rec.toys.lego

From Research Realm
(Redirected from ATL)
rec.toys.lego
A rec.toys.lego message from September 1994 viewed in a newsreader for Windows 3.1
Formerlyalt.toys.lego
Type of site
Usenet newsgroup
Available inEnglish
Successor(s)LUGNET
Created byDavid Koblas
URLrec.toys.lego
Launched
  • January 1993; 33 years ago (1993-01) (ATL)
  • 10 January 1994; 32 years ago (1994-01-10) (RTL)

rec.toys.lego (often referred to as "RTL"[1] or "r.t.l") is a Usenet newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of LEGO products and LEGO-compatible toys.[2] It was one of the earliest online LEGO fan communities, starting in early 1993 as alt.toys.lego ("ATL"[3] or "a.t.l") before moving to the rec.* hierarchy one year later. The newsgroup led to the creation of many other online communities, most notably LUGNET, and additionally played a role in the LEGO Group's decision to create LEGO.com.

Creation

The alt.toys.lego newsgroup was created by David Koblas in January 1993.[U 1][4][a] It was the first of a number of toy-related newsgroups in the alt.* hierarchy;[6] others created later in 1993 included alt.toys.hi-tech in May and alt.toys.transformers in September.[U 8][U 9] Although alt.toys.lego developed an active community soon after its creation, its growth was limited by the alt.* hierarchy not being well-propagated; many dial-up Internet service providers did not offer it to subscribers, while the "Big 7" hierarchies[b] were more mainstream.[6][4][7]: 156  In September 1993 the community began discussing the creation of a more widely-propagated LEGO newsgroup under the rec.* (recreation) hierarchy.[U 10][U 11][c]

On 14 October 1993, Koblas drafted a proposal for the creation of rec.toys.lego and rec.toys.misc, both unmoderated[d] and under a new rec.toys.* hierarchy.[6][U 6] Koblas had originally wanted to create alt.toys.lego in the rec.* hierarchy, but did not believe it would pass a vote for creation at the time.[U 1][e] The name rec.toys.construction was alternatively suggested as a more inclusive name that would allow for discussion of other construction toys; Koblas rejected this idea, as his original intention was to increase the LEGO newsgroup's readership by moving it out of the alt.* hierarchy, and he felt that the alternate name would not appeal to LEGO enthusiasts enough to draw them away from the alt.toys.lego newsgroup.[6][U 15] Voting for the two new groups began on 30 November and ended on 21 December.[U 16][9] The results were announced on 3 January 1994: 243 users voted, and both newsgroups passed the voting (219 "yes" against 20 "no" for rec.toys.lego, and 211 "yes" against 18 "no" for rec.toys.misc).[6] The new rec.toys.lego newsgroup was created on 10 January 1994 under the following charter:[9]

To provide a forum for the discussion of all things and experiences relating to the Lego(tm), Duplo(tm) and compatible construction toys. Including interesting models that one has built, experiences one has had using legos, or questions about how to build particular components.

rec.toys.lego seen in a list of rec.* newsgroups, c. 1994

As it was proposed alongside rec.toys.lego, the rec.toys.misc newsgroup was originally described as covering "non-Lego toys topics, from Barbi [sic] Dolls to My Little Pony gift sets." Its charter's wording was soon altered so that it would cover all toys that did not have their own newsgroup within the rec.toys.* hierarchy, without any reference to LEGO. Within a few months, activity in rec.toys.misc had surpassed rec.toys.lego, eventually leading to other groups like rec.toys.cars and rec.toys.action-figures splitting off from it. Over the following years a number of toy-related newsgroups were created in rec.*, including ones outside of rec.toys.*, although some groups like alt.toys.transformers remained active in alt.*.[6] After rec.toys.lego was created, alt.toys.lego was largely abandoned;[10] despite users sending controll messages to have the newsgroup removed, however, it remained available in some news servers and continued to receive occasional messages.[4][U 1]

