Popular Places tab goes, but the Places tab remains

It's in the blog. They will remove the Popular Places tab very soon, but not the Places tab. However, they are opening the future of traffic up for everyone to discuss.

and they will be promoting (seems they already are heh) Second Life showcase

just another tool for the big guys to get bigger and the smaller lesser known to be shoved down even further

I would like to see them do away with traffic completely

Not sure what would work well without someone finding a way to game the system

I don't like the sound of the showcase either. Even if they are wholly impartial, and include quality places regardless of size or reputaion, it will still favour a few over the rest.

and of course they are considering allowing folks to pay for higher placement in the showcase, basically another paid listing area, just not in world...

blech, they just do not want to help the little guys


"Is there an opportunity to buy prioritized placement in the directory?
Linden Lab is occasionally approached by Residents and companies with requests to purchase high-level promotional placement on our Secondlife.com Web site. While there are not immediate opportunities for prioritized promotional placement within Showcase, it is something that we are considering. Currently, the best place to guarantee exposure for your venue, event or business is through your listing in Search or Classifieds."

I have no problem with Linden Labs trying to turn a profit with advertising, the way that telephone books or search engines too.

I just have a problem with them calling it a "Showcase," rather than a "Sponsorship" or some title that represents it for what it is. Pretending that paid advertising is some sort of quality review is as honest as movie production companies writing their own reviews for the movies they released, and pretending that the reviews were written by impartial movie critics.

I agree with that, Amity.

From the Showcase FAQ - above the part that you quoted, Rhaorth:-

"While not implemented at launch, it is possible that there may also be some paid placement opportunities for these spots at some point in the future."

If they *clearly* mark such listings as "advertisement" or "sponsored listings", it'll be fine, as long as anyone can buy one, and they are not limited, but if not clearly marked, and if the placements are limited, it will be abominable.

Question: to those who do not like the idea of a showcase, would a location's being included in the showcase negativelyinfluence your opinion of that place, or its owner(s) in any way? At first I thought that I know a place I'd like to see in the showcase, but not if it's going to give people a bad impression.

The showcase is up and running and promoting inworld business already. I don't really think Linden Lab's role should include this aspect of a showcase.

Hmmm....

It seems like there has to be a way to create an unbiased search.....if all one wants to do is look something up (as in a phone book) then it ought to be very cut & dry. No biased traffic..... just a very defined criteria. Perhaps search itself needs a facelift in more ways than just adding a 'showcase' to replace popular places.

Consider all the different filing and search methods we all use in every day life.....how are things catagorized....what narrows down a search to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for? I think with the "all' tab they are at least on to something. Being able to simply search for very definite key words or phrases has helped me numerous times already. Another thing, perhaps, that muddies search is allowing the definitions field to be the same place that key words are gleened from. This allows folks to throw in some arbitrary word just to draw attention. I mean.... classifieds is a nightmare....if I am looking for shoes....I do not want to wind up with all these places that just happen to have a tiny show kiosk at the end of a strip...wasting my time wandering around wondering wtf the word 'shoes' was doing in the description field to begin with.

I'm not saying I have the answers here.....not at all.....but I do think the entire system needs a serious overhaul. Maybe having to submit a primary key word...and then a limit of say 4 secondary key words. I don't know....but it's really convoluted the way it is now.

No.

I'll add to that. I wouldn't like the Showcase, even if *my* place is listed in it.

It definitely reeks of favortism...the select few being responsible for chosing the areas they want to see highlighted...even more so if $$ start to influence the process. Going to be hard for the little known or up-and-coming to break into the 'club'; which may be just how all the high money people like it. Less competition that way.

I appreciate what LL is trying to do. The current traffic system is easily gamed. But the issue I see with this showcase is that it ends up being another form of censorship.

I'll be blunt, I run a store selling BDSM goods, and I can guarantee that LL will never put that store in their showcase, even if it was the most popular location in Second Life.

The fact is the results will still be gamed. They will just be gamed by LL, not the residents.

I did not realize it was already in use

that being said, if I were to be bothered to check to see who is there, I prolly would avoid visiting those places

I prefer going to lesser known venues anyway

which is why I tend to skip the first few pages of classified ads

The idea of the Lindens choosing to fete individual businesses over others is so awful I can't even get my mind around it.

Kind of like if the United States government started putting ads for McDonald's or The Gap or American Idol on the front of every tax return form.

It sucks.

And start sucking up to the Lindens if you want to be on it.

I feel very bad for those hard-working fashion and hair places that now have these "favorites" I see in the "Showcase" thrown in their face, with free advertising and special promotion.

Nobody in their right mind would try to do business in a rigged game like this, and I include myself.

coco

Yes, but none of the competitors will be listed either, so it won't make any difference to you.

Better the paid slots than the "who we want to give a boost to" slots.

coco

Hehe, yes, but that doesn't make it any more fair or right. Simply having one's talent and popularity nullified because LL finds you too sexy is completely unfair.

Instead of paying someone to implement Linden Labs's version of "Entertainment Tonight," I'd rather see them use that money to pay someone to work on making "Search" a usable function.

I don't see a problem with the Showcase myself...... providing its what I think it is.

Based upon reading the FAQ here: http://secondlife.com/showcase/faq.php

It looks to me like a Moderated 'Places' list. Traffic is a useless number because its gamed so badly. One sure-fire way to prevent something from being 'gamed' is to throw in human intervention.. This looks to me like a Moderated 'Places' list, with human intervention.

Ok, so in order to be considered for a writeup in Showcase, you need to have a certain amount of traffic. But traffic alone isn't enough for the spotlight (as it is now) - because some Linden is checking through to make sure the place is Legit (read: not a bot farm).

Likewise, maybe they're considering allowing people to pay for placement - but I'm betting it'll need to meet a legitamacy requirement as well.

It may be imperfect, but if its what I think it is, its an improvement.

It's picking out certain businesses and giving them special promotion. That is all it is.

coco

Popular Places tab gone: best news I've heard in weeks.

Showcase: meh. I do think they should leave commercial entities out of it in fairness, though.

Agreed. Why should Calla be there before ETD, or Gurl 6, Analog Dog, Sirena, Armidi, etc.? It just feels funny.

I will continue to use the search feature or SLEX when I want to buy something (unless I know someone who builds what I need).

Showcase only says to me that the big will be featured.

One of my main influences about if I buy from someone is surprising to some. I refuse to buy from people who no longer or barely come in world. I don't care who they are or how talented they are. If they are not supporting SL anymore by being a part of it I don't help line their pockets.

I pay a lot of attention to forums when someone says "I never log in anymore" or something to that effect when they own a store.

I agree whole-heartedly.

It's not that. That would be a human edited directory, and they are not going to produce one of those. The Showcase just 'showcases' a *very* tiny number of places from each category and sub-category.