A-Brick
LUGBULK

So it would probably be best to create (or designate) a few questions to be canonical.  For instance, you could probably merge questions about buying in bulk or buying discontinued sets into a pair of questions addressing these issues.


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How does rep gain when "a suggested edit is accepted" work?
I'm a total newbie to this site and still learning the ins-and-outs... I was skimming through the explanations of how reputation works and saw that you can gain reputation when "a suggested edit is accepted."
I asked my first question yesterday and someone came along and edited it (specifically, added a tag).  I honestly hadn't put much thought at all into tags and had only come up with the one tag needed to meet the minimum requirement.  I agreed with and appreciated the edit, as I felt it was both an improvement to my question and a learning experience for me as a brand new member.  When I later saw that accepted edits provided a reputation gain, I looked for a way that I could "accept" the edit to reward the person for being helpful.
Granted, the user who edited my question has over 3,000 rep and I really doubt another +2 would actually matter to them... but I was raised with "good manners" drilled into me, so from my point of view it's more about a way to say "thanks" to the person than the little "pat on the butt" amount of reputation they'd get.
Anyway, I'm wondering whether I overlooked a way to "accept" the edit or if something about the site's mechanics make it so that I'm not supposed to have that option in this particular case.

In addition to Joubarc's answer, and to help with the other point of your question:
If a user actually suggests an edit (rather than as in this case where they have just made an edit) then it goes into what is known as the "Review Queue", where other members of the community can:

Vote to accept the edit.
Vote to reject the edit.
Make further improvements to the edit.

Also, as the owner of the post, you will be notified that there is a suggested edit on your post, and (I think) you can accept it yourself - thus allowing you to thank the editor before the community does.
Alternatively, you could add a comment to your question starting with @Kramii to thank them and that user will get a notification that you've made a comment to them.

Some privileges are awarded to users based on their reputation. In this case, starting from 1000 rep, users get the Edit questions and answers" privilege, which means that their edits don't need to be approved any longer.
Also, they don't get the +2 reputation bonus for an accepted suggested edit - note the "(up to +1000 total per user)" in the bonus for editing. Their edit isn't considered to be suggested anyway, since it's accepted automatically.
So yes, you're correct to say it usually doesn't matter that much for users past a certain reputation point, and that's what's built in the system. You can find more information on this on the main meta stack exchange site. In short, reputation is supposed to cover good answers and questions; editing isn't the focus.
One point to keep in mind is that it prevents reputation farming through editing: since your edits are auto-accepted, you could get reputation with just "editing" posts even if your edits aren't interesting.


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Why does the featured tab say that there is one bounty question even though there are none?
Title says it all. Here is a screenshot:

Hmm, curious - looks like the bounty wasn't awarded until 10:13GMT on 13 October, yet you saw this around 18:23 on 12 October (although the site's still posting that as "Yesterday":

One for the SE team really - although possibly a bit too localised (in that the featured tab is no longer appearing as there are no active bounties any more).

Seems like grace period questions count toward the number, but don't actually show up in the list. I'm not sure if this is by design or a bug.


text:
Let's get critical: Oct 2013 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Final Results

What are the inspirational resources for building with Duplo?
Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 0)

EV3 additional build instructions - PDF download or print possible?
Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)

How can you estimate the value of a LEGO collection?
Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

How to repair cracked/peeling decals?
Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 0)

Are those bowls genuine LEGO pieces?
Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 0)

How long does official Lego monorail track last?
Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)

How to use Power Functions with Mindstorms EV3?
Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 6, Needs Improvement: 0)

Is it possible to shrink down a wheel?
Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 1)

Part assortments for creative building
Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 2)

Is there a fix for an NXT reporting "File error!" when running an EV3 program?
Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)


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How to remove account of this Lego?
Unknowingly, I created this account thinking this is discussion forum about logo deigning but this came to be another discussion forum of whose I have no idea at all. So, it will be great if someone cane tell how to remove this account.
And if possible please tell me something about Lego.

@jncraton Can you help me?

A good starting place for info on LEGO would be: http://aboutus.lego.com/
If you want to delete your account, go to https://bricks.stackexchange.com/contact and let them know what you need.

Thanks dude for the response.

You've got a 404 page there...

