Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW)

I believe the creation of a Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) is exciting news
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/02/08/the-linden-department-of-public-works/
Having attended several Linden office hours including the GTeam’s and Blue Linden’s, I found their primary focus has been to improve the user experience based upon resident’s comments and suggestions. Ad farms, expanding the Welcome Areas and improving the Mainland have all been discussed illustrating that resident impute was a vital key to the implementation of this newest endeavor LDPW.
Sadly, the turnout at those meetings is dismal at best. No more then a handful of residents show up. These meetings are our opportunity to be heard and I believe Lindens look forward to the meetings and contact with residents more so then reading the Second Life Forms where the silliness sometimes takes over. Oh don’t get me wrong these meetings can get a little silly as well.
I challenge all of you to make an attempt to visit with them. Here you will find the hours:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours
If more residents show up to be heard then maybe some of the other good ideas that I see floating around right here in the Forums could be initiated as well.
Anyway….I made this a poll. Lets here your thought on the new LDPW and resident's participation at the Linden’s Office Hour meetings.
Oh....and sorry. No pie

I missed that 2K.
But mines a poll
And thanks….i found my glasses

Maybe my thread should have been on attending Linden office hours because that’s more the point I’m trying to make. The topics at those meetings have been related directly to what’s being discussed in the other post. And airing one’s concerns here in the Forum is fine but why not go directly to the people that can have an impact?
Here in the Forum its either preaching to the choir or starting a pissing contest.
That’s all fine and entertaining but does little compared to standing avatar to avatar with a Linden.

Ive found in 4 years that a Linden only will listen when it is convenient, so I stopped going to office hours for being just more hohum

I've been an SL resident for nearly 2 years. I've never heard of the "office hours". I've been to the town hall meetings that are basically messy PR efforts, but this sounds more productive. Too bad LL doesn't advertise them very aggressively. Or if they do, then shame on me...


I don't think it will address the true problems of the Mainland, but a city center that will attract people and create some population density (without bot campers) would be terrific. I used to go to the Noob centers just so I could meet other people (who weren't dancing at a disco or doing the horizontalpixelmambo at a sex club).

They have mentioned office hours on the blog many many times. Heck, even some of the offices have the hours on the windows I believe.

I suggest maybe you give it another try. Things change and so do Linden’s view of an issue. Think of it like a local municipalities public meetings. Sure they can be stale and progress slow. But wheels do turn. And they do make an effort to be there. And on the rare occasions that they don’t show…..grrrr!
But I’m going to stop defending Linden’s here. That’s not my intent and they can do that on their own if they so choose.......
/just hears crickets

I think we should all relax a bit and just let them do their thing.

Mainland infrastructure isn't rocket science.

Roads and a few interesting builds; there ya go. Most complicated thing would be the train, but there are people who could be approached to do that.

* * * * *


There is an *incredible* enthusiasm from most people, all wishing to 'leave their mark' on the grid, be a part - and that's a wonderful thing.

What is less wonderful is that sometimes just under the surface, there is an intense desire to wrest away creative control. It's incredibly prevalent.

I swear there are people who would fight and die for this intangible creative control; backstab friends, ruin their own lives, stop at nothing to get it. It amazes me.

The first sign of it is when someone says "it needs to be done *this* way" - when I hear that, it's rarely a positive development.

Honest, constructive suggestions are great. But as someone who has had dozens of regions worth of infrastructure developed with a bit of success, I'd say this: let the Company give the designers some basic guidelines, and let the designers *themselves* sort it out.

I've seen sooo many attempts to wrest creative control away from designers in the form of suggestion, it's a sore point with me. And I wasn't even the one doing the designing! In other words, let the designers be artists, not construction workers - give them a free hand. It's all the difference.

"Hey, Monet, what's the matter, can't you paint less blurry?"

"Dali, c'mon buddy that is just nuts - that clock looks like it's melting!"

"Escher, I've just walked that stairway... we need to talk."

* * * * *

The Nexus Prime Effect.

Many have raved over some incredibly good collaborative projects, yet not understood the how or the why of it.

In 2003, there were no SL experts at all. None. The grid was very new. How did anyone get good?

Two factors.

1) people improve as they go
2) neighbours push each other to excellence.

