Stipend - etc

Hi, I'm just wondering, did I miss something? I thought they were only going to take part of the stipend away and leave us some. Is it going to be taken away entirely now?

So far, each time I look, they have taken more away every day until I've almost nothing left to receive each week.

Somehow, while I really support what they're doing, even though I don't fully understand, it just doesn't seem right to go down that much that fast.

HHmmm, guess I better start looking for the s/l welfare line.

ps: If going to take it, why not take it all at once instead of taking some every day?

Not too sure what you are looking at. You only get paid on tuesdays.

Maybe he's talking about why he got half of the proposed stipend for this Tuesday.

If not, then I'm wondering about that myself. Did I miss something?

For me, my 1000L stipend was cut to 525L...

If you go under World, Account History, it tells you what you will receive the following week. My stipend was cut down right before 'payday', then cut down more on 'payday' and then when I looked last night, it was down again. Then just coz I'm nosey, I looked again and it was cut down more.

Estimated Base Stipend 500
Estimated Bonus 375 - this was at 1500 last week, its been cut daily til it is here.
Estimated Total Stipend 875

From what a few other people have said I wonder if maybe they goofed. I've never paid attention to mine so I can't tell.

I am going to jump in and give a guess if I am wrong, let me know I am just guessing.

Alright, your bonus was 1500.

Half of that is 750.

That 750 was decreased daily because of lack of rates

The reason you get a lot of that bonus is rates and you have to keep getting rated to keep that bonus up. No (or low) Rates for that day means the next day your bonus (the 750) drops a little. I was one of the shameless uhm... rate whores... that everyone talked about during these economic changes. Since the changes, rates now cost 25 per rate so people are not rating anywhere near as much, which means your cut-in-half stipend bonus will actually drop, day by day, because your not getting rated as much on a daily basis in world.

They changed it so people like us would not be able to use the rating system to increase our weekly bonus. Which, while I don't like it, I agree with... we were kind of abusing the system a little, although I thought that was sort of the point of the rate system. I didn't know it wasn't, I thought that was the point of it. Get rated on your behavior and appearance, and get money because of it from LL. I really didn't know it was wrong to do that. Anyway, now we have to get jobs if we want more money. I am scripting and learning more about photoshop.

edited: changed "cut-in-half stipend" to "cut-in-half stipend bonus"

your bonus varies every week regardless of the new changes and right after payday you haven't "earned" much bonus for the new week so yeah it's going to be low. it will go up all week until the next payday since it's cumulative. that's assuming you do the things that earn you bonus. if you sit on your duff or don't log in your bonus will be low but that's the same as it ever was.

and of course it's now going to be half of what it used to be regardless.

edit: Jessica beat me. just a lil ps..... i think the way it works if by your overall rank in the rating scheme so if the more expensive ratings result in everyone getting rated less you'll prolly end up in the same general place in the rankings. i could be wrong though.

ok, I can understand that as well, but how many rates does one have to give each day to at least retain a little of their estimated extra? If you have to use your entire weekly stipend rating others to get the same the next week, then why get paid at all? I have rated since the increase, just not as much, nor as often.

DING DING DING! you hit it right on the nose. you just go out and play and have a good time and if you see an awesome build or meet an awesome person then rate them if they deserve it. don't use it as a way to get money or you will end up in the hole. anyway, bonus is called bonus cause it's a bonus. can't complain that you're getting less free money that you weren't entitled to in the first place. if you get any at all then.....bonus.

I don't think it's how many rates you give
I think it's how many rates you receive

Check out the money tree threads. There's plenty of L$'s on the table out there, you just have to reach for them. Personally as a freeloader (I'm a basic account holder) I don't mind my weekly welfare check being chizled away at. I had to get creative and motivated to make more on my own.

Slowly and surely it's happening. I'm getting better at texturing, building, and marketing. I have to talk to more people now to get what I want to get done. In essence it's a lot more fun now. I sorta wish some things were a bit more unreachable though (up your prices Cubey!

Tightening the economic belt has been good for my game.

ya, I know the bonus is a bonus, I am just trying to understand it all better. And I always thought it was better to give than to receive. (although I have to admit, I loved receiving that bonus *S*) Will have to work my schedule around so I can learn more about creating, have attended a few classes and have read the tutorials but never did anything with what I've learned yet.

Linden Labs defined the rating system and the rules by which it operates. When I arrived in SL it became immediately obvious that people in general treated the giving of ratings as an act of basic courtesy/politeness. After seeing how the stipends were connected to ratings received during the past calendar week, I understood *why* this was courteous to others. Basically the way LL defined the rules, it was in fact rude not to rate people, and more particularly rude not to rate back. I think calling this "abuse" is like calling it abuse to take all the income tax deductions that are lawful... inconsistent and bloody minded, IMO.

Rating was never intended to be a career path. Because of the way people have used it we now have people who never build anything rated as the top builders, and so on. It was broken. Now, hopefully, people will start using it as it was intended... as a way to recognize people who you feel truly deserve it instead of everyone you pass on the street. The hardest part of this change will be for us to lose the notion that you need to rate back when someone rates you. I've given out a bunch of ratings this past week and almost everyone I've rated has apologized that they couldn't return it. That will change in time though as the social dynamics around ratings change. Ultimately it will be for the better.