Crowdsourcing retention: who's signing up?

The Lindens finally are (tacitly) admitting that they don't know SL very well! LL is going to use the alternative job placement site, LiveWork, to hire a few residents to help them create a Community Guide to cool places.

One might think they could just take a spin themselves through the sites on the Emerald login screen, but why be simplistic?

https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/support/blog/2009/10/07/wanted-second-life-community-experts-for-hire

Do you think the much-reviled Showcase's days are numbered?

Are *you* going to apply?

Honestly, I don't think I will. Of course, I don't consider myself an expert at anything other than BSing.. and LL has enough people on staff for that

LL needed to admit they knew very little about SL lonnng ago, when we stopped seeing them as a common part of SL's existence.

I don't know anyone who looks at the showcase other than for a laugh. It's been that way, and also before it with popular places, so long that I think enough damage to it's validity has already been done that I'd think it's pretty much a goner.

Lmao, Nooo.. i won't be applying for that. Not unless LL want's a list of places to be nude or get laid.

*bump*

LL may not want such a list, however........

And you can count me among the not interested club. I'm not "Predictable" (tm) enough.

I'm sure that Linden Lab would rather outsource this project, rather than have its own employees become familiar with Second Life, because it can hire temporary part-time labor for the project. I'm sure anyone with a salary is considered too expensive to waste time on a community project.

Community guide sounds nice! They need to hire people in the know... trend setters...

Uhm, didn't they once upon a time have people doing this sort of thing...for free? What were they called..........Mentors? Or was it Mentats? I always get those confused.

They should hire former members of the PN.

I plan on applying.

/me rubs Grandma Placebos patented sugar/butter mix on your sore head................

Sounds like something for the olbies to occupy their time with. LL should send this notice to the SL Literary Community.

Considering how much time residents will devote to earning a tiny amount of Linden dollars, the payment offered for a couple of pictures and very short write-up isn't too bad. How many SL jobs actually work out to paying minimum wage anyway? Very few.

After reading about it a little, this is actually a nice little project by Linden Lab.

Agreed that one can't judge SL "work" by RL income standards. But still:

"Experts will need to submit a 200-word description, screenshots and ToS compliance reports for each featured virtual world location. Copywriters will receive $9 an hour, which typically covers content review and creation for about 5 listings. Tasks for this project will be assigned via the LiveWork platform. Payment for services provided for this project will be remitted via the LiveWork platform.

This project is ongoing and all team-members are required to sign up for at least 4 1-hour work blocks per week during which they will perform at least 20 reviews per week."

So the premise is that one can find an interesting location, check that it's ToS compliant (whatever that means), write up a review, take and edit some screenshots, and deliver that work product in 12 minutes per location, for which one receives US$1.80 or about L$480.

It's that 12 minutes bit that I find worrisome. If it's intended to be realistic, it means that these are gonna be exceedingly lame reviews.

It also doesn't allow enough time to find anywhere new, which is maybe not the intent anyway: just a list for newbies of the same old places everybody already knows.

Qie wrote pretty much what I wanted to say. For what they expect (5 reports per hour) you won't be discovering new places; you'll be documenting places you already know about.

There are lots of blogs with interesting places documented. Someone just needs to go through these, gather their own pictures and put them in one, easily-browsed place. Only LL can do this in a meaningful way, since only they can provide a place to put it that large numbers of people will see, accessed through the viewer or the SL website. Maybe that's what they're looking for; someone to composite all that material. But are the paid submissions going to be any easier to evaluate than all the blog entries?

Or maybe they don't plan to evaluate them. We all know how that'll turn out.

I suspect they turned what should have been a social task (a Linden visiting places that have been blogged about) into a programming task that has already cost more money than the social task would have. Still, I hope they create something useful from this. If they manage to resist using this as an opportunity to promote their buddies, and reject submissions that are pointless other than for supporting the reporter's buddies, and organize it so it's useful, this could be very good for SL.

