"Signal to Noise Ratio"

Signal: The stuff one agrees with (or at the least, is interested in).

Noise: Everything else.

PR Hint: No Linden should ever refer to any resident communication as "noise."

coco

I disagree.
Signal: Quality feedback, complaints that are specific and not whiney
Noise: Forum whiners, generic complaints (OMG LAG), reposts of bugs, etc.
And calling some forms of Resident feedback noise isn't a bad PR move, because it's true. In any feedback situation, you're bound to get noise. 'tis the way of the world.

Unless its pointed to start with

Exactly. The threads that were original ideas, good suggestions, and written with a civil tongue were outnumbered by about 100 to 1 by the reruns, screamers, stone-throwers and loudmouths who love to see their name listed as the original poster.

Though I can somewhat see what you are saying in the o.p. I think it is ok.
Reason being because it is a term we all know and sometimes use ourselves.

Psssst....hey Coco, doesn't this seem eerily like a certain time back in TSO? It was Robin involved in that one too *weg*


- Newfie

One word: Spill.

Heh sorry forgot - not everyone remembers the TSO mass exodus. There was a point just as SL was coming out of beta that TSO has a mass exit of players, because TSO's admins also stopped listening to their customer base. The final straw for many was when TSO shut down their forums and told everyone to go to Stratics instead.

And if I recall correctly, I do believe Robin Linden was the VP of marketing for TSO at the time too


- Newfie

Hmmmm,what a coincidence.

Some people apparently don't learn...

Oooh, jucy. I played TSO for about 3 months after recieving it as a gift. It sucked.
I doubt the same thing is going to happen here, as SL has no real competition.

I remember that well. Beta days kicked butt and the powers that be were always wanting to know what they could do to improve the game.. what bugs needed fixed.
Then when it went live things were cool for a bit.. but then all the kids started coming in and griefing.. everything turned into gangsters and prostitutes. Lots of problems with people getting ripped off and EA decided that they were not to get involved anymore.. woah. deja vu.

As for who was in charge and why that happened.. I dont have a clue. I just remember it happened and was no longer worth paying for. I dont want to see that here. SL is so far above TSO. The steps that are being taken now seem to put a wedge between the player and the powers though. I am not ready to leave yet myself.

Heh, I don't think it's gotten to TSO level yet...

BTW, Robin just closed down the DA thread. ETL for this one?

Agreed it is not at that level yet. These steps can lead there though. I edited my post after thinking on that.

Hmmm ETL.. it does have the requirements for a lock. Some posts are naming names and boardering on personal attack.

A mass of similar generic complaints is a signal and it doesn't matter if it is whiney or not.

I admit there were a lot of threads that I personally didn't see much value in, but would I call them noise? I don't think I would.

I always looked at them as a kind of diversity and reacted to them just as I do to things in world that don't interest me: I ignored them. But I thought there was value in having this diversity. Just because I didn't see any value in a particular thread doesn't mean it didn't have any value to someone else. I think diversity has value in and of itself.

Of course, I can understand how the Lindens might look at some of the topics and think “we are spending how much money to keep this crap going?” I can even understand their temptation to shut it down. However, unless the costs of keeping the forums going are an actual threat to future operations, I look at it as just the cost of doing business.

These forums provide a valuable service to those residents of Second Life that choose to read/post to them. Personally I spend just as much time here as I do in world. The forums and the people I met in them are (were!) a huge part of what made Second Life so special to me.

If it was a decision based on finances and business models, then I suppose I have to support it as I don't want to see Second Life fail. But if it was more of a case of just being tired of the hassle, I can't support it. There are always aspects of doing business that are odious. It's just one of those things you have to put up with.

I for one will not be reading any of the Linden blogs. They simply don't interest me. I'm here for the creative common of Second Life, not to hear the company line.

/agrees

Just to set the record straight (and in my self-defense a little, at least as it relates to my being blamed for something I was not involved in), I left EA before TSO was even introduced as a product. I worked at Maxis from almost the beginning (about seven years total) and stayed a year after EA purchased it, but was no longer there when The Sims was launched, let alone the online version. I left Maxis/EA in 1998; The Sims was launched in 2000, and TSO was launched in 2002, after I had joined Linden Lab.

I hope this puts an end to that piece of mythology anyway.

Pwnage. SimCity rocked.

I thusly apologize on my error - though I would recommend one pay attention to the lessons learned by TSO's failure and not follow it blindly.


- Newfie

In a place that is open to all, you are going to get signal:noise. But what constitutes 'noise', and what constitutes 'signal' is a matter of individual interpretation, though I am sure that there will be a modal interpretation. It's up to the individual to decide which is which, and then it is up to them to ignore the 'noise', as they see it.

When the noise is too loud, it is extremely difficult for the signal to be heard.

I think you have to accept that there will be 'noise' anywhere that is not interest specific, whether in SL or in RL. Since noise is a matter of interpretation, the only way to avoid what you consider noise is to devote your time to areas that attract those who have similar ideas as to what constitutes noise, and that is the niche that resident run sites will provide for. But I think there is a place for a noisy environment that is a focal point for everyone, as it's good to get a persepctive of where your signal fits in within that noise.

Revel in it! Wallow in it! Embrace the noise! Throw your signal out there and be part of the noise!

God bless you, Vares Solvang.

Am I the only one who finds it very strange that of all the threads out here in the 'noise' Robin pings this one and defends herself? More so, why is the VP of LL locking and moderating the forums such as they are? Where are Jeska and Torley? Very strange.