Discussions

Some of the regular discussions on the newsgroup included new and upcoming LEGO themes, information about older LEGO products, where to find the best prices for expensive LEGO sets, and news about the company.[11][12][13][3] Discussions also covered more specific topics, such as speculating how LEGO products were developed,[3] or the lack of female minifigures in many LEGO themes.[12] Users on the newsgroup often shared their opinions and criticisms about LEGO products, with some writing detailed reviews on individual sets.[14][15] Besides official sets, users also discussed building ideas and shared images their own LEGO creations.[13][f]

The newsgroup also featured some of the earliest public attempts at documenting the history of LEGO product. One of the first online lists of both then-current and discontinued LEGO sets was created by Mathew Clayson and uploaded to the LEGO newsgroup's FTP archive in April 1993.[U 17][U 18] On 5 May 1993, Dik T. Winter posted a more comprehensive list of over 1,200 products, which included what years they were commercially available. Winter's list was largely sourced from Dutch LEGO catalogues dating back to 1984, as well as miscellaneous other international catalogues and Clayson's list.[U 19][9][16] That same day, Brian Zill posted a list of over 300 products that included their piece counts and retail prices in US dollars, originally created to compare the price per piece of each set.[U 20] Jeffrey T. Crites posted a list focusing on LEGO Castle sets on 8 August 1994, and included estimates of the then-current values of some sets based on prices observed at auctions and garage sales.[U 21] The first compiled list of Design IDs for LEGO elements (referred to at the time as "brick codes") was posted by Peter Miller on 11 November 1993.[9][U 22][17]

Like many other newsgroups, rec.toys.lego had a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list, referred to as the LEGO FAQ, which was reposted monthly.[18][19] The FAQ was maintained by Tom Pfeifer, who compiled information from Usenet posts, emails, and catalogues. It first posted on alt.toys.lego on 7 April 1993.[9][U 23] Its final update was posted on 19 June 2000.[20][U 24] The LEGO FAQ was divided into sixteen sections, which featured topics including LEGO company addresses and phone numbers, Legoland park information, LEGO history and production, LEGO software and robotics, cleaning and storing LEGO pieces, clone brands, and links to other websites.[16][U 24]

The first auction held on rec.toys.lego was started by Todd Lehman on 5 February 1994, consisting of seven McDonald's "Lego Motion" sets.[21][U 25]

LEGO Information, Earthsea FTP, LUGNET

Relationship with Lego

[14] [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ The exact date of its creation is unknown. The earliest alt.toys.lego post archived on Google Groups is from 18 February 1993.[U 2] A list of alt.* newsgroups from 5 February 1993 does not include alt.toys.lego;[U 3] however, an archived message in alt.fan.warlord (a newsgroup dedicated to mocking bizarre and excessive signatures)[5] quotes an alt.toys.lego message dated 5 February 1993,[U 4] and alt.toys.lego is mentioned in a news.admin.policy message from 8 February 1993.[U 5] Koblas's rec.toys.lego proposal from 14 October 1993 refers to alt.toys.lego as having been active for nine months,[U 6] and the rec.toys.lego FAQ post from 11 January 1994 claims alt.toys.lego had existed for "almost one year".[U 7]
  2. ↑ comp.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, and talk.*; later also humanities.*.
  3. ↑ A standalone rec.toys newsgroup had previously been suggested in news.groups in April 1993, though it had not been created.[U 12] The popularity of alt.toys.lego had been pointed out in response, and rec.toys.construction, rec.toys.system, and rec.toys.lego were all suggested as possible subgroups for replacing it.[U 13][U 14]
  4. ↑ Moderated newsgroups require all messages to be approved by a moderator before being published, while in an unmoderated newsgroup messages are published instantly.[7]: 152–153 
  5. ↑ Newsgroups in the alt.* hierarchy can be created by anyone without approval,[8][7]: 156  while those in the Big 8 (originally the Big 7) require discussion and voting to be created. The Usenet acceptance criteria requires at least two-thirds of the votes to be for "yes", and for there to be at least 100 more votes for "yes" than for "no".[7]: 158–160 
  6. ↑ Photographs had to be shared either through an FTP server or on external websites, as files could only be directly shared in binary newsgroups.

