LL acquisition of XStreetSL - good thing?

I 100% agree with that, Lear. That's all the more reason not to sit around bitching about it on forums they don't read. If you think they're making a mistake, tell them directly.



Yes, but again, this isn't "feedback". At best, it's a bunch of people blowing off steam to each other. It's watercooler talk, really, nothing more. My point was I'd rather focus on more productive things.



That would proably be a good idea. But I don't think my response here was out of place at all. The question here was how do I feel about it. And as I said, how I feel is that it's pointless to dwell on it at all after the fact. The situation is what it is now. At this point, how to move forward is the only thing worth thinking about.



In any case, my guess is they probably bought Xstreet because it's the one worth having, and they probably bought OnRez because ESC begged them to take it off their hands. I can't say more on the latter without potantially breaching NDA, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what I mean. I'll repeat I'm just guessing, though. My "inside" knowledge is over a year out of date. I could be way off.

Whats to think about. They made it clear they are going to do what they are going to do with or without our input.

lolwut? o.O

What's to think about is how you'll respond to it. Will you pack up your toys and leave, like GOM did when Lindex was announced, or like countless clothing designers did when Copybot came along, or will you do the smart thing and just keep right on going?

I'm going to move forward.

/me picks up torch and walks off into the darkness.

Not voting yet but while something good might come of this I would rather not have Linden Lab allocate resources to developing yet more viewer features for which no one seems to have asked. I don't see how this improves marketability over basics like increasing grid stability which has taken a bit of a backslide recently.

I also don't see the disappearance of competition as good and I don't see how it makes sense for LL to maintain 2 exchanges with one undercutting the other and if the XStreet exchange is the one to go that would be loss for SL residents.

Packing up seems illogical until they do what they are going to do. To early to "think" about it before anything has been done positive or negative. There is nothing to think about at this point. Nothing has been done other than SL taking it over.

They better leave the forums alone. That's all I have to say.

I don't mind the traffic (once the news wears off, I'm sure we'll get more traffic in the market than people browsing the forum) actually, overall, I think it's a good thing to keep it on the home page to create more interest there.

But I like speaking my mind about whatever topic I want to talk about. I don't want to be "positive and productive". I certainly don't want to be given suspensions because they think we're a teen community. They really do think that.

The forums here are SL. SL-related; it makes sense. There's a place for everything. This happens to be a good place for questions regarding content creation. XStreet happens to have better advertising and shops setting up resources. And just general relaxed talk about whatever. It doesn't have to be SL-related.

They are going to have a big fight on their hands because it's OUR community there. We aren't going to let them take that away. We'll move if it comes to that. But not after a serious piece of our minds.

will add here since they closed the talk about it forums..

Meh...

my last toe is about out the door ...

I voted for more good than bad. More good for LL and more good for people who happy for LL to manage all three of the basic inworld services. land, currency and content.

Land services LL only manage for a fee. I can own, trade, sell and rent even.
Currency LL also only manage for a fee. But its my money and I can buy/sell it.
Content has not been managed by LL until now. I still going to be able to buy/selll content for a fee (a fee only in the 2D shopping mall for now anyways)

It makes perfect sense to me why LL has done this. Theres some bad in this and some concerns for merchants, but for the ordinary avatar customer is more good in this than bad.

Merchants and content creators always saying LL needs to attract more people, customers, willing to spend money inworld. Is true. LL doing that by providing what those people want before they will come and spend their money. Ordinary mainstream people with money to spend like Land Linden and Supply Linden and now Mall Linden. They like the stability and assurance that these 3 Lindens provide them. And ya it maybe cost them a little bit more but they happy and willing to pay for this.

My only real concern about all this is the question Yngwie has asked. My hope is that LL wont be shortsighted and will answer Yes to this question. Because if the answer is No then the SL forked worlds going to be stuffed unless someone puts a huge effort into making a neutral marketplace serving manyworlds. Something which I think is the key to the fabled manyworlds hypergrid. I really hope that LL not going to be shortsighted about this and doesnt just fold Xstreet/OnRez into OnlySecondLife for short-term gains.

That's the thing I'm most afraid of. I've been using SLX/Xstreet to have my money instantly for a LONG time now. It is going to really upset me if we aren't able to get instant payout anymore...other than that, I plan to keep using the service for as long as it is still profitable.