As I commented on your main question, I'll get one of the StackExchange team to remove your LEGO Answers account.
LEGO Answers is a member of the Stack Exchange network, where users can ask and answer questions on various topics. As you've noticed, we're not discussion sites, instead focusing on questions that have clear, quality answers.
I imagine that you'd like your other network accounts left alone (as you have some Reputation over on Ask Ubuntu).
Hopefully you'll come back to us when you have a question we can help you with.
In terms of discussion forums, you could start on the official LEGO Site:

Create and Share - has galleries and message boards for you to share your MOCs.
Creator - has regular building competitions.

zhaph Hey, are you taking this personal? After knowing what is this all about from @gev, I decided to stay on this and frankly my dear, I give damn to reputation. I am here to learn new things not earn reputation. Anyways, thanks for your concern. No need of your help. :)

Hi Habi, no I wasn't taking it personally - sorry if I came across that way, but it's always sad to see people go. I'll send another email to the community team asking them not to remove this account then - glad you're sticking around :)

Zhalph, are you from the Lego? You look very concerned regarding this. I was just tring to be clear on these stuff. I  not only liked the concept of Lego, I just loved it. So, I've decided to stay here.

No, I'm not from LEGO, just a user who helps look after this site and wants people to be happy ;) Just to be clear, this isn't an official LEGO site, just another fan supported and maintained one. As I said, I'm happy you're staying, and I look forward to us being able to help each other :)


text:
Winter Bash 2013

This event will run from 16 December 2013 to 3 January 2014. Users
  will be able to see their entire hat collection at http://winterbash2013.stackexchange.com.
  That site will also have a landing page, explaining the rules and
  other details of the event.
Individual users who don’t want to participate, don’t want to see
  hats, and/or are generally anti-hat will have an “I hate hats” option
  available. And just like last time, at the end of the event, all
  hats will go back into storage.
The only visual change to the Stack Exchange sites themselves will be
  the presence of the hats and the “I hate hats” button in the footer.
All responses will need to be in by 1 December 2013. Sites that
  haven’t responded by then will be considered to have opted out from
  the event.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because Winter Bash 2014 happened over a year ago.

Last years Winter Bash was successful and I'd like to see it return this winter.

Fun was had collecting hats ;)

Three up votes - Ambo100 are you going to reply back with a "yes" then?

@Zhaph-BenDuguid Sorry, I've replied with a yes, we are set for Winterbash 2013.

Sweet :) Here come the hats!


text:
Are reqesting shemes for objects on-topic here?
Can I ask here to show good schemes for constructing some object?

Definitely, we already have some questions requesting help for building ideas or techniques. Keep in mind though that it may take a bit longer to get an answer.


text:
Let's get critical: Jan 2014 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Final Results

What is the centre hole for in modern train tracks?

Net Score: 3 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

What are LEGO baseplates made from?

Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)

Buying Individual MiniFigures

Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)

Getting started with Mindstorms and/or Technic

Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 1)

Which was the first set / minifig with two faces to choose from?

Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 1)

Invert motor block in EV3

Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 1)

identification of lego set by color and shape of inner box

Net Score: -2 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 2)

How can I order an Ev3 gyro in Europe

Net Score: -3 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 3)

Advanced coloured lines following robot

Net Score: -3 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 3)

How can I find the analog output of a color sensor?

Net Score: -4 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 4)


text:
How can we deal with unanswered questions?
Something noticeable about the unanswered questions is that the majority of questions (19 out of 23) relate to the robotics software and hardware.
Do we have too few experts on this subject, are theses questions too specific or is there some other reason?

I'd say that most of the truly unanswered ones are very specialised: either skiing for help with a specific error that perhaps out haven't seen or using some combination of set ups that are fairly unique ("How can I control nxt 2.0 robot with a Wiimote in labview?", "Guide me on how to use my Mindstorm RCX kit on OS X Mavericks") - perhaps these should be closed as too localised. Others seem to be suffering from the fact we're not a discussion site something's not working some suggestions have been made and then there's no further response from the OP.


text:
Should we seed some questions about the LEGO movie?
I don't mean questions about the movie itself, but how to build items from the film, or parts used, etc.  The sort of things that drive traffic.
Yes? No? Maybe? Crickets?

By all means. I guess you'd want to be careful you didn't ask about items that are included in the official sets though


text:
Let's get critical: Apr 2014 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Felt I had to skip a couple of the questions in the queue as I'd answered them...