References

  1. ↑ Seybold, Patricia B. (2006). Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future. New York: HarperCollins. p. 392. ISBN 0-06-113590-9.
  2. ↑ Engst, Adam C. (1994). Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Hayden Books. p. 850. ISBN 1-56830-111-1.
  3. ↑ a b c Bender, Jonathan (2010). LEGO: A Love Story. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-470-40702-8.
  4. ↑ a b c Eaton, David (July 25, 2013). "20th Anniversary of the Online LEGO Community!". Brickset Forum. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ Kehoe, Brendan P. (1994). Zen and the Art of the Internet (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: PTR Prentice Hall. p. 47. ISBN 0-13-121492-6. The newsgroup alt.fan.warlord is a dumping ground for the most heinous of signature violations. In the course of reading news, people occasionally do follow-ups into alt.fan.warlord to show off their latest discoveries — talking whales, ten-line-high cacti, and a variety of other ASCII miracles.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Myers, Eric G. (September 17, 1996). "A Brief History of Toy-Related Usenet Newsgroups". Raving Toy Maniac. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024.
  7. ↑ a b c d Carroll, Jim; Broadhead, Rick; Cassel, Don (1997). "Usenet". 1997 Internet Handbook (Educational ed.). Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall Canada, Inc. pp. 150–161. ISBN 0-13-851487-9.
  8. ↑ Barr, David (1995). "So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup". Pennsylvania State University. Archived from the original on 24 January 1997.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Eaton, David (10 September 2013). "The AFOL History Project". Archived from the original on September 19, 2021. Text is CC BY-SA 3.0.
  10. ↑ Lehman, Todd; Eaton, Suzanne (January 2016). "Pillars of the community: LUGNET" (PDF). HispaBrick Magazine. No. 24 (English ed.). Madrid. pp. 34–36. ISSN 1989-0982. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  11. ↑ Gagnon, Eric (1994). What's on the Web (Winter 1994/95 ed.). Berkeley, California: Peachpit Press. p. 89. ISBN 1-56609-162-4.
  12. ↑ a b Randall, Neil; Latulipe, Celine (1995). Plug-n-Play Internet. Indianapolis: Sams Publishing. p. 150. ISBN 0-672-30669-7.
  13. ↑ a b Parker, Clive (April 1995). Longhurst, Richard (ed.). "Newsgroups". The .net Directory. United Kingdom: Future Publishing. p. 14.
  14. ↑ a b Carroll, Jim; Broadhead, Rick (1995). The Canadian Internet Advantage: Opportunities for Business and Other Organizations. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall Canada, Inc. pp. 94–97. ISBN 0-13-226598-2.
  15. ↑ Delahunty, Joshua (28 August 1996). "History of rec.toys.lego LEGO Set Review Form". rec.toys.lego LEGO Set Review Archive. Archived from the original on 3 December 1998.
  16. ↑ a b de Ruijter, Michiel (5 November 2021). "Geschiedenis en toekomst van de AFOL" [History and future of the AFOL]. Bouwsteentjes (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  17. ↑ "Part Numbering". Rebrickable. Archived from the original on February 9, 2026. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  18. ↑ Estabrook, Noel; Gregory, Kate; et al. (1995). "Frequently Asked Questions". Using UseNet Newsgroups: The User-Friendly Reference. Indianapolis: Que Corporation. pp. 59–65. ISBN 0-7897-0134-0.
  19. ↑ Atkinson, Kevin (17 August 1995). "rec.toys.lego". Newsgroups Info Center. Archived from the original on 7 October 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2026 – via MetaLab.unc.edu.
  20. ↑ Pfeifer, Tom (19 June 2000). "LEGO frequently asked questions (FAQ)". Multicon. Archived from the original on 26 May 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  21. ↑ Crites, Jeffrey T. (October 1995). "Jeff's rec.toys.lego History". Jeff's Old LEGO Homepage. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999.
  22. ↑ "Press Info: http://www.LEGO.com". LEGO World Wide Web Site. March 29, 1996. Archived from the original on 10 January 1997.

