Close down the forums.

Seriously, think about this now.

The forums are to SL what training wheels are to bicycles.
Do we still need the training wheels? Should we begin to learn how to ride the metaverse without forum assistance?

discuss.

Yes.


Post this morning:

uh... what?

Is this an nth degree of Kevin Bacon game ?

I posit a slightly different analogy:

The forums are to SL what the hub of the front wheel (not forgetting the all-important cotter pin) is to the same bicycle. Or, for those in an SAT state-of-mind:

Forums: SL :: hub: bicycle

Being skilled at playing a game forum is hardly a sure fire indicator of success at navigating the metaverse.

Forums: SL :: peas: chicken pot pie

Its not entirely a bad idea. Maybe without the training wheels someone will develop a decent communications system for in world. Trying to get a message out to people in world - even interested people, not spam - is next to impossible.

We have SLU's forums where this forum clique could migrate to. I'd miss you guys!

Regards,

-Flip

On the surface, these forums are highly damaging to Linden Lab's and Second Life's reputations. A casual browser is left with the impressions that LL is wholly unorganized and that the majority of us are self-centered whiney butts.

But, forum lurkers and posters know what to expect from other lurkers and posters and breeze over all the bad press without a thought. So closing the forums because they damage recruitment and retention doesn't pan.

The only other reason I can think of to close them is that LL don't want to waste the money on a host machine and support personnel. That's a pretty good reason; but it's their call. If money and time are abundantly lounging around the office, we might as well have forums.

Flipping the coin, I will list the reasons LL should strongly consider keeping the forums open:

1) a handfull of paying customers might cancel their accounts if the forums are closed;


Okay well see how easy that was.

Posting in a forum is better then complainning in game that you got no place to write your ideas, if you dont like it then dont use the forums.

Um, what Eggy said.

Seriously, I can see how the forums are like "training wheels", but me any many other people out there are still learn something new every day from the forums...

The part you could take out and it would be better?
If we got rid of the forums we could fit more chicken into SL.

The design, scripting, building, animating and technical help forums are generally fairly useful.

Long as we are talking about getting rid of the forums, why not get rid of the LSL and Help wikis as well? And any other help information, and the account histories.

If we are going to abandon the superior display capabilities of the web for the incredibly primitive text display we have inworld at present, we might as well go whole hog, eh?

If they take away the forums I might actually have to go do something useful though, and I'm mostly decorative to begin with.

I like reading and posting here I discover things about people and events that I'd never do otherwise.

Indeed. You have a PM btw.

I don't see the forums as training wheels. I see them as an added way to communicate with other SL residents and find out answers to questions, interesting happenings, and information I may not have had before.

Just because some people live here and use the forums as a medium to make jackasses of themselves doesn't mean they don't serve a purpose. Maybe General, Off-Topic, Political and Notices could be flushed, but most of the other forums do contain exchanges of ideas and information.

Plus, all the asshattery makes for decent entertainment for slow days.

After reading and replying to the fourms today I have to say it.

"Yes close down the forums"

Are you saying we're not?

Good or bad, the forums foster and encourage, a sense of community. It allows people to come together at a central location and dicuss issues pertinent to the world they share in common. It's true that a relatively small percentage of subscribers visit the forums on a regular basis, but it does serve as sort of a safety blanket, and its comforting for the consumer to know, that there is a place we can come to and seek knowledge or direction when needed.

In addition, they offer a wealth of information of feedback to LL and its developers as to the pulse of the community. Not to mention that it offers a venue by where LL can convey its ideas and plans from a centralized location. Often times, LL will just throw something out there that they plan to do, and gauge how they will finally implement that plan based on the reaction and feedback from the community. This type of feedback and back and forth is invaluable and irreplaceable from a business standpoint.

That is not to say that they may not phase away some of the lesser used forums on the SL website and condense the present forums into a more compact and navigator friendly format.

But I do believe that a community website (which I believe SL is) containing a forum, however brief, is necessary in todays internet dependant society, because it allows us to exchange ideas through that website forum about any particular relevant matter we may be interested in.

Thirded, fourthed, fifthed, sixthed, and seventhed, too. (My name is Legion, for we are many.)



These forums, that bicycle ... these forums are like the baseball card you attach near the back wheel so that it makes that really cool ratchety sound against the spokes when you're on your way to the candy store.

Which means, by extrapolation, that SL is the candy store.

And, further, that Euterpe Roo is a box of Good & Plenty.

http://www.vallefudgeworks.com/shopping%20cart%201/Good%20&%20Plenty.jpg

Dibs!

I think if Linden shut down the discussion forums, but placed links on the website to resident-run forums, such as SLUniverse - it might not be so bad.

External websites could allow us more freedom to post, and mods more freedom to moderate.

On the fence with this - I can see pros & cons to either a change or the status quo.

No. That baseball card is Torley. I consider myself to be the reflector lights.

For what it's worth, I don't think we're ready to take the training wheels off yet, but it's something we should be shooting for.

I would hate that, personally. I don't like having to register for things, (We'll never sell or give away your information, and yet you'll suddenly be getting 20 emails a day you didn't get a week ago) log in every time I switch to a different page, put up with peoples' ads to support their pages... It's just not worth it. Cris has done a good job with the SLUni forums, and I've been registered there for a long time, but I still only have a few posts because I don't like having to go to external sites to check on things.

If everyone agreed and used 1 external site, then that would be different, but having conversations going on multiple sites, with people linking back and forth (like they do now) is just annoying.

The Metaverse will never be self sufficient until we eliminate it's dependence on the 2d Web for software distribution.

The first thing to go should be the downloads pages for the secondlife.exe files.

See I've always more considered you to be the inexplicable bar that they put on boy's bikes that seems only to serve the purpose of making boys very uncomfortable when they stop suddenly and go flying off the seat