Does this sound paranoid?

...because the fact that the Map is now so GORGEOUS that Residents will stay inworld longer, lost in rapt contemplation of the depth of color and general stunning quality?


Actually, though, my main question is about some very weird things that just happened with the re-Auction.

Two days ago, bids stopped being accepted some period of hours before the Auctions were due to occur. Anyone who tried to make a bid during those hours got an error screen when they attempted to log onto the bidding screen. Therefore, the people who happened, by chance, to have made the last bids before the unannounced cessation of bidding, won those auctions.

Many protested, and the Land Manager wisely (I think) decided to re-auction those parcels today.

So....here are the weird things that happened (or at least the ones I'm aware of):

****The countdown clock for a single property was different in two different windows--by a full 5 seconds (which can make a real difference in bidding). No, this WASN'T a mistaken opening of two windows showing two different parcels in the same sim--these were two windows open to the same identical parcel (same coordinates, same square meters). One window was opened from the other, in fact.

I've done that several times and have never seen different count-down clock times. Ever.


****There were four US$ parcels involved. I always keep another window open with the list, so I can quickly note the prices the parcels actually sold at. That information can disappear within about a minute, or it could linger for several, depending on how many parcels the staff has to deal with (I assume). But today something happened that has NEVER happened before, to my knowledge: the three US$ parcels that I hadn't bid on vanished INSTANTLY when the clock ran down (or when the Earlier one ran down, I should say!) I've never, ever seen that happen.


****Curious about the actual selling prices, I went to Advanced Search and looked up all four parcels. And found something else that's quite....weird.

All four have two dates for Sold At price---which is understandable, since they actually 'sold' two days ago as well as today. So for each, one would expect to see a row showing the Feb 19 information as well as a row showing the Feb 21 information.

But for one of the four----the only one I bid on----there are THREE rows: one for Feb 19 and TWO for today, Feb 21. Here's the page:

http://usd.auctions.secondlife.com/Scripts/LotSearch.asp?

SubmitFlag=1&KioskCustNo=&bAdv=False&SearchScreen=general&KeyWords=

Any&ProdName=___________&ExProdName=&TitleOnly=Y&AuctionEndDate1=

&AuctionEndDate2=&ListingStatus=OpenOrClosed&LotPrice1=&LotPrice2=

&ListingType=&SearchMode=text&SortBy=&submit1=Search

(The other three are Jeesh [love that name!], Pavet, and Castlederg--I can post those URLs too if anyone is curious and doesn't want to go through the Advanced Search.)



So.....is it paranoid to wonder why all these weird things happened?

It's not that I'm thinking 'plot'.....it's more that I'm wondering if someone was maybe doing a little favor for someone....I don't know. That's not a kind thought, and I'm certainly not making an accusation, as I don't have full information. There could be a perfectly innocent explanation for it all.

But it's all rather....odd.





(The Map really IS amazing to look at, by the way.)

EDIT---I hate that wide screen and hope that by putting two spaces between the various bits of that URL, it will go back to normal. Anyone who wants to use the URL can still do so, but take out two spaces between each bit.

Re-EDIT---I decided that since I'm just asking Residents about an odd series of events, with a view to learning if this is something that's been seen before, it isn't necessary to identify the actual sim. So I took the name out of the URL.

Yikes, more paranoia--or maybe not...did the screen go so wide because of the large URL?


edit: yep, that was it. Well, I learned something new, today...always good.

Not only is that weird, but your post scrolled off the edge of the page to discourage people from reading it. At least it did on my monitor. I know a conspriacy when I see one . . .

[Edit - ahh, post lag! It's been fixed.]

Yeah, I guess I'd never posted so long a URL before.

(Screen-widening sigs and such are the bane of the message-boarding world!)

As one might expect, that URL now leads to a corrected screen. Luckily I had taken a screenshot and also saved to Word--lets see if that will show up here:

Your search for ______ found 4 items. Items 1 to 4 are shown below.
Sort By Go!


Search Again

Description Price Bids Ends (PDT)
________________________________________
______ (30,115) Mature 13744m
$252.00 11 2/21/2009 10:37 AM

______ (30,115) Mature 13744m
$307.00 14 2/21/2009 10:37 AM

______ (30,115) Mature 13744m
$191.00 3 2/19/2009 10:00 AM

_______ (172,149) Mature 34608m
$501.00 8 2/18/2009 9:00 AM

........................................................................

For all we may ever know, what really occurred was a purely coincidental set of glitches.

It's still pretty weird, though.

EDIT: as mentioned in the edit of the OP, I decided that the info I'm hoping to get doesn't require the actual sim's name. And though the speculative fiction that would explain it all still seems at least academically interesting to me, I decided there was no need to share it any further.

