$100L to post in the Hotline Forum

What do you think of this? Originally, I thought $500L would be a better price, but then I realized that this may be a bit high for people on basic account holders.

So, assuming that you don't earn other income in Secondlife, a Hotline To the Lindens would cost you 2 weeks' stipend if you are a Basic account holder, or 1/5 of your weekly stipend if you're a premium member. Seems fitting that premium members are better-able to afford the Lindens' time, since they pay more for the experience, and perhaps a nominal charge for the ability to post in those forums would cut down on the trash a bit. Um, by trash, I mean "WHAT'S GOING ON SL DOWN AGAIN OMG THIS SuxX0RZ" 20 times just because we went to a new point release the day before.

that sounds good if you have money to burn but if SL becomes full of elitist snobs who feel that they have more rights than the hoi polloi I think Sl will get a bad rep and eventually die out.

I don't have money to burn, which is exactly the point of it.

I try not to post in the Hotline to a Linden thread, because I rightfully realize that not every single one of my thoughts, as clever and fun as they may be, requires immediate Linden attention. Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone has a sense of restraint in letting the lindens know that, guess what, the grid went down, or they're generally not happy with the way the recent point-release changed a particular building tool, or that it's raining in Cleveland today.

The idea behind charging to post in the Hotline thread isn't that it actually reimburses the Lindens for what their time is worth, but that it's one of those forums, perhaps the only one on this site, where we should really stop and ask ourselves first, "Hmm, am I sure that this question can't be answered or assisted with elsewhere, like Tech Support, Feature Feedback, Feature Suggestions or Off-Topic?"

well, it is a good idea if you think only the rich could ask a linden something in the forums :/

why not extend that idea a bit? charge L$500 for every time you post to the forums at all, to be reimbursed if your post was voted as worthwhile by the community?

That should cut down on the amount of crap.

well, I do see the point of keeping the serious forums succinct, but that would not stop a rich griefer from spamming the boards if money was the only criteria...

L$100 to me sounds like a nominal fee that is not financially crippling should it be paid out, but just enough to make one think carefully, or even word a question in a more comprehensible and helpful way, before posting. I do feel that Hotline To Linden right now is very claustrophobic and uncomfortable, and as hot as the line is, I see numerous questions that would be better taken up in other Forums and discussed by fellow Residents, not to mention negative redundancy that might as well be ALL consolidated into one thread because as 'Gienix pointed out, LOGIN ISSUES are a common thing to bring up on here.

When I'm having problems getting into SL, I often check with my friends and ask around to see what's happening. I try not to get too anxious and stay reasonably calm, and I scan the main bulk of the Forums by hitting the "New Posts" button to see if anything comes up in the next few minutes. If I require past knowledge, I'll use the SEARCH button. This has happened time and time again. Yelling at the 911 dispatcher (or equivalent) doesn't make them send assistance any quicker, and I see some Hotline Q's that are just plain rude.

If a question's really burning and you don't have L$100, I wonder if there could be a type of "Linden loan" system that would let you go ahead and post with empty pockets, but ask that you repay that amount some weeks later. If not, interest would pile up or your CC would be charged. Or would this be too complicated? Just thinking of ideas. I am aware numerous companies charge for tech support help and while this isn't exactly the same thing, I do not like to see anyone's time wasted.

BTW, it is relatively straightforward to make L$100 -- opportunities exist inworld like the Gnome Factory, and for new Residents, there are Money Trees and the Prim Factory. And there's also the stipend, while not a GREAT deal, which you can wait for. And patience is so very important...

Currently, no charge is paid to ask questions here, and there hasn't been any mass abuse of H2L. And even if that happens in the future, I'd imagine it'd be against CS and dealt with.

On the bright side, all these questions do point to a reassuring fact: Residents sure do know of, and want to seize the opportunity of the Lindens's being personal with the community!

Time is money in the electronic world, if you have to wait a week to ask a question on something that is fustrating you about the game the chances are you will quit the game.

LL knows that while the 10.00 one time fee is nominal, the chance of that person upgrading to premium is there and they do not want to anger that person.