Usenet messages

  1. ↑ a b c Pfeifer, Tom (12 December 1994). "Re: rec.toys.lego vs alt.toy.lego Question". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 10 November 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
    • Quoting post: Koblas, David (December 1994). "Re: rec.toys.lego vs alt.toy.lego Question". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. 1 year and 11 months ago I created alt.toys.lego, since I didn't think that rec.toys.lego would pass a vote without some precidence... [sic] 11 months ago, I caused the creation of rec.toys.lego and rec.toys.misc based on the success of alt.toys.lego.
  2. ↑ LaLiberte, Daniel (18 February 1993). "Lego strategy game". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  3. ↑ The Society for Reviling ATnT (February 5, 1993). "Another listing of newsgroups in the "alt" Usenet hierarchy". Newsgroup: alt.newgroup. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  4. ↑ Leverton, Nick (11 February 1993). "Re: LegoLand in England??". Newsgroup: alt.fan.warlord. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups. In alt.toys.lego, article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Nick Pettefar) writes...
  5. ↑ Olivers, Erik (8 February 1993). "Re: Anonymous postings to non-personals newsgroups". Newsgroup: news.admin.policy. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  6. ↑ a b Koblas, David (14 October 1993). "RFD: rec.toys.lego and rec.toys.misc". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  7. ↑ Pfeifer, Tom (12 December 1994). "LEGO frequently asked questions". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 10 November 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  8. ↑ USENET news (20 May 1993). "Create newsgroup alt.toys.hi-tech". Newsgroup: alt.toys.hi-tech. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  9. ↑ Mar, Steven (12 September 1993). "Transformers E-Mailing List". Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  10. ↑ Carter, Ron (16 September 1993). "A thought for discussion..." Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  11. ↑ Carter, Ron (18 September 1993). "OK, how about a modified suggestion (trying to please all :-)". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  12. ↑ Conty, Enrique "E. Kontei" (23 April 1993). "Test Baloon: rec.toys". Newsgroup: news.groups. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  13. ↑ Smith, Lawrence C. (29 April 1993). "Re: Test Baloon: rec.toys". Newsgroup: news.groups. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025 – via Google Groups.
  14. ↑ Smith, Lawrence C. (29 April 1993). "Re: Test Balloon: rec.toys". Newsgroup: news.groups. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025 – via Google Groups.
  15. ↑ Koblas, David (16 November 1993). "2nd RFD: rec.toys.lego vs rec.toys.construction (straw poll vote)". Newsgroup: news.groups. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  16. ↑ Bailey, Ed (30 November 1993). "CFV: rec.toys.lego and rec.toys.misc". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  17. ↑ Putz, Steve (16 April 1993). "Plan for adding a motor and steering to Sky Ranger (set 8836)". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups. P.S. Did I announce the Legoland kit list (from Mathew Clayson) I uploaded to earthsea /pub/lego/sets/ a while ago?
  18. ↑ Clayson, Matthew; Bennett, Edward C. (3 May 1993). "Current Product List". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  19. ↑ Winter, Dik T. (5 May 1993). "List of LEGO sets". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 7 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  20. ↑ Zill, Brian (5 May 1993). "Re: Current Product List". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 8 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  21. ↑ Crites, Jeffrey T. (8 August 1994). "Jeff's Castle LEGO Listing". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 8 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  22. ↑ Miller, Peter (11 November 1993). "list of brick codes (NOT set numbers)". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 7 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
  23. ↑ Pfeifer, Tom (7 April 1993). "Frequently Asked Questions of a.t.l". Newsgroup: alt.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 15 August 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025 – via Google Groups.
  24. ↑ a b Pfeifer, Tom (19 June 2000). "LEGO frequently asked questions (FAQ)". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 15 August 2025. Retrieved 15 August 2025 – via Google Groups.
  25. ↑ Lehman, Todd (5 February 1994). "AUCTION − McDonald's 'Lego Motion' sets". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 11 February 2026. Retrieved 11 February 2026 – via Google Groups.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.researchrealm.net/index.php?title=Rec.toys.lego&oldid=11499"