Katt says hi

Blog: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/21/greetings-from-katt-linden/

So, my question is: do we all feel nice enough to be at least a little constructive in commenting on the blog? (yes, comments are open).

Oh, and yes, the 'forum facelift' is still on the radar screen, evidently.
.

Thwack…Thwack…

New Communications Manager

Thwack…Thwack…

So what am I here to do?

Thwack…Thwack…

listen
aggregating
monitoring
doing my best
help all of us at Linden Lab be more consistent and effective as bloggers
Linden Lab knows
Residents
facelift
forums
blog
I’ve been
reading your blogs for a couple of years now
I care deeply
I’m more proud

Thwack…Thwack…

Tell Katt I send her all my love.

<3

that poor poor girl........

Forum facelift. Maybe they're thinking about a General Discussion forum.

They really need to come up with better names...

My post on the blog was vented at her, because of the similarity of "Katt Linden" with "Kate Linden"... soo Oops.

Once again, the inability to edit our own blog comments, creates needless stress.

Comments are closed.

Hi Katt. Welcome and good luck. I am not sure if you were hired to be a liaison between the customers and LL or a mouthpiece for LL, but welcome just the same.

Here is one thing that needs to be suggested to LL from a customer:

All people who work in a business answering the phone work in "Customer Service". They are there to serve customers, that is why one of their duties is to answer customer calls.

It is counter productive to call a business only to be told by the person answering the phone that they can't help you because they don't work in "Customer Service" they work in "Phone Answering" or (insert department here).

Also some of them (NOT Spike, he is the best) seem to have a bad attitude that you are bothering them with your issues while they are trying to do something far more important than listen to those little bothersome people who actually pay for the service.

Katt wrote:

Linden Lab knows how important it is that we have clear and consistent communications with Residents. We know that we have work to do, and that’s why I’m here.


I hope they realize that communication needs to be a 2 way street, not just posting things on the blog.

*chuckles* I did wonder about your blog comments, but hey, you were truthful and constructive, nothing wrong with that.

This is an area that the community as a whole need to work on. There are many avenues for communication but it's quality that we need, there's plenty of quantity.

Personally I have chosen to communicate by closing my wallet to LL, as other methods of attempting to communicate with LL have not proven to be very effective for me.

I have a feeling I am not the only one. I have been in Sl for over 2 years and I have never seen it this bad before.

truthful, yes.. and constructive.. I hope so, even though it's quite obvious that I am quite frustrated by the problems. But, I wish it hadn't been unleashed on the wrong person.

If I could, I'd go in and edit my comment on the Blog, because that really was meant for Kate.

I'm sceptical about Katt's role, because I don't see how it's going to be any different. For instance, so many people shout about getting rid of traffic as a metric for search, and we've already had communications from LL about it - they are looking into it. That's not the sort of communication that people want (people want to know their actual thoughts about it), but I think it'll be the sort of communication that Katt produces.

In other words, I see her role as communication the party lines in pretty much the same way that other Lindens already do in their own areas. If it is a 2-way role, then it could be worthwhile; i.e. a number of people have a question, such as the traffic question, so she goes and gets the answer, but I'm sceptical that it's going to be 2-way.

Her stated first task was to revamp the forums, but that was said weeks ago. What's happened since then?

Exactly Phil, that's the improvement in communication that is required. Traffic, land pricing, trademarks, windlight, search etc. I want to know their thoughts on these issues. I don't want to just read on the blog "This is the policy".

Katt rocks- trust me...

it's an unenviable position to be in, but I don't think there's anyone better suited to give it a go and make it work-

she will listen, and care- and work her little butt off to try and make everyone happy.

so be nice to her.

offer her some pie.

she is awesome.

Well, her job is to *manage* communications on behalf of her employer. Some may not perceive that to be an improvement. Me, I'm interested to see what she does and how she does it.

She could start by putting an electro-shock collar on Phil. Every time he insults the users, he gets a jolt strong enough to put him out for an hour.

I'm more curious about what she plans in the way of a make over for the forums, since it's the best way for users to communicate with each other.

/me kindly offers Katt a slice of pie

Interesting problem, defining the role of Communications Manager--and then communicating it.

In a real company, such a position would be defined in terms of metrics that are supposed to move in one direction or another, as a result of more effective communication. Of course, that which you measure is that which will be distorted (a sort of intentional Heisenberg Principle), and if those objective metrics are communicated, the distortion becomes a tug-of-war between the person charged to effect positive change and all their enemies and nay-sayers. Tricky.

