M Linden speaks to Hamlet Au on OS issue

For starters, the weekly stipend almost covers the cost of a Premium account if you have that set to yearly payment. And as far as land owners are concerned: when the big space ship with new residents lands, there will be a fresh contingent of prospective landowners who have no knowledge of the recent price changes. Not to mention that all the abandoned land goes to LL, so they can sell it again - selling land twice guarantees a very nice profit margin.

Trust me: we are expendable in a Metaverse that focuses on selling stuff instead of creating beauty. And LL is definately focusing on businesses.

This "Premium subscriptions are immaterial" quote looks horribly out of context... there's even a "..." before the sentence. Sorry if I'm looking at this in a different way to everyone else, but I read that as meaning that a decrease in premium subscriptions is not going to affect the overall business financially, or their aim to get more people in world. I read nowhere that premium members are "insignificant" or are not valued.... that's putting words in that just aren't there. (Besides a lot of the biggest land and business owners in SL frequently tell us that they have basic memberships).

Guess once you've got pitchforks in your hands it's hard to put them down.... does anyone have a duck?

One could easily argue that "Premium subscriptions are immaterial" in only one case: If LL intends to unlink land ownership from Premium membership.

LL pays back almost all of the susbscription cost for a premium membership in the form of stipends. Where they make the money isn't on the subscriptions - it's on up-front purchase costs of sims and monthly tier payments on sims. It doesn't matter to them if there are 50,000 Premium members, or if there are only 50 who actually "own" all the land, and rent it out to everyone else. All that matters is that someone pays setup fees and tier. So if they simply eliminate Premium Membership and say anyone can buy land directly, they lose nothing, and gain a HUGE population of potential payers of up-front purchase fees and monthly tier fees.

In my opinion, M's interview confirms my earlier assessment. Like most LL mandates, the price hike is cast in steel, and nothing we say is going to change their minds on that. they may throw us a few bones, but in general, they are the only provider, and can do what they please.

Nah, mine's a motorized cultivator, gotta keep up with the times... pitchforks are so middle ages

I loved the "no comment" on the number of OS out there. Especially when Jack said last week there were 13,000 roughly. They truly don't know what the hell they are doing.

Well, regardless of the context, if Premium membership is "immaterial" to the overall business then, by default, the entire mainland is "immaterial" to the overall business since you need to have a premium account in order to own mainland.

This statement rather flies in the face of the whole mainland cleanup effort and the so called concern over their own estate.

Context or no context, the statement is an insult to all of us who have been paying mainland tier.

Actually the linkage is not mandatory, anyway.

You may always rent tier from someone and then buy, sell and own land through a group. That's what I am now doing with my modest mainland holdings since several months, also saving a lot of money in (lower and VAT-free) tier fees.

Thus Premium membership is no longer required to own the land. It's just through a group instead of directly.

I think you hit the nail square on the head Ceera. Premium is going away in the future.

I suspect what we will see is a shift away from the tier based on total sq m owned system (mainland) that gives a break the more you own. Likely they will go to a tier costs x/sq m. That doesnt penalize the small holders but rakes it in for LL for the larger holders by removing the relative discount they get now.

Isn't there an old curse that says something like "May you live in interesting times" ? I think 2009 is shaping up to be very interesting times indeed.

I pay over $200 mainland tier a month and don't feel insulted.... guess I'm the odd one out.

when land is deeded to group, it is my understanding that someone has to cover and pay for the tier. Even on mainland. It might not be you, but it would be someone else in the group who has donated the tier. Although there are discounts for donating to groups which does help but I'm not really sure what they are.

I originally was going to drop my extra 1024 that I pay tier for directly to LL on top of my yearly subscription. However a group I belong to really needed it, so I donated it to the group through "group land tab" THEY are not paying the cost, but I am.

A little question? Is that a true story with real interview? I have also some websites and blogs too and can write what i want. Nobody can guarantee that this messages wasnt a fake for making much traffic from a brisant theme. Only what i can see is an older picture from CEO and text which could written by anybody without sign.

Keep cool and wait for official statements on LL blog.

Correct. I pay a monthly L$ sum to the outfit from whom I am renting the tier. However, this is much less than the USD sum I would have to pay to LL if I would own the land myself.

Hamlet used to be a Linden. Having read his work for many years I quite honestly have a good deal of respect for his journalistic integrity. That is not a faked up interview.

Immaterial Hmmm my $22.95 per quarter to be a premium member is a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things but since it is "Immaterial" I guess LL doesn't need supporters I pay my "Immaterial" membership fee to in my own way support a community I love (well loved). Corporate greed and the cold hearted owners seem to be pushing SL to become "Immaterial". It's sad that there appears to be no professionals involved in running this monopoly only greedy little bastards. Maybe I'm wrong but by all appearances LL your making yourselves look like all that matters is you and not your community.

Hope your PR Dept. can remove the foot form your mouths and mend this issue ~LAUGHS~

ahh..ok. I understand what your saying. Thanks for clarifying

Weren't you the guy that was spamming these forums with dozens of identical new threads and posting in tons of existing threads, all saying that everybody should flood every Linden we can find in search with protest notecards and such? Some BS about that being what Gandhi would have done or something?