Final Results

Large Lego Minifig Styles

Net Score: 3 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

Which bricks warrant an extra to be included in a set?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Part Identification - bricks with posts

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

How does cleaning yellowed Lego bricks affect their clutch power?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

What is the input to the Speed Regulator?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Retrobrite cleaning on old cellulose acetate bricks?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Cost of different works in a LEGO set price?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

Why do some sets contain parts of an unrelated colour?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)

Small lego train sets on narrow gauge track?

Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)

Where can I download the EV3 education edition software for free?

Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)


text:
Should I not have answered "Lego Friends Houses"?
The question Lego Friends Houses was closed as "Primarily opinion-based". I had already made a stab at answering it and have received 3 upvotes so far for that. Should I have just left the question, or flagged it? (I cannot yet close-vote here).
My motivation in answering it:

This site needs questions and answers and I thought I could help the OP out
The OP seemed to suffer from a severe case of "only building what the instructions say" and "not mixing themes" and I wanted to suggest a way out of that, at least partly.

A good portion of Lego questions are open-ended or opinion-based. Is there a guideline for when it goes too far?

The question has been reworded by jncraton in such a way that it is now a valid question:

Is there a way to buy LEGO houses without minifigs?

I have changed the title and reopened the question. Despite the change in title, your answer still remains relevant and I fully support you for answering.
Questions based almost entirely on opinions rather than facts/references will be closed, if a user is able to reword the contents of a question to be more suitable (in such a way that does not completely change the context) then users can either vote to 'reopen' or flag the question for moderator attention.

A good portion of Lego questions are open-ended or opinion-based. Is
  there a guideline for when it goes too far?

I cannot say for sure where exactly the line is drawn. I think the phrasing of a question, can make a lot of difference.
A question titled 'Why are there so many LEGO Friends minifigs, but barely any houses?' can only truly be answered by either an employee from the LEGO company or an existing reference. Any other answer is speculative.
If the question is titled 'Is there a way to buy LEGO houses without minifigs?', anyone with experience or knowledge is able to answer and the answer actually solves a problem.
I don't expect everyone to agree with the examples given, it is after all my interpretation. I'd like to know what other members of the community think as well.

I think you've summed it up pretty well there :)


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AFOLCON / BRICK 2014 - Sponsorship Proposal
AFOLCON / BRICK 2014
What?

AFOLCON  is a 1 day fan convention, it is the UK's first and only LEGO convention dedicated to adult fans. Attendees will be able to listen to guest speakers, including those employed in the LEGO company as designers.

BRICK 2014  is a 4 day public show with support from The LEGO Group. Like most LEGO shows, BRICK 2014 will feature models from both fans and professional builders.
When?
AFOLCON
26th November 2014
BRICK 2014
27th-30th November 2014
Convention Timetable
Where?
ExCeL London
Why?
Representing at AFOLCON is the perfect opportunity to promote LEGO Stack Exchange.
AFOLCON has an audience of mature LEGO enthusiasts, many of whom are already active and familiar with online communities but may not be aware of LEGO.SE.
The goal of visiting this convention is to raise awareness of our community and promote the Stack Exchange Q&A model.

How can I get sponsored?
If you're interested in promoting LEGO.SE this year at BRICK 2014 and/or AFOLCON please read this Meta topic and tell us why you should represent LEGO Stack Exchange.
(Please give your proposal as an answer to this question)

Are you an active, engaged member of the community? Have you organized
the community around events like contests or important meta posts in
the past? Do you leave guiding comments on newbies’ posts with great
regularity? Have you attended an event before and told everyone far
and wide about Stack Exchange and its awesomeness? Have you been
sponsored by us before? The more you can show us that you’re a deeply
committed user and an engaged member of the community, the better your
chances of approval.
https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/132283/157163

Ambo100
I have supported LEGO Stack Exchange since its infancy at Area 51. As a pro-tem moderator of the site for over two and a half years, I have become very familiar with how Stack Exchange works and I feel comfortable explaining to other LEGO fans what LEGO SE can do for them.
I would like to be able to bring the site to the attention of a wider audience. To do so, I plan on working closely with the Stack Exchange community managers to develop suitable promotional material (such as t-shirts, pamphlets or business cards).
I plan on producing a daily photo report of my experiences which I will share with the LEGO.SE community as Meta/Blog posts.
I'm familiar with London having lived there and visited many times. By Rail and DLR I can get to ExCel London in 1 hour and 20 minutes from my nearest train station.