When you are working on a collaborative project, and you see something amazing, you generally try harder. A LOT harder. And wonderful things come from that.

Nexus Prime has been one of the finest examples of that, for years.

Other areas benefit from the same effect - hundreds of people with a theme in mind, no straightjacketing. If you like Caledon at all, this is how it came to be as well. "The Wastelands" is another region with similar philosophies, to powerful effect. There are many others.

Sure, there are people that will never be artists. And that's fine.

But even worse than an artist on a learning curve, is a top artist guided by a committee of not-quite-artists. "Michelangelo, that's great but we need more bling on that guy..."

So yeah, a suggestions thread is great - but wow do I fear a "committee of popular opinion" arising. Which would make it really tough on the artists actually doing stuff.

A slight threadjack, but I agree. I've become a bit of an office hour junkie, because quite frankly you can get information that isn't so easily made into a blog post, and share ideas or issues in a very casual "lets chew on this" sort of way.

Mari

Office hour attendance is a delicate thing. The Lindens need enough people there so that a variety of opinions are represented - but it is best if the opinions are informed ones. And really, it's impossible to have a coherent discussion in chat with more than 10 or so active participants.

If office hours become too widely known, people will start dropping by any old office hour to ask about bugs, and at that point they will lose their usefulness and LL will probably have to stop doing them. Which would be a great pity, since I agree, those Lindens who don't have a ton of time to spend ingame being land barons and business owners get valuable insight at their office hours.
.

More then a dozen people at an office hour would be a miracle IMO. Unless there was some dramatic event to bring the bloggers by.
I would imagine more Lindens spend their office hours with the ‘usual’ 5 or 6 people or twiddling their thumbs wondering why bother. This is just a guess, because I don’t make nearly all that I would like.

For example, the Governance Team just cut back on their office hours. This is my assumption, but probably because of lack of attendance. Come on. These are the Lindens who are…quote “providing help on how to have an un-troubled Second Life” and only three of four people show up?!

Anyway….hijack away on this topic…LOL

/me votes w00t

It would be easier if most Lindens didn't hold office hours when virtually all of the US is at work..

I couldn’t agree more. And I think that’s why they need more Liaisons from around the world to cover more time zones. And who knows…Philip could offer Flex time for his San Francisco employees. But a 10am SLT office hour does little for most of us in the continental US.

LOL! Just yesterday when I got prompted to send in the "checkbox survey" that pops up in the client...I said the content was what was "Making The Second Life Experience Better" for me...what a concidence

I rarely read the blog anymore, since there's not much insight to gain from it. I did, however, just do a search and found only one post, dated February 6.And what offices? They have offices in world? /me slaps forehead. There's a Governance Team? Since when? /me slaps bot's head.

I'm not going to get into a tiff about it, but if they really want a representational sample of people to share comments, so they can get a true measure of overall satisfaction or concern about various issues, then they must reach out with inworld notices, and not expect us to scour their blob. (Better yet, start conducting exit interviews with people who abandon SL.) But then their level of understanding the importance of customer satisfaction, how to retain customers and improve our SL experience is at about negative 17. Oops, started ranting there. Sorry.

Back to the LPDW: the idea of a center city is overdue and I'm thrilled it's coming. I hope they plan other cities throughout SL, with some zoning/theming restrictions for the builders to play within.

There's a whole bunch of Linden office hours out there. I recommend the Governance ones, BTW. Usually very informative.

Mari

I have made a commitment to myself to attend some of the office hours, however, I must admit I don't have a lot of faith in them. If the Lindens want to know what their customers want (we're customers not residents) it is easy to find out. All they have to do is read these forums, read the comments in the blogs and most importantly go in world and wander around and talk with some of the avs. Having the office hours and expecting people to come to them when they are trying to reach a global market is far too limiting.

I voted that the LDPW is a good thing because I'm glad to see some action being taken but I'm not hopeful that the results will be what the customers want.

Office hours are held at highly inconvenient times for me. Maybe if I was a stay-at-home mom or unemployed I could make them. But I echo the sentiment that questions their usefulness. If all you get are non-answers, what's the point?

Are those of us who don't pay anything customers?

but we're only the -paying- customers. All the non-paying free accounts may want shiny new features. for free.

without paying anything.

LOL