Just a simple question here ....

I don't understand why open space islands have been allowed to be sold and rented for residential and commercial use , if that's not what they were intended for? Surely if they were not used as they were designed for, this should have been stopped immediately.

Welcome to SL.

That's a good question that a lot of people are waiting to hear more about.

This would have gone a lot better if LL had said that it was becoming a problem as soon as they figured it out. At least warned people that if it didn't stop, they would have adjust the pricing. Some think it was intentional, that LL is just trying to make more money and this is a scam. Some don't.

As somebody who's worked in high-tech for a long time now, I can see how this could be a perfect storm of mistakes which have snowballed into the hatefest we've seen over the last couple days. I chose to believe that, at least for now, because believing otherwise would probably mean the end of SL for me.

how it could have been allowed to happen in the first place. I was a newbie when I bought my Island .. and thought it was all kosher and above board. I'm shocked this has happened and wish I could understand in simple terms why this is happening.

LL offered a cheap region product and they said that it had limits.

LL didn't clearly spell out those limits, though there were guidelines in several places and anybody who really wanted to understand them could have just come here and asked. Lots of geeky types here who like to patiently explain things.

People bought _lots_ of them. Many converted their existing, higher-priced products to the lower-priced version.

LL didn't really enforce the limits. They could have done this, probably, but it's not as easy as just flicking some switch somewhere - performance can be a very tricky thing and they would have to task engineers to figure out what could be done then do it.

Many people stayed within the limits. Many people pushed them to their intended limits. Many pushed them far past their intended limits.

LL decided that enough were being pushed past their intended limits so that they weren't making the margins on the product that they wanted to. There is also talk that this hurt the grid and/or other islands.

LL dropped the bomb that the prices were going way up in a couple months.

Many people freaked.

LL has maybe backed off a little, saying that they've heard the feedback (Jack is waaay too polite).

That's where we are now.

I understand now .... I have been reading lost of posts but did not understand the technicial stuff .. and it was annoying me ..lol

Yer welcome. It's annoying a lot of people, as you've probably read, for a variety of reasons.

"Second Life" and "kosher and above board" are like oil and water. The ONLY thing to do in SL is educate yourself on what is happening here, Read the TOS and knowledge base and forums as if you are goin gto be tested on them, before investing any money. Sure its a cartoon world, maybe that's what makes it seem innoucuous, but so many people just throw tons of money into it as an "investment" and then get all upset when they get burned.

People get burned in other ways too in SL , emotionally, etc., it happens all the time. The only way to protect yourself, just like in RL, is to educate yourself.

to a certain extent... but I did ask the person I bought my Island off, for all the rules and regulations, and he told me just to be nice to my neighbours. Hey when your new there is so much to take in, it takes ages to get to grips with it all.

Here is the thing, asking another person, especially one who wants your money, may not be enough.

I am not saying it is your fault, absolutely they should have been upfront about this. However, always keep in mind that there is very little "business regulation" within SL. get your info from more than one source, don't just take the word of the person who stands to gain your trust and your money.

Just because someone claims to own a business, does not mean they have any business sense or business ethics. And LL WILL NOT get involved in monetary disputes between residents.

I was a bit naive about it all ... but not any longer, its been a good learning curve.
Thanks for the advice.

you're not the only to have been naive, reading the boards is a real eye opener,I've learnt so much from here. I don't understand the techo stuff either, but there are nice peeps around willing to help out and explain stuff.

They never stopped people because they were selling these things by the dozens. The money was rolling in big time. SL didnt start this biz because the wanted somthing to do durning the day. They started this to make money, No more No less.

When I transferred my sims from another user, the first thing I did was ask them if it was ok for light residential use or did I need to kick off the current tenants. They assured me it was absolutely fine. Where are my terms and conditions????? I submitted a ticket asking for them!