Prediction: Forums closing within four - six months

Just remember, you heard it here first.

That is all.

Bah

I'm surprised more people don't see it. Considering the latest, especially. The move to drive interaction back to being within the product and consolidate on a number of levels is far from surprising.

Add to this it would neatly insure those who are not logging in no longer have the ability to impact those who are.... which I suppose is handy when it comes right down to it.

(shrug)

That doesn't make any sense.

They built a better system in the client. Therefore, it behooves you to use the service that gets the most eyeballs.

Prediction: I'll be posting on these forums in October of 2006. Remember, you heard it here first.

LF

I think the forums will close about 6 months after "Duke Nukem Forever" hits store shelves.

Seriously, the forums have always been an ongoing crapfest. Different players, but basically the same crap 2 years ago that we have today. I think the forums will be here a year from now.

We thought they should've closed the forums a year ago after they became wholly unproductive. Turns out we were right. But since LL didn't see it then and, apparently, haven't since, we probably will still be posting the same threads over again in 2006.

Closing the forums would mean that people who use the SL forums at work because they can just barely get away with a low bandwidth text format goofing off activity without getting fired would have to find something else to do. Like use the forums for a program other than SL. Which might then be on their mind when they get home, and then might be what they choose to participate in since they can keep involved with it when they should be working.

Some of these people might be bad ones to lose.

Of course losing a few people if the forums ended might not make much difference in the grand scheme of SL things.

Maybe they could have an inworld Help Forum with answering capability limited to the same groups that can access the Help Island.

While I am not positive they will completely close the forums that quickly, I agree that they will continue to close down portions of it - it would not surprise me if general, off topic, land , etc.. bite the dust and only the help forums remain.

Yep. It's the first thing I thought of when I read they were closing the classifieds. That it's just the first step toward closing all of them.

Question is, why would they close something so practical? And so well liked and used?

I think they kinda like getting rid of stuff that is fun. I hope they change their minds about this one. And I also think they are going WAY overboard in taking away carrots and bopping people with sticks. That's going to backfire.

Money sinks, money sinks. Fact is, I can't afford to spend $250 to advertise one product for two weeks, in a way that no one can find it anyhow. SLExchange and SLBoutique only charge you when your product SELLS.

This means those who don't charge high or even exhorbitant prices for their items can least afford the classifieds. Those with a lot of smaller products - rather than one big house, or something - will also be hit disproportionately. It just makes it totally that much harder to start out with a business.

And anyway, why do it? Why get rid of something people love and use? It is probably my TOTAL FAVORITE part of the forums.

Why why why?

coco

The forums are an indispensable medium for accessing Linden-to-user and user-to-user help, participating in higher-level discussions of in game features (politics, programming, animation, etc.), and engaging in general dialogue. To sever this means of communication and scatter it among other unregulated sites would be crippling to SL society. I have no doubt that these forums will persist as long as SL does.

I also feel that the subset of individuals in the forums are a group of self-selected representative lobbyists. They are natural communicators and provide insight into the SL society that one would not have otherwise.

~Ulrika~

So we can post classifieds in General!

~Ulrika~

haha

Well, the more I think about this, the more I think it has to be THE Boneheaded Linden Move of 2005.

coco

I'm sorry, but if your revenue in two weeks doesn't completely offset the paltry sum L$250 for a classified ad, you need to start selling something else or raise your prices. You'll never reach the nirvana of offsetting your tier at that pace. I'm really shocked that so many are kvetching about a sum so minimal as L$250. A whole month's advertising only costs *one* premium stipend. That's not a bad deal at all.

Prediction: A lot of people on these forums are going to get promotions within eight to twelve months.

Just remember, you heard it here first.

That is all.

Paltry sum? Minimal sum? I think you will get some argument on that.

What you are basically saying is, if you don't charge enough, or if you aren't already well-known, or if you don't sell a very popular item, then too bad. Going by what you are saying, why not just charge $1000 for the service? I mean, that's a paltry sum, too, and if you can't afford that, well you should just raise your prices.

Lots of people make smaller items they sell for smaller prices than perhaps what you or someone else makes or sells for. This price works against them.

Lots of people make a LOT of smaller items, and this system means you have to pay out the kazoo for each one. The classified forums, on the other hand, are within reach of everyone, both to post in, and to read as a consumer. Should we all have to resort to making only big ticket items?

On SLExchange and SLBoutique, you pay a percentage of your profits. So if you want to price something within most people's grasp, and/or if you have a small item that really should be priced on the low end of the scale, you won't be penalized for that.

It's like, are you running a jewelry store? If so, you are going to have a LOT of small items. Or are you making huge estate houses for the wealthy? In that case, just one sale will cover the ad many times over.

This system would seem to favor the already-established, the sellers of big-ticket items, or the "designer" type sellers.

I haven't seen this in action, and I'm not sure how it is supposed to work. I assume it will just show up in classifieds? I'm not sure how that works, but in many ways it has GOT to work less well than the forums do here. It is easier for me to notice products, events and the like on the forums than it is to try to see them in a long list of titles in "Find."

It is more personal here, too. Not only does it serve as a shopping arena, it also serves as a sort of designers gathering spot, where we can comment on each other's things. That is a WONDERFUL thing.

Why they would throw that hugely important part of the community out with the bathwater to make us use instead a sterile, non-communicative, expensive and probably hard-to-peruse version of Find instead, I don't know.

If you have a good communication and community thing going - as we do here in the classifieds - you really shouldn't toss that out.

No classifieds in Find can replace what the classified forums offer in terms of community, support of creativity, and easily learning about new products.

coco

I believe we will always have forums. Occasionally SL goes down and the forums allow us to gather, discuss, bitch, moan and get important info on when SL will be up again.
In this case our forums act like a social pressure gage.

I'm not certain the market can sustain classified prices at L$1000/2 weeks, but I might be wrong. If they get quickly saturated, the prices just might tick up.

In any case, if the ROI was there for a L$1000/2 week ad unit, I'd certainly consider it. My point is, the ROI is most assuredly there for most products at L$250. I also don't see the need for a classified ad for every single item in a store. Group your stuff together and maximize efficiency. Just because you used every last pixel of the free advertising buffet doesn't mean you would duplicate the same effort on a pay-for-play platform. Nor should you -- it's not efficient.

Huh...?

I'm speaking of the Classified forums. Practical, well-liked, and used.

coco

The forums are a great way to "keep in touch" with my american friends who live in a completely different timezone and log on when it's 2 or 4 in the morning here.
If Linden takes away my forums I will be forced to explosively defecate in their premises.

Have you seen this thread?

/invalid_link.html

I predict the forums will still be here, but it will cost forum users L$100 per post and L$250 to start a new thread. There may be a reading fee of L$50 per thread as well.

That thread has valid complaints, but suck it up.

Seriously.

No one is going to praise your stuff if no one likes it, unless they are your friend. The people who don't get bumped usually need to polish up on their PS skills. Sometimes my threads don't get bumped a lot. That's ok. Disappointing (because it is always nice to see your things be praised) but ok.

For me, it doesn't matter if you have been making clothes for a long time or a short time, if I like it a lot, I will comment.

Spend the energy you (not you specifically, but "one" use complaining about threads being bumped and learn more about the image program you are using. Draw and become inspired.

You guys do realize, there's nothing stopping anyone from opening up their own Second Life-centric forums to replace anything they may drop here, for free?

Wonder if LL will read therequests not to close the classifed forums in those threads and think the same. I mean if that's been your attitude towards the smaller advertiser who will be hurt even more than the established player by closing it, why shouldn't LL adopt the same stance?