I'm going to try and take my kids to the main event, but I'm not sure I'll be able to attend the conference itself unfortunately, so I wholeheartedly endorse Ambo100's application ;)


text:
Can we create a 'FLL' tag?
We all know that the FIRST lego league challenge announcement is happening soon, and we will definitely ask questions about it. I have noticed that there is no 'FLL' or 'FIRST' or'FIRST lego league' tag.
Could someone please add these helpful tags?

I just added it

I've added fll to your question (although I fear that is "too localised") and a rough wiki entry based on their about page. I've also created a synonym first-lego-league which will point to it. Feel free to suggest edits for other suitable questions for more rep ;)


text:
Let's get critical: Oct 2014 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Final Results

Preparations for outside display

Net Score: 6 (Excellent: 7, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 1)

I need information on LEGO part #3001 in Milky White with Sparkles

Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 5, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)

Is it possible to connect EV3 and NXT bricks like master/slave configuration via bluetooth?

Net Score: 3 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)

Need help to identify minifigure

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 7, Needs Improvement: 1)

What is this model number please?

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 1)

How to build an automatic Lego train system?

Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 3)

I bought a second hand pack of pieces and it looks like it may be a specific set

Net Score: 0 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 7, Needs Improvement: 2)

How to make NXT bricks communicate information?

Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 6, Needs Improvement: 2)

What set does this minifigure head come from?

Net Score: -3 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 5, Needs Improvement: 4)

What part can I use to get the connection

Net Score: -3 (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 4)

My first thought is that this survey had a relatively small number of responses, and as such we shouldn't over-emphasise the value of the results. On the other hand, this data certainly provide food for thought, particularly as it is likely to represent the views of the more dedicated users of this site.
I have just a couple of observations:

What part can I use to get the connection

Net Score: -3
In my view (and with the benefit of hindsight) I think that this question should have been put on hold until it was clarified. I am still not quite sure what it is asking, and link-rot would make the question completely unintelligible. (I mean no disrespect to the questioner: it can be hard to ask good questions, and I doubt that I could have done better in this case).

whose head is this in this picture?

Net Score: -3
To be honest, I struggle to see why this is any worse than

Need help to identify minifigure

Net Score: 2
In general, part identification seems like a perfect fit for this site. That said, it would be nice if the titles of the questions were more descriptive so we can distinguish them more easily as the site gets bigger. For example "Identification of head with nauseated expression".
But still, why did the first of these questions score so much worse than the second?

While I agree it's a low number of responses, it's quite a lot more than we've had for the last 3 or 4 evaluations (Apr 2014: 4, Jan 2013: 4, Oct 2013: 6) ;)

In terms of the specific questions you're commenting on: "Connection" - agree this is particularly poorly crafted question, however it has got a fairly good response, but both Q and A could use some additional images detailing the issue.

Why is "Whose head" worse than "Need help" - The second one explained how they found the part in question rather than just supplying the answer, "teach a person to fish" and all that. Obviously those are my opinions and others may well be available ;)


text:
On Connecting Bricks.SE and LEGO User Groups
One of the reasons that I am involved with Bricks.SE is because I don't have (that I know of) any LEGO community near where I live (Southern Oregon).  However, I used to live in the SF Bay area, and was part of BayLUG, and that got me thinking:
How can we leverage the power of LUGs to grow Bricks.SE, and how can we leverage the power of Bricks.SE to build LUGs?
I don't have any particular thoughts on this issue, other than desired results:  I'd like to see Bricks.SE become a larger community, and see more LUGs around the country (especially in my area).

One possible solution is to expand our outreach to the LUGs.  I assume that many members here are already part of a local LUG, and perhaps we could get them some SE swag to hand out at the LUG meetings.
And though (at the risk of sounding like a dating site) a "Meet people in your area" thread isn't suitable for the format of SE, we could seed some questions about locating LUGs, and meeting other LEGO fans in your area (for example, referring to forums that have those kind of threads).
Any other ideas to help establish a strong partnership here?

I fully endorse asking a Community-Wiki question about the current LUGs - it would need to be a Wiki though so that people are happy to contribute and maintain "one definitive answer" rather than have lots of individual ones. We'd need to work to ensure that it wasn't just a direct repeat of LUGNET's US and Global lists though.

