Why do only 60 names appear on the Join Now page?

Why do only 60 last names appear in the drop-down on the Join Now page, when I know that 100's of last names are available, many of them new as of today?
Why is it that every time I reload the page (clicking through the "community" suggestion when necessary), I get a slightly different list?
What will this mean for SLNameWatch.com?

I know! I know!
Details, here:
http://adz.secondlifekid.com/2008/03/14/ll-changes-join-now-page-again/

how do you get to this list?

Do you mean the Join Now page?
1. Log out of secondlife.com
2. Go to http://secondlife.com , click on the giant Join Now button.
3. If necessary, click on the "Skip This Step" button.

Or are you asking for technical details about how _I_, as in my script, gets to this list?

No that's the info I wanted, thanks.

You're welcome.

I'm looking at the page myself, now... it looks like the names are shuffled. The names listed in the drop-down used to be in alphabetical order, as well as complete. Now it is a shuffled, size-60 random subset.

It looks like the Orientation Station portal still has all the names listed, not just the Join Now short list. I didn't check the others.

can i have a link, please?

I saw an interesting last name on SLNamewatch (and now it isn't on SLNamewatch) that had been added today, so I went to the join page. Regular join page didn't have that name (nor many others). So I started trying others, like Ben & Jerry's. Those had some names not even on SLNamewatch, but not the name I was looking for. Then I tried CSI:NY, then decided not to try it as it was lunch time and I wanted to go eat lunch.

Heh.. you just described my morning. ..took me forever to figure out what the problem was. My first reaction (which i erased) was... why did LL retired 400 names and only release 50 to replace them!! and why did they leave open some last names with over 10000 active accounts? Eventually i figured out that it wasn't that simple.

Does Ben&Jerry's have exclusive last names? I'm always on the lookout for alternative registration portals that offer last names that you cannot otherwise get. The only ones I found so far were CSI:NY and GossipGirl. (These exclusive last name venues were yet another unexpected challenge to getting this project to work.)

-Adz

Yep, the portals have the ability to choose which names are available, and present them in different sort orders. Azure appears to present a random list, perhaps to better alphabetically distribute names of new residents?

Ben & Jerry's has the normal SL names, but it was one of those "here's 40 to choice from" moments, and so not all the names were captured yet. I tried them again, and they had a full list of names, but not exclusive B&J names.

Oh, I noticed that also on the other pages. That random list was annoying when I was looking for a specific name. B&J, at least, presented an alphabetical list.

Heh.. reload the page... doesn't the list change?

Reloading the page doesn't work for me, I get the same list. If I clear cookies and cache, close the browser and reopen, go back to the Join Now page then I get a new list. I saw a name I really want for an alt, Champion, on your name watch site this morning, but have not been able to get it to pull up on the Join Now page.

Thank you for doing that research. That information will help me think about what to do, as I work it out over the next week or so.

SLNameWatch is functionally restored.

By the way, LL just released a total of 709 last names. There are now 958 last names available to new accounts.

Unfortunately, each of the 24 join-now servers now has its own sub-list :/ So you'll have to poke each one, and manually look through the dropdown, if you are looking for a particular name that is listed on SLNameWatch as active.
I plan to add a feature that will tell you WHICH server to visit in order to get the name you want.

Adz, I just wanted to say thanks for your work on the name watch. I am sorely tempted to make a new alt now.

Thanks, Nimue

Well, my announcement may have been a bit premature.
The following is cross-posted on my blog.



There are at least 1579 last names available, but if you survey all 24 secure-web servers, that only harvests 1440 names (24*60). Only 900-1000 of them are unique. I can reload all 24 Join Now pages 10 times, and still discover new ones with each survey. It is not practical to hit the secondlife.com website 240 times per hour, and still come up with an incomplete list. No longer do I see a way to automate the determination of which last names are currently available. It certainly isn't as easy as it was when I conceived of this website. What have they done to me!

I'm stumped (AGAIN). This is really disheartening. I'm going to set this aside indefinitely. If anyone has any further ideas for how to fix the method SLNameWatch uses to figure out which names are active, or a way for users to jump directly to a version of Join Now that will allow them to select the name that have in mind, please post here or in my blog.

Thanks.

I really want to know.... WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?

Adz,
I really appreciate the work you've been doing, not only the creation and maintenance of the SL NameWatch site in the first place, but the struggle to figure out this new difficulty as well.

I'm very frustrated with LL for doing this; there's a name I particularly want to use, and it appears they've opened it then retired it in short order. *Sigh*

I hope somebody at LL fixes this soon; artificially limiting the number of names available for any one new account set up is NOT a way to make users happy.

Thank you for the kind words and sympathy.
I would like to get in touch with a Linden about this. I have been wondering for a while if I am on their radar screen at all.

Now you know. Yes you were, and they shot you down. Why? I have absolutely no idea. But obviously someone at LL thinks too much choice is a bad idea.

LL did a survey about last names about 2 or 3 weeks ago....I can't remember if it was just for mentors or one of those ones that pop up at the login screen. It was about 5 questions, all of them asking things like "Would you login to SL more often if you had the last name of your choice", "Would you pay a fee to have the last name of your choice".

You're a kid AV.... You're on the radar. (=_=)

Thank you for your efforts on this, Adz.

This is just so totally screwed up. It makes it virtually imposible for friends to sign up at the same time and get the same surname, so they can be like a family. It also makes it really hard for people that are trying to create a realistic character with a specific nationality, like someone who is supposed to be Scottish, or Japanese... The "Perfect Surname" for you might be wide open, and yet you'd never know...

And it gets WORSE...

On one attempt to re-load/re-access the sign-up page, I got a totally different sign-up page where they wanted me to specify a first name and then click a button to check for available last names that they would allow with that name! I'm supposed to define the first name without even SEEEING the list of last names list? Not even a subset of the list? What moron thought that one up?

Probably the same sort of goofball who thinks BeerLvr19657 is a good first name...