It all boils down to MONEY plain and simple. LL watched SLX make millions on users content in commissions. They had to get in on the action. It sets a scary precedence. Now they have their grubby paws in the pot, it paves the way for them to start charging on Every sale inworld too. Call it tax or whatever you like, it'll happen and soon.

the question is.... did the previous owner of xstreetsl HAVE to sell?

I doubt that they were forced to sell, they chose to sell, so I would not really see LL as "taking over" anyone.

for me taking over implies force, I really do not think anyone was forced to do anything


*shrug*

only time will tell if it is a good thing or bad

In business sometimes being taken over is very subtle. You don't know what back room happenings transpire, and sometimes the just "Make you a deal you can't refuse".Even though I'm sure they haven't planned it properly, this is not a haoorible business move. LL is getting SL ready to bust out and go Mainstream I think, and they want to maximize profits. They probably have seen the profit potential in the off site areas and especially the businesses who don't pay tier to linden and figured this is the best way to get their piece of it. Same with all the non LindX currency action. I never used the off world services and still probably won't and I only buy off the Lindex, so I don't know what this will mean to my SL experience. But if they do start hitting inworld sales with any sort of fees, it might make some close up, and that wouldn't be good.

Thanks Ceka (may need to stock up on this)!

This ^^

From what I got out of reading the blog and the linked wiki is that those people who have XStreet Accounts will be merged with their SL account. Not sure if a person who does not have an XStreet account will need to open one if they wish or if one will be automatically created for each account.

agreed we do now know what happened in the back room... as it were


and yes, if they start dinging us for in world sales, or raise the percent fee for xstreet fees, I will be rethinking my commitment to SL

(I have until april to decide for my main account)


so for me, only time will tell

I use both XStreet and OnRez and, while I got very few sales from OnRez as compared to XStreet, it did have some nice features. On thing I particularly liked was I never had any stale transactions that I was having quite a bit of trouble with lately with XStreet. So *somehow* OnRez managed that aspect of its service much better than either XStreet or SL.

I agree. And I loved having a separate section for keywords.

Also, OnRez allowed you to easily edit any aspects of multiple listings (description, keywords, pictures, etc.). Xstreet SL added templates, but it never worked for some users, including me, probably because I use a Mac. (I know Apotheus put in a lot of effort to make them work, but as the support pages indicate, there were serious problems.)

Honestly, I think they should do away with the XStreet commissions.

But I just had a thought. Since XStreet is now linked to LL, they might actually be eyeing a removal of commissions for premium accounts. I know this might not appeal to all, but think about it. If you're a bigger business who rents your shop space, but does most of your actual sales through XStreet, you might decide that between the cut of commissions and the stipend, you'll be willing to go premium, even if you don't use the free tier. (This can also be applied to estate owners.)

They won't take as much of a hit, since those who don't want to become premium will still be paying commission.

QFT!

I already pay premium and tier, plus fees for classifieds and parcel placement in search. This should be 100% free for me if LL is running it. I pay this company for enough things already.

Keep dreaming. Why would they abadon such an income source? And they'd take a huge hit, because the big sellers (who provide the majority of the income) would simply switch to premium.

IMHO, the main benefit to LL taking over XStreet is that it's income for LL, and I don't begrudge them asking a reasonable charge for a valuable service. I certainly didn't begrudge XStreet their commission. It's even one of the two reasons why my freebies are actually dollarbies. (The other reason is that charging 1 linden reduces "sales" on the item dramatically. My feeling is that too many people collect freebies without regard for whether they're likely to use them, so I thought I'd give the asset servers a break.)

I agree too. Very sneaky way to slip in a content tax.

But I guess someone has to pay the XSt. staff.

Personaly my street traffic is way down today and yesterday. Rather the opposite of what I expected. I am hoping the integration will boost sales for everyone. But, I still feel the tax is unfair no mater the result.

I never begrudged XStreet their commission.. when they were a separate company. And I can't say I'd begrudge LL for it, but it just seems like a good way to make premium accounts more valuable. Heck, for that much they could increase my premium fee by a dollar.. which is roughly what I lose off the commissions myself per month

And I'm not talking removing the fees for things like having your item listed on the front page or frills like that. Those are fair fees and are comparable to classifieds in world.