Remove L$500 Weekly Stipend?

If these early adopters were able to sign up for a contract that stipulated for a specific one time fee they would be granted X amount of land, and X amount of dollars per week, then woo hoo for them. Wish Id been around to take advantage of that deal.

Yeah, I also remember that when I signed up for a basic account I would be granted $50L a week which was included in LLs terms.... I also remember when I signed up for a primo account i would receive $500L a week and traffic incentive bonuses which was included in LLs terms... hmmmm...

(I know somewhere in the TOS it says LL can change the terms at any time)

I don't remember reading anything about recieving traffic incentive bonuses when I signed up. As for the stipends.... whether you're basic or premium you are still getting those. LL only stopped stipend payments to new free basic accounts, not anyone else.

They were not "free." These are people who believed in a new thing called SL way, way back 3+ years ago to pay something like $250 for these lifetime accounts. I wish I'd have been one of them. Leave them be.

P2

We call this a 'grandfather clause'. Things stay the same for you tho it changes for others who sign up later. Of course all SL had to do was stick in some 'small print' at the bottom of your contract stating, " We reserve the right to change anything we want at any time". Just like your friendly credit card bank, who gives you a fixed 6 percent rate and then boosts it up to 20 percent with only 30 day notice. Cus they can.

If they take the stipend, I'll be one of those premiums that bust right down to basic... it's not worth the land alone as far as I'm concerned. And it won't be until they get some better tools for handling the griefing/privacy/other and put them firmly into the game, fully functioning. For MAINLAND land owners! Not just private islands!

Wow, what a divisive thread. I have not seen any outcry by lifetime account holders to remove stipends - there are not even that many lifetime account holders anyway. I own a lifetime account, and still pay $292 a month in tier. I also have a second premium account that holds some of my land, tiered up to $25 a month as well.

The people who bought the lifetime accounts bought them at a time when buying them was a risk - it was unclear how long LL would even remain in operation at that point. In return for that risk, they were given 4096m of land tier instead of the 1024m that premium account holders who had accounts at that time received. Are you going to complain about them too? There are a whole bunch of premium account holders who get a whole 512k m land extra for the $9.95 premium fee. Oh noes!

The problem with stipends are that a huge amount of new money comes into the economy every week, but only a tiny portion goes out. Even someone with no economic mind at all has to understand that unlimited new money without money being taken out to compensate makes the money worthless. Just look at the economic data - you can see how much is coming in and going out, and the difference is staggering and not healthy. I'm all for finding a solution to this problem - personally, I don't care if I receive a stipend or not at this point, I give mine away each week several times over through multiple money tress. My main concern is that they find a way to stabilize the economy.

So on your original point, no, they should not be taken away specifically from lifetime accounts unless you also take them away from premium accounts. I don't think either is going to happen, though I am not sure how they can keep flooding the economy with money without taking it out.

Why take it away at all. I think the Lindex has stablized the past 5 weeks.

I dont think anyone is saying anything about wanting stipends removed....


LL already completely f*cked the economy by creating money in the first place to pay stipends.

Never let a bunch of computer nerds run the country..... SL is the prime example....


.....although Bill Gates practically is.... eeeeek

Lynn, you're generalizing.

If there are some LT account holders that want stipend removed, then that is those particular individuals.

So, not only do you want to do to those LT account holders what you don't want to have done to yourself, you want to do it to all LT account holders because some of them may have submitted an opinion that your stipend should be removed. I would also like to know how it is that you know that these particular folks are LT account holders.

It's just talk Lynn. Talk is cheap, and you're simply lowering yourself to that same type of cheap talk with this line of reasoning.

Furthermore, those accounts were a risk. A couple of weeks before I bought mine, I was told by a high level Linden that LL was going to die if there weren't drastic changes. The money generated by those LT accounts was money that was a much needed shot in the arm, at that time.

Oh wow.....

don't hack on the Lifers because they have something we don't......boo fuckin hoo

they don't pay for what we do now.......again boo fuckin hoo

as was stated above.....the number of 'charter' or 'lifetime' members is minimal, if that's your biggest issue then you have penis envy

they were in the right place at the right time and decided to invest what 'I' consider not a small sum of $$ to a fledgling company

would I like a 'lifetime' account?

you bet your ass

do I think it's THEIR fault I don't and they should now give it all back?

Not bloody likely........

I'll support their right to get what they get before I'll support my right to my stipend

Damn right!

Those who have lifetime accounts EARNED IT by beta testing SL and helping LL through difficult times. I regret that i wasnt here to partake in that event but it's no big deal to me.

Wait, wait, this isn't beta anymore???

And yes, Baba should lose his stipends

That is what they get for being the first ones to sign up.

Premium's and special offers are par for the course in any venture for initial investors. I personally don't have an issue with it. They were the ones that funded the game and kept it from closing up.

And besides, LL's is bound by contract to provide the free tier and stipend and no amount of jealous whining by the community will change the terms of that contract.