You *are* being paranoid.

Clear Cache
Relog
Update or downdate you graphics card drivers.
Relog again
Press CTRL/ALT/F13

All will be well.

Well, thanks---but how would a graphics card issue cause all those phenomena?

Namely:

1) the borked Auction on Feb 19 (recall that I wasn't the only person to notice this)

2) the clock for the same parcel showing different times in different windows

3) three of the four parcels vanishing from the Auction list the instant that the auction closed---a phenomenon completely new in the past eight months, to my knowledge

4) the two-Sold At prices and rows in the Advanced Search listing for one of the parcels, for the same day and time

????

Well, now over 100 people have at least glanced at the OP, and all that's resulted is a kind response from one person and a satirical dismissal from another.

And that might be because no one has ever seen anything like the odd events described, or because they have and don't feel it's appropriate to discuss, or for some other reason (and I believe that this logically exhausts the categories, har har).

I will admit that to say 'here's some odd stuff that I noticed' is inherently insulting to those in charge, because it implies that either some mistakes have been made or some covert acts have occurred. Of course the second is more insulting than the first, which is why I've been at pains to say that it's certainly possible that it's all due to an odd set of coincidences.

Coincidences DO occur, or else why would humans have come up with the concept?

Still: insulting. And I do regret that. After all, the efforts of those who staff the Auctions have played a major part in my enjoyment of my SL experience. And I do owe a debt of gratitude to them for that.*

So I guess I'll just leave it at 'some stuff happened and I don't understand why it happened but it doesn't really matter all that much in the scheme of things, so....meh.'






*so why bring it up in the first place, the more dismissive-minded may say? Because I like to know why things happen, that's why.

They told me not to post here.

They dressed in all black, sorta an old timey gangster outfit. And they spoke using odd metaphors.

I'm not worried about myself though, I had to get the message out... They will be coming for you next.

The grid status blog mentioned something about a problem with auctions. I saw it inworld on the grid status hud when there was a problem, so I am not paranoid about it.

Pretty sure I've seen that clock fail to update at all, but I've never thought to watch it in two different windows at the same time. Looking at the page source, it seems to be a Java applet (as opposed to a javascript) called "Ticker.class" that compares the auction close time with a <ServerTime> parameter -- which makes sense because one wouldn't use the clock on the browser host.

So, for two instances to be consistently different, hmmm... well, a simple way would be to start them out with different auction close times (tinfoil hat required). Otherwise... could one JRE/thread just lag the other by a consistent amount? or get fed consistently earlier ServerTime values somehow? Neither of those seem very parsimonious either.

I would first assume it is nothing more than a continuation of the already established pattern of bugs, foul ups, and downright broken services. Heh heh.

This isn't a dig at SL - any system this big is bound to have a fair share of odd things. No one person can know all the code and how it all works together(and how each client machine will handle it). So, random oddness is actually expected. lol

Of course, I may just be paid to say that. You never know! Muhahahahaha!

Note:This post was made from inside your house!

*puts on sunglasses and gets out flashy thing from Men in Black*

AAAIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Double AAIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

That's logical.

It's more the stuff that happened after the Wednesday problem (the clock thing, the two-sales-on-same-day-of-identical-parcel, and the instant-vanishing of listings) that seemed like 'more weirdness than would be expected.'

But...yeah. Stuff happens.

reply to Qie Niangao (it's not letting me post when the quote is included...?? more occasion for paranoia!!)



I wish I understood all that, but what does come across is that this COULD have been a set of technical mishaps. (Other than the 'start out with different close times' part, of course.)

(Also that we humans DO like to try to figure out why things happen---some, obviously, with greater resources of knowledge than others! ^_^ )

The OP isn't mad - and Cristalle has explained it I think.

I was keeping an eye on an L$ auction which finished on the 19th. I noticed the same plot for sale again the next day, and it sold "again" 2 days later (for slightly more).

Not sure what the bidders were told...

I, too, saw the "men in black." It was frightening. They said they were coming for the "beautiful people" so I wouldn't worry too much. I, on the other hand, will be going into hiding.

You can join me if you like.

Pep (Considering forming a "Beautiful People in Hiding" group)

Can you assure my safety and well-being? I'm in...

Denial? (About Santa, I mean.)


As of last night the parcel in question was still showing in purple, with the Governor as owner. So I'm starting to think there's something weird about the coding of that parcel itself, that might have causes all the glitches. (Not that I know if particular parcels have their own coding, of some kind. Well, there must be something that distinguises one parcel from another, and given that they're only pixels, it must be code of some kind.)

Anyway, the mystery continues....