(I) Support LL's Economic Policy Changes

Paying less in stipends/bonus will drasticly curb the inflow of new cash to the float. The increased rating system will help to suck money out of SL.. Because when you pay to rate somebody, your really giving LL those L$. They just destory those dollars. So each rating removes another L$25 from the economy.

It doesn't hurt those thatb have an already viable buisness. i get most of my funds through bingo/contests ..... that and stipend bonus being reduced = not much buying much at all and not being able to buy so as to have a wardrobe to win contests that will rarely be well funded now.My question still stands I don't know how to do the files for making clothes and I sure don't want to spend my time in classes (being that i have to go to for making files to make money) while ingame. I was making enought in these activities to be happy I don't want to be nor need to be rich ingame I just want to socialize and have fun .... thats it.

I agree that something needs to change, however I do NOT agree with LL current plan of action.

I think reducing support for the contests etc that people seem to enjoy (let's face it like it or not people DO like them or they wouldn't attend) would be a wiser choice then totally eliminating it.

oh & how about eliminating something really useless..like ratings!

Basically it boils down to money period. Lets face it. And it's only gonna get more like 1st Life than Secondlife. The first flaw was making Linden Dollars exchangable possibly. Secondlife isn't like a normal MMORPG where you can get loot to sell and make game money. The way it's headed eventually you are going to have to have some real Virtual Business and skills if you are going to have play money in game. Also with other investors comming into the fray, they are going to see business as business because they have a steak in it, and Linden views may change and it is already happening.

1) Linden Dollars have to be exchangable in order to pay people for whatever
2) The Have's are willing to sell their L$ to the HaveNot's for a Price.
3) That exchange of haves/have nots are your enemy...

Maybe you support a communist state of equals. Well, that'll make SL boring and dead in 30 days.

Alby, I seriously doubt that anyone will use ratings anymore. You're paying 25 times the amount it used to cost and getting 50% of the stipend. It doesn't make business sense to rate anymore.

Therefore, there I doubt there will be that much outflow due to ratings. As I see it, the money supply will continue to grow - though at a slower clip then previously.

You are only in this for money period. I certainly don't see any Social talents lol.

That's not correct.

People, please read Robin's comments (Robin, please consider a separate post to clarify this).

The base stipend is NOT changing. What is changing is your BONUS.

Oopsie! I must have been vague... I meant 50% of the bonus stipend.. but as you can see, it no longer makes sense to rate. Paying 25x to get 50% of what you would have received in RATE stipend prior to the change.

Yes, the rating system will change and will slow down your bonus increase that is tied to it (if it is at all? I don't know). It will also discourage rate-mining, etc. and encourage people to rate less often and primarily when it is deserved. Or so I theorize.

the way it used to work was that LL visited sites that were suggested to them and picked the ones they felt were the tops. if i were to place myself in their shoes, my criteria for tops would be places that would impress new players enough to stick around.

i will probably look at the featured spots to see what's there. i'll assume that players who can afford a spot week in week out are making enough sales to afford it. and if they are making enough sales, their product is likely of good quality.

oh yeah... AYE

Look out, here comes the vocal minority

yeah but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to spend their money on virtual advertising.

I don't know what the solution is quite frankly.

True, but this 'Featured' listings program is *new* for us. It's not replacing any current system. There are other ways of advertising as well: billboards, magazines, etc.

The old 'Top Picks' is going the way of the Dodo, but I'm sure it was becoming increasingly time-consuming for the Lindens to manage as our world grew.

AYE

if we see a rise in the L$ to the RL$ then its good. LL are trying to help the economy in SL. I don't see what the problem is :/... if LL hadn't mentioned this we would still be moaning (myself included!) about the bugs, lag etc ingame. This move from LL seems to be the most possitive change i've seen in a long time and it seems as though it will be a good move to make.

LL did say that the Ebay thing was just a test to see if it was popular enough... i presume if it is, they will make their own bidding section to the website, it's not impossible to do... it's already there for the auctions.

EDIT:
About the ratings. I am not rich ingame, at most i usually have 3k to spend on things. I usually triple rate a person if i think they r friendly and im talking for a min or so. With the upped price of 25L$ per rate, do you not think it will make the rating system a bit more meaningful? som1 will only spend 25L$ on one of the 3 rating things if they really think you are worth it.

HOW ABOUT...
Each week we are given 3 'free' rates which we can use on wotever and once we use them up we gota pay?