On Mi Yodeya (Judaism.SE), there is a meta topic for finding places where lots of people live, so that an IRL get-together might be possible. http://meta.judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/1635/where-do-you-live

One other possible solution is to recognize Bricks.se as a valid LEGO community - a decentralized LUG, if you will. Some other online communities (I'm thinking eurobricks) have done it that way.
With the revamping of the LEGO ambassador program as the LEGO Ambassador Network, maybe it would be interesting to try to push one key member of bricks.se as ambassador.

I'm not knocking Bricks.SE as a valid community.  After all, this is my goto community for LEGO-related matters now.  The issue, on my mind, is that LUGs provide some benefits that a decentralized community can never provide.  At the very least, you have LUGBulk, but since LEGO is inherently a physical medium, it's nice to have other people in close proximity that you can turn to.  That allows you to organize displays, work with after-school programs, and generally spread LEGO into the local community.  Which is just something that isn't very easy to coordinate from Bricks.SE.


text:
Should we merge "Part Identification" with "Identification"?
In the interests of feeding my taxonomy OCD, I was looking at the current part-identification tag, and felt its use was a little haphazard:
We have about 17 items tagged "Part Identification", compared with 74 tagged "Identification".
For some added context:

15 questions are also tagged with sets asking about Set Identification (especially after I added that to a few others)
13 questions are only tagged Identification (note that the query is running on an archived dataset which takes a while for that to update with the changes I made to clean up some of the questions)
5 questions are only tagged "Part Identification"

Currently our "Piece Information" wiki states:

Use identification for questions about unknown pieces or sets.

Do you think "Part Identification" stands on it's own?
Do we need something else to help distinguish "part identification" from "set identification"?
Should we create a similar "Set Identification" tag and remove "sets" from those questions instead?
If we create "Set Identification" should we then retire "Identification"?

In my mind, part of the reason that we can put multiple tags is so that we don't have to be super specific.  Set identification questions should be tagged with "set" and "identification".  Likewise, part identification questions should probably be tagged with "part" and "identification" or something similar.

@Nick2253 Agreed, but I'm not sure "Part" or "Element" really stand on their own. I guess "Sets" is really "Set Information" so is it ok to tag them "Piece Information" and "Identification" (which quite a few are anyway)

I forgot we had "Piece information" already.  That's probably the way to go.

I don't think a 'identification' tag is necessary given that almost every identification questions is clearly either about a part (or selection of parts) and a set.

I guess the idea was that we wanted the "identification" tag to exist to distinguish between questions asking about how a particular element should be used or has changed, compared with the "what is this part" questions - then people can mark "Identification" as an ignored tag, and not see them. Would you prefer a "Set Identification" tag and retire the Identification one?

I think we should rather change our definition of identification and move questions to the proper spot. Perhaps even remove straight-up identification and instead do part-identification and set-identification, both of which exist.


text:
Winter Bash 2014

As another year draws to a close, we wanted to do something fun and
  lighthearted with our communities, as a way of celebrating the many
  amazing people who make the sites awesome. So, we’re announcing Winter
  Bash 2014!
Most of you probably remember previous years’ events, but I’ll recap
  anyway, for the newbies among us. Winter Bash is an annual event that
  can run on any Stack Exchange site that chooses to participate. Users
  earn “hats” for their gravatars by completing certain tasks (analogous
  to badges). Certain actions trigger the user receiving a hat, which
  their gravatar can “wear”. We track everyone’s progress earning hats
  in a leaderboard that looks something like this:

Winter Bash 2014 will again be available to all sites that choose to participate. We’re redesigning all the hats and adding some extra
  features to keep things fresh and exciting.
Some Details
This event will run from 15 December 2014 to 4 January 2015. Users
  will be able to see their entire hat collection on
  winterbash2014.stackexchange.com. That site will also have a landing page, explaining the rules and other details of the event.
Individual users who don’t want to participate, don’t want to see
  hats, and/or are generally anti-hat will have an “I hate hats” option
  available. And just like last time, at the end of the event, all hats
  will go back into storage.
The only visual change to the Stack Exchange sites themselves will be
  the presence of the hats and the “I hate hats” button in the footer.

The community of every site on the Stack Exchange gets to choose if they would like to take part in this event. Based on the very positive feedback from the last two years (2013, 2012), in which nobody has made any objections to taking part, I would like LEGO Stack Exchange to be involved in this years Winter Bash.
However, if any one has any objections to taking part, please explain why in response to this question.
Whilst last year the default options was to opt-out of the event, this year we must contact Stack Exchange if we do not wish to be involved.
All responses must be in by 1st December 2014.

