Collection size ranking

adiemc

Spotted this earlier. Obviously a work in progress as the link takes you to a coming soon page but will be interested to see it when it's finished. 

bandit778

I'm ranked 5782nd out of the 120588 users which is reasonable but a bit scary as I've only actively been buying sets for 2 years. 

oldtodd33

I just noticed this yesterday, not sure when it first appeared. I'm number 109 and praying my wife doesn't see it. 

adiemc

I wonder who is number one?

Fauch

I'm 21115th, we are way more nutcases than I thought.

Huw

Well spotted! It appeared on Tuesday. It was suggested in the survey. I don't see a lot of point in it given collections can easily be inflated without verification but it seems to be a wanted feature.

I've almost finished the 'coming soon' page. I should get it uploaded tomorrow.

It'll be a WIP, so LMK what else you'd like to see there.

I'm not #1, currently #13 but I sold a hundred or so sets recently which I haven't removed so I'll slip down the table a bit when I've done so.

messy

123rd, as @oldtodd33 said I definitely don't want the Mrs to see it! I'm glad I stopped adding duplicate sets a while back otherwise I'd be in even more trouble. I'll have to make sure I don't stay logged in on the main site :-)

Shib

@Huw , not sure this is a feature I care for, will there be an opt out option?

Huw

No -- but it will show only you your ranking, not anyone else, unless you've elected to share your collection via the setting in your profile.

Does that allay any concern you may have?

akunthita

I think this feature might be more harmful than helpful. I wonder why people asked for it in the survey. Is this a guy thing? Comparing sizes?

Shib

@akunthita - I think that's what I don't like about the feature, I don't really have any "concerns" about the feature, but my enjoyment of my collection has no relevance on how it compares to other people collections.

I like having my collection set to public view as it's proven useful in the past when people have asked for ideas for birthday/Christmas presents. But ranking collection size just seems kind of petty to me.

 It's not something that would put me off using Brickset at all but just a feature I don't really like because it adds to the stereotypical image of collectors being the type who look for every opportunity to brag. 

drdavewatford

akunthita said:

Is this a guy thing? Comparing sizes?

Ha - quite possibly!

VorpalRyu

Currently 1876th, I was 1921st earlier today, kind of scary... Probably drop a bit when I remove the sets I'm planning to part out for MOCs.

AllBrick

9636th with more to add, yikes. 2-3 years in and getting deeper too.

Good to know the RRP calculated isn't true, I don't think i have bought many, if any sets at RRP.

akunthita said:

I think this feature might be more harmful than helpful. I wonder why people asked for it in the survey. Is this a guy thing? Comparing sizes?

I've heard it being referred to as 'Willy Waving'. Might be a bit of that amongst the top dogs.

I like it, makes me feel like Scrooge McDuck swimming in Lego instead of coins. 

Huw

The page is now live: http://brickset.com/mycollection/sets/ranking

It just shows those with similar collection sizes to you. I don't intend showing the top 10 to avoid abuse.

Not sure how useful or interesting it is: I welcome your feedback.

Feel free to wave your willies, but not at me :)

VorpalRyu

Interesting to recognise one of the names in the same area of the rankings as me. Curious @Huw, how often does it update the info, just wanting to know for when I part out some of the sets I bought for MOCs to see where I end up.

messy

My total is inflated as I have cmfs recorded individually, overall I do find the feature interesting as I like the site statistics, but if it disappears then it would not be an issue. I've used the main site for many years to keep track of my collection for my own personal benefit, and am eternally grateful to @Huw for making that possible. I have never worried or even been curious about anyone else's collection, it's their collection not mine.

Paperballpark

Hmmm, I expected to be higher up than 13,257th, but it seems that it is sorted by unique sets owned, of which I only have about 230 or so. Also, I don't collect the CMFs, which would easily have doubled my count if I had!

Bumblepants

Is it normal to feel shame for both how high you rank AND for not ranking higher? "I have spent too much... But dang it, I need to beat these other guys though!"

Fauch

so it's the number of sets that counts?

gratefulnat

Nahhh, it's just what you do with them :-)

Oldfan

150. Top 2 percent.  I honestly don't know whether to be happy or sad about this...

datsunrobbie

I think it is a neat feature, and would be interested in seeing rank by number of pieces as well as sets. I'm around 5758 ranked by sets, on a whole page of folks with 440 sets.

If folks are worried about being in the rankings, maybe having an option to opt out, or tying it to the "share my collection" switch in user setup, would resolve those worries.

Huw

It's tied to that setting already.

gmonkey76

Currently sitting at 101st. First set was #590 that Santa got me for Xmas when I was around 7 years old. Not sure if i like the feature yet as a part of me wants to be in the top 10, and the other part of me knows I don't have the space/money right now to do it.

VorpalRyu

@gmonkey76 101st? Wow, how many sets do you have? lol part of you wants to make the top ten, I can see a dangerous element to this ranking thing, of course TLG's accountant wouldn't see it that way...

Huw

To be in the top 10 you would currently need to own over 4000 unique sets.

gmonkey76

@VorpalRyu 2535 items 1977 different. Most sets in one theme is 406 sets in Star Wars, and the most sets of one kind is 26 sets of #7595 Army Men on Patrol.

dspigel

My wife thinks I have a lot. I can now point out that 7,745 people have more than I do.

MaffyD

Need to buy more polybags. And CMFs. Or not...

