Prediction: Forums closing within four - six months

Sounds suspiciously to me like a repeat of the events of TSO. Shut down their own forums, and had *ugh* Stratics host them.

- Newfie

Well in every instance that I can remember, and using MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games - uo, eq, etc) as an example because those are the closest thing to SL (regardless of whether or not you think SL is a game -- different topic) when a company did not have their own forums they eventually found it advantageous to create their own forums and administer them themselves. As a matter of fact I cannot think of one MMOG that doesn't have their own forums.

There are other forums (sluniverse and slexchange come immediately to mind) that will be used if these are not. This leaves Jeska, (or someone in her position), with the unfortunately job of having to read boards she has no control over in order to keep her finger on the pulse of what people are saying about the 'game.'

Actually, there already is...but for the newer player, it's harder to find those. Usually people find out about them by coming here first.

The new advertising scheme will allow me to change my ad any number of times during the run. I can display a general ad for a few days and specialized product ads other days. The listings will be searchable by keywords and include map and teleport buttons. A button that instantly added a shortcut to inventory would be great; but it's still a much better solution than having to post in a forum.

I'm excited about it; but I'm also a little bummed that yet another resident-operated business is being screwed through the floor by a corporate feature addition. The needs of the many right?

We already have SL Universe forums. I've never had a problem with Stratics either but I have always paid the quarterly fee when using them to avoid the banner ads.

You could do that on the classified forums.



You could do that on the classified forums, too.



And that. Since the forum has 'search' and people can include location links in their ads.

However, since I generally find that people inworld don't have the first clue what keywords to use in their ads, I don't think it'll help much. Ya know, half the clothing designers don't even have the word 'clothing' in their ads, nor obvious things like 'mens' or 'womens'.

I'm constantly amazed that people are willing to throw good money away on advertising and then make such a lazy job of advertising their stuff.

I gotta say I haven't tried the preview, assuming this is running there, and don't know much about the new system at all, but if it's anything like the other stuff in 'Find' it'll be one hell of a mess. And slow.

But what's this thing about web publishing? Could it not be intercepted/used by a third party? I mean to say that yes, it would be very hard to get literally all content creators in SL to sign up to the one third party exchange, but could a third party create a site that aggregates all these contents into a much more user friendly web app/database? For that matter, why couldn't the Lindens? Or are they?! where does it web publish to? Somewhere of your choosing? A part of this site?

Like I say, I dunno anything about it. Just thinking out loud, I guess

But SL isn't a game, remember?

Jau -- that isn't a prediction, it's a statement of fact based upon evidence that is as unassailable as it is unavoidable. Hmm. Well. Ok. I take your point. (grin)

Even though this forum is apparently not as bad as other game forums, could having a game forum at it's front door detract from LL's drive to become a platform for all things metaverse?


Wouldn't it be easier/cheaper to just read about SL without the headache and expense of forum moderation?

Yeah you'd think so but it doesn't work out that way. The problem is that developers read these boards too. And when people post incorrect things about their 'game' (please can I just call it a game?) (hobby?) (what is this thing? tell me what to call it and I'll call it that cause honestly I don't really give a shit) then the developers have this driving need to inject the truth.

Things generally go downhill from there

I try to use SL and form my sentences to avoid te need to use game or platform. Otherwise, I'd say go with Thingy .

Wouldn't other forums likely be hosted by individuals or groups who would not benefit from misconceptions about SL ( ) and act to correct them just as you see happen here? Moderators don't come in that often to correct ideas; it's usually other folks who step forward to do so. Further, and I am playing devil's advocate here, couldn't they participate in other forums in undercover mode to correct any bad press?

They can do all those things and maybe they will. I've never worked for one of those other companies that make things that SL isn't. I have just played enough of them and been around enough of them to see that boards that started at Stratics (UO for instance) ended up being EA run boards that only registered accounts had access to. That's just how it worked out.

This discussion got me curious so I pinged a few of my friends in the biz. These would be mostly devs and not CS or executive types. They don't know why their companies decided to go with boards -- only that they did. So yeah, that exploration was not exactly fruitful. Ah well.

If the idea is to get rid of all "game" accoutrements and turn it all into something as accessible as the web (without the aol door), then why stop at the forums?

Get rid of the other things we don't have on the web: All Linden presence in game, group meetings, stipends, ratings, dwell, developer incentive, anything and everything and most especially a human presence of any kind. That would certainly save them a lot of money.

The forums ARE the community gathering spot. The Classifieds are also. They are far more human than any button in the game could be.

coco

I don't think the intent is to eliminate game accoutrments but to transfer responsibility from LL to individuals, Coco. My guess is that the elements of the classified which distinguish it will keep it in existence but not under LL's domain. I think they'll transfer to the 3rd party sites forums.

If they want to close some forums, then why don't they close some of the group forums that are NEVER used. Why they feel the need to take a more than useful forum away from us is beyond me. I guess it's all about the Benjamins...

Are you insinuating that the lindens are making money from charging for classified ads?

The group forums are not high maintenance. Forum moderators are not summoned there and, being in the back room, are not frequented by the new and casual SL member looking to see what's up with this place.

Then why do they do things like get into GOM?

Maybe the whole plan behind this is tied in somehow with a plan to start up something like SLExchange.

coco

I agree fully that it will hurt everyone's advertising and will hit hardest on the little guys. I think that the Classifieds should stay open.

I also agree that it is tough to be noticed in the noise that is the Classifieds. When I first started, no one bumped my threads. I doubt anyone even looked at them.

Anyway, the reason for that was because the clothes weren't very good. I knew it and everyone else knew it. I'm nowhere near as established as, say, PixelDolls or TorridWear is, but I tried hard to get better, and now I'm ok. Not fantastic or wonderful, but ok.

If I could do it ... they can too.

Just clarifying my point of view here. /end hijack

In six months, if these forums are down, we can always go to SL Universe, or else I could retool my forums for SL (currently being used for another game).

Hope springs eternal

Thank you Coco. I couldn't've said it better myself.