Huzzah! More hats :-D

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because Winter Bash 2014 happened over a year ago.


text:
AFOLCON / BRICK 2014
You may or may not be aware that I am currently attending the Brick 2014 convention in ExCeL, London.
I am going with the intention of promoting our Stack Exchange site to the LEGO community. I also promised to produce a daily report of the event, particularly for those who were unable to attend the convention.
I will have time to publish the full report once the event has ended.

Nice work there, I've got my tickets for Sunday, so might see you there :-)

AFOLCON 2014 (Wednesday 26th November)
The Adult Fan Of Lego Convention took place the day before BRICK 2014 was due to open to the public. The convention had guest speakers from every aspect of LEGO, including those that work for or with The LEGO Group.
Fiona Wright

Image: LinkedIn. Fiona Wright.
Fiona Wright is the General Manager and Vice President of LEGO UK, she has been a member of the company since she was recruited as the Europe North Brand director in 1999.
She talked about how the company has changed since then. In particular during 2003-2004 when The LEGO Group yearly profits had begun to fail. She attributed this to the The LEGO Groups' attempts to expand the company with more and more merchandising, theme parks and digital media.

2003 was a very disappointing year for LEGO Company.
Net sales fell by 26 percent from DKK 11.4 billion in 2002 to DKK 8.4
  billion. Play material sales declined by 29 percent to DKK 7.2
  billion.
The result was a pre-tax loss on earnings of DKK 1.4 billion, i.e. a
  drop of DKK 2 billion as compared with 2002.
The year’s result can only be described as unsatisfactory.

Source: LEGO Annual Report 2003. Page 3.

Guy Bagley
Guy Bagley works for Merlin Entertainment as a LEGO Model Maker. He makes models for LEGOLAND Theme Parks, Discovery Centres, LEGO Stores and special events.
He previously worked for several toy companies as a designer before joining LEGO 20 years ago. His first task was to build a sphere out of LEGO, building spheres allow new model makers to better understand how to 'sculpt' large scale LEGO models.
Every model in the LEGOLAND parks over 6ft have steel structures within the models and every day the welds, bolts, bearing and motors of the models and inspected. External checks are performed monthly and a full scale inspection is performed each year.
Guy has also worked on many of the LEGO Discovery Centres and LEGO are aiming to create two new centres every year. There seems to be a lot of pressure to produce new models for LDC's and model makers don't get quiet enough time as they had to rebuild old models.

Image: LinkedIn. Guy Bagley.

Max Valembois
Max is a designer for the LEGO MInecraft sets. During the design process, compromises had to be made to best fit the iconic elements of LEGO and Minecraft. Most noticeably, LEGO bricks aren't a perfect cube, so the best approximation is chosen.
The designers chose to not make the Minecraft characters look as rectangular and square as they do in the Minecraft universe because they would be unrecognisable as LEGO.

Image: LEGO Minecraft Product Page. Video screen capture.

Keith David Severson
Keith is the Senior manager for the LEGO Community Support team. Kevin talked about the LEGO Ambassador Network (LAN) introduced in 2005 as 'a focused and structured approach to engaging with and supporting the global adult fan of LEGO (AFOL) community'.
LUGBULK Facts

There are 376,401 AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) in 223 recognised LUGs (LEGO User Groups).
Over 16 million LEGO parts were sent out in LUGBULK orders in 2014.
LUGBULK runs of the 'Missing Parts' supply chain. Therefore requests for missing parts from LEGO customers take priority over LUGBULK orders. LUGBULK orders can take a long time to be processed and shipped to the LUG, particularly around peak times (Christmas).

Alice Finch

Image: Flickr. Alice Finch and her castle
Alice is an AFOL of LEGO, well known in the LEGO fan community for her large scale MOCs, most notably the recreation of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter franchise.
I highly recommend reading the Brothers Brick interview as it covers most of the points she talked about in her presentation. There is also a gallery of the finished Hogwarts model on Flickr.

Team Exosuit
Tim Goddard, Ian Grieg, Andrew Hamilton, Yvonne Doyle, Drew Maughan and Jeremy Williams collaborated with Peter Reid to make the Exo Suit set a reality with LEGO Ideas.

I'm sorry this report isn't yet finished but I'm posting what I have written so far. I'm not accustomed to writing so much on an iPad!