Hardly holding back..

I personally agree, because we're talking about New World News, that is probably a daily reading at Linden Lab: they recently posted comments to another post by Hamlet Au because they felt it was not correct.
I don't see any update to this article coming from LL, so I suppose it's quite reliable.

However what Michaela Kuhn wrote is still true - generally speaking.

Yep my post was simply a FYI not a commentary. There are alot of folks that are new enough they might not know Hamlet was a linden and might not know he traditionally doesn't pull his punches when it comes to LL.

EXCELLENT point, Ceera. I hadn't thought of that. If you take that into account, it is true that premium memberships are immaterial to LL, and they would gain very little financially by encouraging them. What they miss, however, is the fact that most premium members feel very committed to SL and its development. They pay that membership to demonstrate that, and to be able to own and develop land for businesses, homes, and beautiful public spaces. Many of us are quite altruistic and will to spend our own money creating something that is free for other users to enjoy.

To me, Mark's responses to Hamlet sound like a newbie is running SL. Great corporate speak, but very obviously, completely out of touch with the customers/community. A scary combo to have at the helm while in dangerous waters.

I doubt He meant much when prodding Premiums, thought it came across terribly wrong. More, it think, it is his isolated view (and defense) of a declining metric.

I also find it sad that WE have to seek out such information. Thanks for posting this Ann!
I would think however, that when a CEO does such an interview, links should be on the press release page(or one of our other 10 different info hiding centers)

Oh, no. Don't put Philip back at the helm. He is nothing more than a Messianic cult figure to the masses. And his decisions and reasoning are not practical. He is a visionary, but not an effective leader, and certainly he was over his head as CEO. I think he realized that, and that is why he stepped down. His original vision of SL grew beyond what he could effectively handle. He is no administrator (and I do not mean any of this as an insult. Without Philip, there would be no SL).

We need a CEO who is a businessman/woman. But they also have to understand the platform and how it is used. They need to take time to get to know the various types of residents. To learn about how the various types of land are used. Do not make large-scale decisions that impact many with a sudden and very unexpected price increase (and allowing only 2 months notice is not enough. People are panicking. A longer phase in period would allow us all to work out the kinks, work with LL to modify the plan, and keep people from panicking about this cost that hits right after the Christmas holidays, and is already causing people to abandon their Openspace sims) without first finding out what the impact would be on so many people.

And most especially, do not make those heavy financial penalties effective during a time when the world financial markets are crashing, and people are losing their invested money (often their retirement accounts), and their jobs. They need the escape of SL more than ever. During the Great Depression, movie ticket sales actually ROSE. People needed an escape from the ugly reality that was RL for them at that time. I live in a state in America that is known for housing the US auto industry. We entered a Recession years ago, and never recovered. And now we are heading into a Depression, at least in my home state. I have never see so many people losing their jobs. Some of the Big Three automakers may actually go under, or become absorbed by other companies. Forget about abandoning your SL land - that is nothing compared to what is happening here. People are abandoning their RL land and homes. Packing up and walking away and letting the banks foreclose on the house. It is frightening to see. I've never seen it so bad here.

Please let SL continue to be that escape we are so badly need right not. A 66% increase is punitive, given what people have already lost in Real Life recently. It feels as if LL does not care about its users, especially its most committed users.

This is a great point that I have seen brought up before. LL was lined up to survive any RL slow down and things could have continued to chug along in here.

Now, I for one, am completely reassessing My SL spending habits. Something I would not have done without this untimely reminder. I would have happily made ends meet in order to retain My escape.

I blame this on LL's higher ups complete disconnect with Us, the customers/community.

And for those who stay Premium, and get that 512 sqm allotment for land for no additional cost (other than the cost if you bought land), you can donate your 512 sqm allotment to the group, and they get a 10% land bonus - your 512 sqm is now worth 563 sqm to the group. So you can either donate it to a group where you live and therefore help them increase the land holdings of the group, or you can donate it to a group that will pay you weekly for your donation. That is what we have been doing. Sometimes, depending on how much tier we have available in the short-term, we have made quite a tidy little pile of $L. And it can generate a nice little revenue stream for you at no cost, if you are committed to keeping a Premium membership (as we are, at this point. We rent a cottage that our stipend pays for, and we donate our 512 sqm allotment to a group that pays us for the use of it. We come out ok financially at the moment.) Unfortunately we just discovered that our rental cottage is on an Openspace sim. So we may be moving again soon. I hope not. I like it there.

Both the recent interviews from M demonstrate extremely painfully that he doesn't know his arse from his elbow on the openspace issue. He really should stop talking about it.

However here's a little pointer for him, your company bloody well sold them and encouraged this growth every bloody step of the way. Take responsibility.

New World Notes is a very reputable and well-written blog. And yes, Hamlet Au used to be a Linden, so he has his finger on their pulse still, I am sure. And the fact that NWN is where M Linden chose to be interviewed speaks for the respect that LL holds for Hamlet and his journalism. NWN is my main source of information - breaking news, cool places to visit, etc. Hamlet does a bang-up job, and I have found NWN to be the best in the business.