The premium subscriber is pretty much hooked and will survive with a forum to vent on, especially if they feel that LL is reading their concerns.

What we have now is not a perfect situation, but getting people to pay for advice is a slippery slope....

daz, I know what you're saying -- the curious counterpoint, of course, is the following quote:

"Time is actually the opposite of money: people who have a lot of money often have little time, and those with little money may have a lot of time."

I'm paraphrasing, but it was one of the great media artists who said it... perhaps Nam June Paik? I couldn't find an attributable quote but I'll just leave it be for now. I won't go so far as to call it the "Bill Gates Principle", as busy and as many emails as he may receive a day.

Again, it's a psychological test, isn't it? Someone who quits SL because they got frustrated trying to build a house may say more about them than SL. Same with those who beg around for L$ expecting handouts and blinding themselves to other possibilities. The aforementioned, as opposed to someone who doesn't like the build tools and makes some positive, constructive feature requests, takes breaks as necessary, and is eager to see where everything is going.

Here's a funny one: like Sim FPS is an indicator of load, so is asking so many questions to Lindens -- all timeslices out of the main pie, and they want to help us help them by answering them. But when there are "too many people in a forum asking questions" and "H2L FPS" drops below 100, quality AND quantity of replies will suffer.

If practical experiments need be run, fine by me, as this virtual world is largely about that stable instability. Ah, I'm for free access to information... again, I reiterate, the onus is on the individual to think carefully before posting. And to do research first. Heck, I do it, and I'm so simple-minded. It ain't hard.

One more thought for now: you know how inworld we get those blue broadcast messages from the system when there's trouble sometimes? Well, if that could be done in the Forums, that might help quicken delivery of information and alleviate some woes.

I'd say no to this idea, but I understand where it's coming from. The H2L forum is pretty much unusable right now, and even when SL isn't acting like a yoyo, we do see a lot of questions there that should be asked elsewhere.

On the other hand, when was the last time you saw a post by a Linden in Feature Suggestions, responding to the discussion here? Not like it never happens, but I can see why people get frustrated and take their issue straight to H2L, given that a lot of times it feels like that's the only forum the Lindens read.

I also know that I've sent a question in via email to the [email]games@lindenlab.com[/email] address last week with a question related to a GDC entry, and here it is the day of the deadline, and my question still hasn't been answered. I posted it on the H2L a couple of days ago due to the non-response via email, and it wasn't answered there, either. Surprise, surprise... I think it's on the 3'd page in now, maybe the 4th. I doubt it will ever be answered in H2L. I'm beginning to doubt it will be answered by email, either.

I haven't had to file an actual service problem with LL, but I suspect they have a service ticket tracking system in place. Were I they, I'd be removing each of those posts to H2L that is actually a service complaint, filing a service ticket on behalf of the user that would generate an automated email, be tracked internally, and responded to when the issues are resolved, and clearing out the H2L forum for its original purpose. Similarly, Feature Request questions that don't reference one or more threads here should be moved here (they have been doing that more lately). But questions that do reference a substantive thread elsewhere should be answered in H2L, not evaded. That would start to encourage the behavior it seems LL wants to see. Responding to all these things in H2L (including evasive responses) just continues to encourage people to dump everything in there.

Oh well, I guess I'm getting grumpy because it's dinnertime where I am, so I'll go eat. All hail the Mighty Lindens, peace, love and unlimited prims to all, and all that stuff.

neko

Oooh Neko, SNAZZY! Hmmm wonder how much that would help. There is a ticket tracking system, the [email]support@lindenlab.com[/email] -- at least it tells me a number and stuff. But then again, you'll get some people who demand to speak to a supervisor or who don't like the automation... LOL. What a funny world, eh?



Hehehe! Have a good chow down!

this is a good topic!

here's a related note.

twice I clicked on the live help button, asked a 'serious' question (once about a possible violation and once about an account upgrade) both times a helpfull Linden answered.

This leads me to surmise that while it says that the help line is staffed by volenteers, certain keywords will get the attention of LL, so this is good!