BRICK 2014 (27th-29th November)
The BRICK 2014 convention was the largest of its kind in the UK. The convention originally was intended to be held at the O2 arena in London, but due to the high demand in tickets it was moved to the much larger ExCeL convention centre, less than a mile away.
Fan Zone
Undoubtably the highlight of the event, the Fan Zone showcased almost every kind of LEGO models created by the LEGO fan community from all over Europe.
Aside from the usual City and Space themes that are a staple of almost every LEGO exhibition, you could also pockets of Fabuland, Steampunk, Microscale and Mosaic models.
Shopping
Toys R Us, as the official partner retailer were selling almost every set you could buy at a normal LEGO store.
Sadly there was no official LEGO store where you could spend and earn VIP points, however Toys R Us ran (and continue to run until 21st December) a promotion where you could earn a £20 gift coupon for spending £75 or more on LEGO.
There were also a dozen or so independent traders from across Europe selling their loose parts as well as rare and discontinued sets.
Verdict
For adults and children there is plenty to see and do. If you intend to see the whole show you can expect to spend at least a full day looking around.
The tickets for both Saturday and Sunday were sold out and crowded. I strongly recommend anyone who wishes to go to BRICK 2015 either does so on a weekday or purchases a VIP pass to get access to the show floor an hour earlier than the public.


text:
Should nomeclature and terminology tags be synonimized?
I have 2 questions based on what the official term is for a mini/micro/tiny/nano-figure.
One is tagged terminology, the other nomeclature.  I see many more entries under terminology; should nomeclature be a synonym of terminology?

Sounds like a reasonable suggestion, nomenclature is a harder word to spell and type ;-)

I've setup synonyms for both nomeclature and nomenclature which should help going forward

Consider that the tag is currently "nomeclature" without the second 'n'.

Indeed, I didn't realise it was misspelt when I initially posted that.

I've replaced it; there was only one instance other than my own question.


text:
Let's get critical: Apr 2015 Site Self-Evaluation
We all love LEGO® Answers, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.
The Site Self-Evaluation review queue is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.
Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? Post an answer below to share your thoughts and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!

Final Results

Are BanBao bricks compatible with Lego?

Net Score: 5 (Excellent: 5, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)

Where are the electric pieces for 42029?

Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Lego Escher structures

Net Score: 4 (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

What logos appear on Duplo brick studs?

Net Score: 3 (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Old sets, new bricks

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)

EV3 controlled by 8879 speed control through IR sensor

Net Score: 2 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)

Quick way to inventory parts

Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)

Why doesn't lego make many 2x2x4 Pieces?

Net Score: 1 (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)

How can I use bluetooth on my phone to run a program on the EV3 brick?

Net Score: -1 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 1)

Mindstorm EV3 no longer recognises SD card

Net Score: -2 (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 2)

I'm surprised that there are not more questions about building problems.
It's nice to see many people taking a go at solving a specific building problem.  You can see all the different approaches and building styles in the answers.  Here are some examples that already exist:

How do I build a curved wall?
Brick-built alternative to "Door 2 x 5 x 5 Swivel, Bracket Base"
Any way to make this setup "tighter"?
What elements do I need to create a smooth multi cheese slope ramp?

Some times you just get stuck.  It's often great to see what other people can do to help you get past road blocks, but I don't know if this is a great site for that kind of discussion, since there's rarely a single correct answer.  Is that the kind of thing we want on the site?  The OP can mark the solution they went with as the answer, but all the submitted answers might be sufficient, or be more applicable to other people.
That said, it is nice to see the solutions that people come up with. So I'm torn.

@Grandpappy It seems like this may be what we want. I think that we want more questions that open themselves to multiple "correct" answers so that we can actually vote on and discuss the best ones. I feel like we too often have questions with one or two answers, and then that's all we get. Compare this to something like http://stackoverflow.com/questions/179123 where there are many answers with slightly different ways to essentially do the same thing. That seems to add a lot of value.

@Grandpappy I am a software developer by trade and I have used StackOverflow for years.  In programming there is as many solution to a problem as there are programmers trying to solve it.  Most of the time a majority will agree what could be the best solution but sharing all those solutions and seeing all the different approaches is a an amazing part of what makes Stack Exchange great. I see LEGO building the same way and I would love to see people fearlessly present all their expertise, experiences and creativity through this site.

You both make great points, and I agree.  Once the stackoverflow method of many answer was brought up, I was completely sold.  I'm also a developer, and having a good way to see the breadth of answers is often helpful.