Hamlet Au reports on this kind of stuff, but he doesn't check his sources. If LL isn't willing to actually visit places, they'll do no better. They'll also be recommending bot-infested, creepy social vacuums. I can say from personal experience that it takes much longer than 12 minutes to evaluate a place. It takes longer than 12 minutes to document a place, even if you do no evaluation at all.

Yes, this is in the blog post:

"As the successor to the Showcase guide (featured on the website and inside SL), the Destination Guide will feature regular updates and expanded categories that highlight interesting and active spaces that we hope Residents will want to visit."

When the showcase rolled in a fear was that LL wouldn't have the resources to keep it going and make it fresh, and that has been the case.

I'll be interested to see how this works out, it sounds like a better proposal than the showcase but it needs a few willing volunteers.

The funny part is... People will ask these questions right when they land among a crowd of 20 or so chatty avatars and NOT accept that they've just found a place for conversation. (=_=)

And, really, any mentor or volunteer already fills this role. It's practically a routine for a helper to get someone into a cool looking avatar, give them an idea of what chat is like, let them know the ways of getting money inworld, and pointing out a few places they may be interested in. (^_^)

All they're doing now is putting this person on payroll. Not a bad thing, but, will it work? (=_=)

Here's the way I see it; LL is falling short because they have throngs of new residents, throngs of volunteer helpers, and they lack the will or ability to put the two together. Fix THAT problem and they wouldn't have to resort to monied incentives. (=_=)

Considering, some people who join are interested in sex... Yet, almost ALL 'endorsed' (officially and unofficially) helpers are required to be PG... What's the first thing I see when someone shows up at a help area, volunteer group land, welcome area, or infohub asking for help with no clothing on? Anger from the 'helpers' and requirement to get dressed. Such is the first hour of SL... (=_=)

Will these "reviews" also have to be compliant with the "Blogging Disclosure" rules set down by the FTC?

Hell, it takes 12 minutes for some places to fully rez.

Hm. I'm amazed that nobody pointed out the obvious danger of it being gamed.

I can easily think of (and review) about 650 locations on my estate. Cause it's where I go, and what I know.

* * * * *

9 USD/hour though... hmm. Might not be getting too many westerners for that. I wouldn't do it for that.

100 reviews, 20 hours a week is 180 USD/week, or 779.94/month, or 9359.28/yr.

200 reviews, 40 hours a week is 360 USD/week, or 1559.88/month, or 18718.56/yr.


That's good money in say, Buenos Aires or Lima. Or Shenzhen, or the Marshall Islands.

Spot on!

Actually for anyone that has been around a loooong time, 12 minutes is a bit of a while for this.

a) Make a list of spots for the day. This is actually the "big chore" really. Nothing else. Or just target groups of dots and see if it's a public gathering. Start at grid coordinates 0,0 and go to 1000000000,100000000. Or whatever.

b) Port in and rez. 1 minute.

c) Screenshots: Alt-Printscreen, paste into X by Y pixel image, cut and paste slurl and 'save as' based on that as a name. Outside shot, indoor shot, detail shot. With practise: 2 minutes. Maybe one minute.

d) Read land description/ads. Include basic facts: type of place, owner, associated groups, commercial activity (if any). Discuss the level of traffic, mention languages spoken &c. Write a couple sentences about the vibe ("happy, well designed, whimsical, formal" &c) and you are done. Three minutes with practise.

But remember if only one review per 12 minutes expected, "stock up" on reviews, of course.

Thus turning a 40 hour/wk job into a 20 hr/wk job + 20 hours of idling. If anyone doubts it will shake out this way, go check out just about any "per item" contract and see what people do.



Edit: I just realised that this could turn a 9 USD/hr job into an 18 USD/hr job easily. Something to think about, for someone, I suppose.

I was about to sign up. I love to take photos, I love to write, and I'd like to see more of SL. Even the low pay isn't much of a deterrent.

Then I noticed that one of the requirements was to submit a "TOS Compliance Report" on the region(s) that you cover.

I will not be a spy for Linden Lab.

According to the job description, you get your list of places to cover from LL...you don't get to make your own.

Meh, just don't include the noncompliant ones?

And if you get a list of places, that's even less work for you...