Some people have already said it. But when some of us purchased a Lifetime Membership for $200.00 it was back when the game cost a flat rate of $15.00 a month to play. It was a huge investment back then. We earned the right to our Lifetime Membership by taking a risk early on. I have no doubt in my mind that the contributions of Lifetime Memberships and Lifetime Members are unrecognizable in-world today. We earned it, guys.

Baba, it was just you and me. I had 1,999 alts. Sorry.

Um. Baba, they were free. I'm sorry I took your $225. I promise never to do it again.

Wait I thought you paid for it? (lol.. sarcasm! see below)


I posted a response in this thread with regards to the topic being the suggested removal of the premium account stipend. When did it get sidetracked to debate LT members? I've no issues with LT members, and I too haven't seen it suggested anywhere by any of them that the premium stipend be removed.

About the land thing, I own a sim, but I didn't include that in my first post. The reason for this is because the premium account gives you a status for owning land. It gives us the possibility. We can buy a 512m plot and not have to pay more than the purchasing price, or we can consciously spend more money for more land. That 'more money' should not be taken into consideration as a reason we should be getting the premium stipend. Paying a monthly/quarterly/annual fee is reason enough. Should LL ever be dumb enough to remove the premium stipend, the only reason anyone would upgrade is if they already intend on spending extra for more than 512m, or LL gave the 512m plots to premium holders for free.


I say 'hello avatar!' to LT members. They may be few and far between compared to the supposed number of residents today, but they deserve 'props' for putting money into an application that may or may not have lasted more than a year.

Until I read this thread I had no idea that there were such a thing as lifetime members/accounts!

Being rather new to SL I probably have not much right to comment but I will anyway; )

I think these early members are to be applauded and it is more than proper that the commitment they made to SL in it's early stages be recognised. From what I read here they don't seem to benefit so much anyway but they are welcome to that and much more imho. Without them it is more than likely that none of us would be here now to debate the issue.

With regard to the stipend did any of you join up only because you knew you would get your L$500 every week? I know that it in no way contributed to my decision to join. I understand that people have different levels of comfort with regard to what they are prepared to spend in real terms on a game and some through necessity rather than choice but at the end of the day like anything else in life nothing comes for free. (Not even for the lifetime account holders ; ) )
Best wishes
LH

Im totally new to SL

and i have a basic acount, so my money is made ingame by myself.

I believe the 500$ a week is good, it gives them a reward and basically theres nothing wrong with it.

Basic accounts however, should get perhaps 100 $ a week just to help em along, that'd stop complaining.

Me i dont mind, i made 1,300 in my first day and spent it all on a avvy and clothing. Now for 3 days ive had 3 $ but that doesnt matter, im still having fun ! ^^

Fun is what matters !

They just removed the bonus to basic accounts because it was destroying the value of the linden dollar.

ahhh ok

still it would be nice to get something.
Im too new to know how to really make money in game, i just got lucky in that on my first day or so i got given some money and then someone wanted to by some of my things.

Interesting thread....

For some, like me, who dont earn any L$ in world through a business or job and lack the real life funds to purchase Lindens when necessary for desired in world funds the weekly stipend has been much appreciated.

I am a premium account holder and pay my monthly fee, part of that fee was to include
the $500L. If this stipend was to be declined...does that mean the monthly fee is decreased? If you take away the stipend from players who use the stipend to participate in world economically. what becomes of the economy then? Are there enough of us to even effect the SL Economy if our stipened ceased to flow in the economy??


The players blessed enough with rl resources to afford the investment for lifetime accounts I feel have earned their stipened just as current players who pay by the month.
It was a invested risk at that time to place that much money into LL and its future and I feel that it is a fairly rewarded profit to the investment the land and stipend.

Disclaimer - I'm a Lifetime Member

I don't know what the fuss is, and don't really care one way or another. As someone mentioned earlier, the number of lifetime memberships is down around 50, and certainly significantly less than 100. Rounded, that's *0.02%* of the SL population today, and that percentage is going to get smaller. The GDP of SL is somewhere between US$2,000,000 and $3,000,000 - all the Lifetime Membership stipends, taken together, for an entire year only represent around *0.1%* of that GDP - and that's assuming every single Lifetime member is still around to claim that stipend.

To be honest, I don't care much if they take it away and I don't care much if they leave it. We're talking about US$1.50/week anyway, I mainly just give it away to friends that I know would like a little cash to upload sounds and pics without having to go buy L$.

As for giving something to the Lifetime folks so they know they're special, the tier is worth a lot more obviously and is what I really felt I was buying when I signed up for the Lifetime account.

This thread has brought up another question for me and that is how many Lifetime accounts are still active in-game. Perhaps if a Linden sees this they can do a lil' query to find out

Look for a money tree. You can do a search for them in Places use "ctrl F" or Edit>Find in the menu.

Those are places where new resident's can get a bit of money. It grows on trees