Wanted: instructions for exclusive sets, not on official site

[Indianna]

. . . and a few more:

[Indianna]

Hey, Heather . . .

. . . A weird thing happened: I was making a list of catalogs, etc., trying to leave off the ones you already have, and as I checked the Playmodb paper/catalog section sorted by part number, I noticed a problem with the numbers in the list.  On page 3 the sorted numbers go directly from 30899850 to 30890772 with the 8 following numbers continuing in order as a group, but with all 8 item numbers being out of proper order within the list as a whole.  Not being a coder myself, I can't figure out why this would happen.   

[sbblabotw]

Right -thanks for pointing that out. The sorting of partnumbers is not how you'd expect; they're actually sorted by the first four digits, then the LAST DIGIT, then the remaining three. That's the order in which Playmobil issues the numbers, sort of. In other words, these are in order according to the rules:

30 89 8700 Booklet medium 1999 (Victorian)
30 89 9010 Catalogue 2001 mini (Pirates)
30 89 9850 Booklet medium 2001 (Pirates)
30 89 0772 Catalogue 2003 mini (Vikings)
30 89 0832 Catalogue 2002 full-size (Christmas theme)
30 89 0842 Catalogue 2002 full-size (Christmas theme)

I did this so that parts that were actually issued together, appear together in sequence. (Part numbers outside of the 30 xx xxxx pattern just fall into regular order.) It's more obvious in other categories, like PlaymoDB Part Categories - Klicky (Adult female) where on page 17 you can see 30 14 9970 followed immediately by 30 14 0002. If they were sorted strictly numerically, the first page would look like this:

30 14 0000 Royal mother
30 14 0009 (no name)
30 14 0019 Pirate, female, red coat, long blue hair (Ruby)
30 14 0029 Pirate, female, red coat, long blue hair (Ruby)
30 14 0032 Astrid (dragon rider, long pale yellow braid over shoulder, brown clothes)
30 14 0039 Twinkle Fairy
30 14 0040 Lady, purple dress, red shoes
30 14 0042 (no name)
30 14 0052 Spytruck pilot, female, blonde, white/orange uniform
30 14 0059 (no name)
30 14 0060 Lady with long yellow dress
30 14 0062 Woman, short brown hair, orange ski suit, white scarf
30 14 0069 (no name)
30 14 0070 Washerwoman
30 14 0072 Woman, long black ponytail, pink/green winter jacket
30 14 0089 (no name)

Victorians mixed in with Super 4's with parts from 2017. (I've really got to get on naming klickies, there's a huge backlog. They have pictures though.) Anyway, there it is. The text search doesn't do this, since this kind of sequence doesn't often appear.

Is this horrible? Or sensible once you see it? Should I keep it, abandon it, offer both options? Open to suggestions!

Oh, and thanks for the stickers! There were 34 Victorian sets issued in 1989/1990, and I now have 19 Victorian stickers... I wonder if there was one per set?

[Indianna]

. . . Am I right that the Playmodb part number search function doesn't work for the paper items?  Can it be tweaked to handle paper item searches? . . . .

I've noticed that it is now possible to use the part number search on the Playmodb home page to find the "Paper" items - is this a recent change?  I'm pretty sure that I tried that before and it didn't work, as noted above.  Whatever the case, I will use that feature now to see if the items I have are already in the database. 

. . . The sorting of partnumbers is not how you'd expect; they're actually sorted by the first four digits, then the LAST DIGIT, then the remaining three. That's the order in which Playmobil issues the numbers, sort of. . . .
. . . Is this horrible? Or sensible once you see it? Should I keep it, abandon it, offer both options? Open to suggestions!

Thank you for the explanation, Heather - I figured that there had to be a logical reason, but I just couldn't imagine what it would be. 

I was only looking through the number-sorted list to try to set aside items that you already have in the db and, as noted above, I will use the part search function going forward, so I don't know if there is a need to make a change, unless it's easy to add a truly numeric sort option. 

Oh, and thanks for the stickers! There were 34 Victorian sets issued in 1989/1990, and I now have 19 Victorian stickers... I wonder if there was one per set?

You are most welcome!  I also have the sticker of the pretzel vendor from 5506 (which was already in Playmodb) and I gave away one or two Victorian stickers some years ago.  If I find any more I will pass them along as well, Victorian or otherwise.  Now I can see that the other 2 stickers I posted were already in Playmodb, but I didn't find them previously because of the way the sort works - maybe adding that other sort option would be helpful. 

[GrahamB]

What's the position with showing full size scans of PM stickers online? There are quite a few in PlaymoDB and it's VERY helpful having them there ( thanks, Heather!). Missing or damaged stickers can be very hard to replace and I'm happy to use home-made ones most of the time, but it can be difficult to make them without a scan of an original.

If this is something we shouldn't discuss openly, just ignore my question!

[sbblabotw]

What's the position with showing full size scans of PM stickers online? There are quite a few in PlaymoDB and it's VERY helpful having them there ( thanks, Heather!). Missing or damaged stickers can be very hard to replace and I'm happy to use home-made ones most of the time, but it can be difficult to make them without a scan of an original.

If this is something we shouldn't discuss openly, just ignore my question!

Sticker scans: it's catalogues and instruction sheets that are expressly forbidden (I'm going by https://www.playmobil.ca/en/content/p_guidelines/P_GUIDELINES.html since I'm in Canada; I expect it's the same everywhere) but stickers aren't specifically mentioned. Are they printed materials, or parts? Don't know. Still, I'd think that stickers in long-discontinued sets wouldn't be a bother.

[GrahamB]

That's good to know, Heather. And thanks for that link. I haven't found that page before  (it's linked from the 'Legal Information' page) and it's good to know the term 'playmo' can be part of a web address, though 'playmobil' can't (I refer to a discussion on here with Tahra a few weeks ago), so we don't need to worry on that score! 

I like the line (in the final paragraph of that Internet guidelines page) "The Internet provides a great new opportunity..," it shows someone at Geobra is still living in the 1990s!

[Hadoque]

I never really checked their guidelines sofar...

"The web site will not depict any violence that is inappropriate for children under 5"

So, who determines (and how) what kind of violence is appropriate for children under age 5, and what kind of violence is appropriate for children age 5 and older? 

[tahra]

So, who determines (and how) what kind of violence is appropriate for children under age 5, and what kind of violence is appropriate for children age 5 and older? 

considering some sets... noone.

[jodawill]

considering some sets... noone.

Out of curiosity, and since I'm new… which sets are you thinking of? I saw the big hubbub about the former slave on the pirate ship. Is there some other controversial stuff? (What's considered controversial is probably a lot different from one country to another, too, I suppose. Although slavery has been outlawed in the US for 150+ years, it's a very taboo subject here, whereas naziism is considered more of an historical thing here, and swastikas are commonly depicted in films, books, toys, and games.)