Why close the forums?

Why oh why can't LL do the responsible thing and poll it's members when considering DRASTIC changes like this. Do you even care what your PAYING members want? Your members are the ones who pay your salaries, why not listen to them?

What a message you are sending, it definitely sounds like you don't want to read our opinions anymore. Yes the forums can be nasty, yes they can be off topic and repetative, but it is the most reliable way for getting offline info. It is the first place I go when I have problems that keep me from getting online. I always recieve a helpful and prompt response when I pose a question.

Why the content creation forums? Once again I point out that while at work and not being able to log in, I shop the online classified forums and when I get home can get my shopping done quickly because I know what I want and where to go. It's also the best way to get help from experienced members in areas like building and scripting. As SL gets bigger and more commercialistic your residents are less and less willing to just help without charging a fee. You are systematically making it virtually impossible for new members to stand a chance without investing serious serious money. Unless that is what you want.

Please reconsider your decision! Do not take away the best out of world way for residents to communicate. The blog post does not adequately explain the reasoning behind this change. It really just looks like you're tired of the whining and don't want to respond anymore.

Hi musicteacher! In the simplest terms, I and other Lindens have considered all of this beforehand--I know I have since the beginning of this year. Considered, re-considered, and re-re-considered, and along the way, attempted to introduce changes to ameliorate the experience. They did not work, so we're here, in the present.

We can't make it obvious we DO want to hear from and respond to Residents. However, the forums work against this--literally, 100s of times, I have received messages asking me: "Can you get a Linden to reply?" and then, there is the sea of SL Answers... which I am struggling to keep up with. It's unscalable. And I am only human.

Some of the many reasons why were already detailed in Robin's blog post as you referenced, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet:I receive opinions in abundance. I get no shortage of them--it's not so much the medium as the message, and I get IMs, PMs, emails, blog entries, and more. I'm lucky and grateful.

There'll be more to come!

Now, doing something and distilling achievables is a key goal. We have so much to contend with, and we want to have a clearer path to do the best for our community.

What does this mean?

Less friction, more focus. More visible results. More openness, more Linden voices not being buried, etc. It means for me personally that I spend less time handling forum moderation, and more time grabbing gems and aggregating them so Resident Experience bugs can be fixed SOONER! It's very interconnected--I have only so many hours in a day to work, and I want to make the best of it. It *also* means that I get a clearer view of problems so we can jump on them quicker, with lessened repetitive and redundant noise.

Basically: the same information--and more!--will still get through to me, via different means.

About the content creation forums, please see:and pass that link onto everyone who asks! (I'm concerned it'll get lost.)

"I am affected by what others do. What I do affects others..."

Finally, the keystone: we shouldn't be crutched on things which take away from the inworld experience. With reevaluated priorities, we'll be able to focus on improving inworld methods of communication, something the forums have drawn resources away from for a long time. I painstakingly realized this when throwing my hands up in the air over the limitations I encounter with IMs, notecards, and limited Groups tools--in the works to be better.

Some of it's really hard to see now, I know. I don't doubt what the forums have provided either; I am, after all, their most active and prolific participant in Second Life history. I've had many wonderful opportunities; I've seen and done many things here, and have lived and breathed the forums. In doing that, I've become intimately familiar with the ins and outs: the good, the bad, and the ugly, as it were. *Ennio Morricone cue plays* And in doing that, I realize that there's a bright future ahead, but we're going to have to walk through a tunnel with scary mirrors of twisted reflections and fears to get there. If we walk together, we'll be alright.

I'll walk with you.