I've worked with outfits where this position is an officer of the company--pretty sure that's not the situation here (Katt reports to Robin, right?), but it's not an altogether bad thing if even the CEO's own pronouncements are vetted through somebody with an ear for a consistent message. Of course this would make SL bloggers and the press apoplectic, being denied the steady stream of "leaks" and misstatements that give them something to write about. And at this point I don't think inconsistency of message is LL's biggest communication problem. (Inconsistency of style and attitude *is* a problem, but not a very manageable one--especially in the LL culture.)

Conspicuously absent was a link from the Blog to an accompanying Forums thread, as has been used (effectively, I think) before. But perhaps that's better for more focused discussion (like plans for the Forums facelift) than for introductory pleasantries.

Also conspicuously unsaid was commitment to an update of the Forums vBulletin software, but that would just get us all salivating for the time it takes to actually implement it. And also, a Communications Manager may know when *not* to communicate: I don't think anybody here would object if one fine day, other facelift changes still pending, the Forums crippled software were just magically cured. It would be... messianic, almost.

Yep, Welcome Katt, hope you have a thick skin,
<hands Katt a concrete bunker>

Katt Linden was born March 2008, but her postings indicate that she is a long(ish) term resident.

===============================================
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/03/31/forum-facelift/ :
Katt Linden Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 9:54 AM
....
Many of you are saying you do find value in the forums. (I’m a regular reader of the Classified forums myself, so I’m aware of how helpful it is for people to have a free method for sharing info on new releases.).
....

===============================================
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/21/greetings-from-katt-linden/#comments :
Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 6:47 PM by: Katt Linden
.... As for me, I’ve been paying attention to Second Life, and reading your blogs, for a couple of years now, and like you, I care deeply about Second Life ....

===============================================

So I'd guess at someone who
- has been a resident for a few years
- has probably run a blog related to SL
- has been naturally inclined to research 3rd party references to SL
- has no illusions about the amount and variety of 'feedback' to be expected
- has packaged all of that to LL and got the job


All in all, I'd be upbeat about it.
In Katt, we could have someone who is Resident-centric.
Hopefully that mindset will mostly survive and mitigate the entrenched corporate/muppet-speak/silence that has been the hallmark of LL communications to date.

n00b.

I'll have to read the post I suppose before commenting further.

I wonder if they'll integrate some 21st century social networking and mashup-ability into Second Life.

Is anyone else worried that the results of a "Forum Facelift" is going to wind up looking like this?:

She may care, and she will no doubt listen (they all listen), but listening doesn't do anything - except listen - and caring may not be able to communicate what she would like to communicate.

Let's try the traffic issue as a test. Whenever anyone gets the opportunity, let her know that you want traffic removed for search purposes, and at the same time, ask what LL's thoughts are about it; i.e. why hasn't it been removed already after all the shouting to remove it?

The sort of communication that we want is alonf the lines of, "we are keeping it for now because it provides many people with a means of earning some money", or, "we intend to remove it as soon as we can get to it". We don;t want the same old, "we are looking into it".

That's the sort of thing that I'm sceptical about. I don't think that Katt will be allowed to give straight answers like that, *even if she's allowed to field questions*. As far as we know, all she's going to do is post statements - nothing new there. Listening is nothing new role - they already listen. Caring is not likely to be anything new either - I'm sure that some of them care.

I'm not being negative about Katt herself - I'm being sceptical about her role as the communicator.

She may care, and she will no doubt listen (they all listen), but listening doesn't do anything - except listen - and caring may not be able to communicate what she would like to communicate.

Let's try the traffic issue as a test. Whenever anyone gets the opportunity, let her know that you want traffic removed for search purposes, and at the same time, ask what LL's thoughts are about it; i.e. why hasn't it been removed already after all the shouting to remove it?

The sort of communication that we want is along the lines of, "we are keeping it for now because it provides many people with a means of earning some money", or, "we intend to remove it as soon as we can get to it". We don't want the same old, "we are looking into it".

That's the sort of thing that I'm sceptical about. I don't think that Katt will be allowed to give straight answers like that, *even if she's allowed to field questions*. As far as we know, all she's going to do is post statements - nothing new there. Listening is nothing new - they already listen. Caring is not likely to be anything new either - I'm sure that some of them care.

I'm not being negative about Katt herself - I'm being sceptical about her role as the communicator.