PeteM

I recently removed all of my CMFs from my 'owned' tag as I don't really count them as sets for the purposes of my catalogue on Brickset (though I am tracking via a User defined flag instead - great feature!). No idea how much an extra 100 or so 'sets' would bump me up, but I'm hovering somewhere just above 8500 at the moment... Interesting feature though :)

Michel_W

What is the difference between Brickset users and Brickset members? Just curious, because the collection overview says we're ranked n-th out of 125k users, but the page showing users with similarly-sized collections says (at the bottom) that there are 150k members, a difference of 'just' 25 thousand people. BTW, with just 61 different sets (including books) I'm in the top 40% of the ranking, which just seems to indicate many thousands of users are not active at all or don't use Brickset to record their collection. 

Ferus_Olin

8225th. It would have made me feel better if I was in the 10000s.

maxcollector3

Huw said:

To be in the top 10 you would currently need to own over 4000 unique sets.

I'm curious how those people at the top store all those different sets! How much space it requires... We need to be able to ask questions (at least those of us aspiring to be in the top 10 one day!)

I'm around 3300. But the people around me have basically the same number... I'm assuming it's that way until you start getting to the very top.

Huw

^^^ Users==members and I've used them interchangeably.

The 25k 'discrepancy' will be those members not using the site to record their collections.

Dangermouse

Would it be possible to compare minifigures owned as a lot of us don't collect sets?

Brainslugged

@Oldfan... I'm afraid to say that if you're 150th, you're almost in the top 0.1%!

Goldchains

I'm 38,464th.  I suppose I have an above-average willy...

SumoLego

^ But a top-ten mohawk.

OrmskirkBricks

I think this is an interesting feature...I'm in the 40,000s and quite happy there! I've only been out of my dark ages for a couple of years so happy with my progress!

SeanTheCollector

You own 872 items, 731 different.

The size of your collection is currently ranked 1704th out of 125259 Brickset users.

I'm starting to have serious problems with lack of space! I've started to think about which themes I should restrict my self too! Or at least which themes I should resist collecting. Especially since I won't be able to resist some of the new themes coming next year, e.g. Batman Movie sets. Until I have more room then I'm happy to stay where I am in the rankings! :)

davee123

akunthita said:

I think this feature might be more harmful than helpful. I wonder why people asked for it in the survey. Is this a guy thing? Comparing sizes?

My guess is that there are a few things going on here:

(1) Bragging rights.  If you've got a big collection, you want to be really high on the list.  You want to prove how awesome you are by showing it demonstrably.

Is that harmful?  It could be, data-wise.  If people decide to start marking sets they don't own, it could create further inaccuracies.  Not that it wasn't already a problem (people routinely post "how many sets do you have" threads), but it could edge it a little more in that direction.

(2) Social validation.  This is the big one, I think.  My LEGO hobby went through the roof when I started interacting with other hobbyists, and from what I've heard, others are similar.  This basically drives home the point of "you're not alone", and "yes, there are people out there crazier than you".  It's comforting to know where you belong socially.

It also probably encourages more LEGO buying.  Further incentive for buying that extra set that you don't own, because you know you'll climb the ranking.

I'm not sure if that's harmful or not-- I guess it depends on your definition of "harmful"!  I think it strengthens the LEGO community, which may have various side effects, some good, some bad.

(3) Statistics.  This is the one that really appeals to me.  How much LEGO is "too much"?  How much LEGO does your average AFOL have?  Etc.  There's a LOT of data I'd love to see regarding hobbyists, including trying to figure out who might be fans of technic, Star Wars, Ninjago, DUPLO, classic 60s-70s stuff, etc.  Not necessarily WHO they are, but how well represented they are within the community, etc.  I love that data analysis side of things, so I enjoy seeing stuff like this.

I certainly don't see that as harmful per se-- except that as a trend, it makes information gathering easier for LEGO competitors (just like similar features do, like how many people own set X, or what sets people want most).  But by-and-large I wouldn't see it as detrimental.

DaveE

Huw

Dave, I've sent you some anonymous data. Analyse away!

davee123

Woot!  I'll do some analysis!

DaveE

Legoboy

My God, that's worrying.  There are 3,216 people out there more nutty than me.  I feel really good about my habit now.  [off to place another order]

bandit778

@Legoboy
Your comment had me interested in my average set size so went and had a quick bash on the calculator.
Unfortunately that's where it got a bit complicated as my main page lists one figure for parts and sets but in the sets overview page it lists a different number of sets (with a piece count) and a different total of parts. I seem to remember Huw commenting that CMF's and discontinued parts cause a few issues with the accuracy of the piece counts.

By the way my main page average is tiny 238 parts per set and my overview page is 313. 

dougts

^ my average set size is 529 pieces, which feels right, as I typically gravitate towards the larger sets, avoid the smallest ones completely, and never mark CMFs in my profile.

I'm also pretty certain I'm missing a number of sets, as I don't use brickset to manage or catalog my collection, so I only really mark stuff off as a way of working my wanted list.

Lego_Star

Legoboy said:

My God, that's worrying.  There are 3,216 people out there more nutty than me.  I feel really good about my habit now.  [off to place another order]

Uh oh. Ooops.

VorpalRyu

Thinking I might go though reassemble all my childhood sets to see what can still be completed & remove those that I am missing too many parts. At our current rate of purchasing, I suspect making it into the top 1k within the next couple of years isn't as improbable as I thought it was before the rankings were made accessible. Also figure it will give me a better idea of carnage caused my younger brother selling off bits & pieces of my collection after I left home, which he still denies... Probably should also get around to selling my Bionicle figures.

playwell

Thanks @Huw for the update, you can now see part and minifigure rank. The only thing I would change is "Find out more". At the moment it shows you who is around you but I would think this is only interesting if you are at the very top. I would rather see a list of milestones like you had in your article.

I know a lot of people don't see the point in this feature but I think its really cool and for those of us who have not been in the hobby forever its fun to watch as you go up the list over time.

SprinkleOtter

I'm really worried. I see pictures of people's massive hauls here all the time, and I'm sitting here at ~1800 place...