NOW what is the problem???

i will say this again sometimes when in comes to computer systems you don't always know exaclty what is wrong....having worked in tech support and with computers all my life i know this for a fact when they know what happend we get all the details...i ahve sceen a 1 page explanation for an issue so yhea...they are trying to do theire job here and again them posting long posts about what might be the issue is more time cunsuming than figuring out and fixing the issue then providing explanation

Moral of this post Act like adult(and be understanding and respectfull of others)= get treated like adult

Yep, and while they might not be getting a fortune from me, they are taking a $40 tier fee + $9.95 which is enough for me feel I can complain freely

Well, we're talking about two different things. First, there's Torley as a person, and I have no doubt that she means what she says. I met her in the 1.9.1 preview the other day when the last attack happened, and she seemed very very nice.

The other issue is what LL does as a company. After a few grid attacks, I think it's fair to ask the question whether LL is really doing enough to prevent them. They may not be devoting enough resources to preventing the attacks, for example. I'm not saying that's the case, but I think it's a fair question for people who are paying to use a service to ask.

I don't think anyone would assume this is Torley's fault, she is just in the sometimes unfortunate position of dealing with customers.


Kyushu

Well that i can agree with anyways am done trying to talk some sense into some of these people...bottom line is computers/networks are unpredictable and don't trust any info not comming directly from LL

I had a similar experience. We lost city power and our transfer switch failed, so our generator was just idling while our UPSes drained down to nothing. Nobody was quite sure how long it'd take to bring the data center back up (and we had shut down everything but authentication and DNS by the time we were finally on generator power.)

It takes a long time to bring up a really complex system of computers. There are all sorts of interdependencies. You have to bring up one cluster, then another that depends on the first, and then another and another - not too quick, mind you, lest the core systems get hammered with too much "startup" traffic - and it just takes awhile. And then there was an unexpected hardware failure, and we had to cope with that, which involved phoning the company we were leasing that bit of equipment from, and having them send out a technician, and so forth.

It just takes time, and it's not possible to say, "At exactly 7:36 and seventeen seconds PM PDT, we will be done." There are too many variables. Giving us an estimate based on not enough information might placate us right now, but it would also be a bit mean in the long run, because they just might not make it.

Actually, lately (past 2 weeks or so) it IS a regular thing.

30 days * 24 hrs = 720 hrs uptime, SL has been down for about 10 in the last two days, or 1.3% of the month.

So yes, they are "taking" 1.3% of your $49.95 tier fee from you.

I will, by myself, compensate you for the 70 cents you have lost. Please email me your mailing address, and you will receive this amount paid in full.

I do what I can to help the community.

My point exactly- and I am paying the same in monthly $9.95 fees and $40 land tier. I pay more for SL than I do for cable. I have every right to bitch about not getting my money's worth.

I don't doubt for a minute the Lindens are doing everything humanly possible to get things back to "normal" (whatever that is these days) but the lack of information is infuriating.

And as for the techno-geek-speak about servers and other related issues... all I have to say is blah blah blah blah. Ever watch old 'Peanuts' cartoons where all the adults speak in inaudible "waaa-waaa-waa-wa-wa"? Well I'm like Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty- that's all I hear when people get into the finer points of servers and the magic of databases.

I just want to know when this crap is gonna stop or if the is the face of the new SL.

I have worked with computers for years too, and done some tech support, and I can tell you that the people who are posting on the boards here are not the people who are likely to be doing the heavy lifting to fix the problem. I doubt Torley is the one logging into the database servers to examine the systems, for example.

Yes, the people working on the systems are busy, but it doesn't take that long to pass some info on to the people who will actually deal with the customers. Many of us pay to use SL, and some have quite a bit of money invested in it. It's in LL's best interests to treat their customers well during outages, and that includes giving some details about what's happening and why.


Kyushu

If they don't have the answers they can't give them to you. Right now they're working on a solution and thats just what they've said... "We are working on a solution." (paraphrased) The alternative is to lie to you... you want an answer so they make one up? I don't think thats preferable.



Well there ya go. You don't have the knowledge, they do. You can't tell a mechanic that he has 3 days to fix your car if you know nothing about cars and you just want it in 3 days. He knows more than you do. If he says 6 days or indefinate days, then it's 6 days or indefinate days.

So in other words, you want to stick your fingers in your ears and yell 'laa laa laa' and have them wave a magic wand.

Awww, I am just blowing steam and certainly not worthy of sarcastic or cynical ridicule. And I could have done the math on it myself, but thank you.

No I want them to come right out and say "yeah we had a global attack, we're f*cked, and we don't know when you're gonna get back in game so go watch Nick at Nite".

A little straight forwardness and honesty goes a long way.

With that being said, I, as a former admin of a large ISP, can attest to the value of posting an ETA for a fix. Now, I am not saying they need to post this in stone, just give us a general idea of when it will be fixed. This keeps customers from continuosly trying to login (possibly adding more fuel to the fire) and lets people know, in a general sense, what they are up against time wise. I think it would allow people to say, "Ok, the program is screwed a while" and go off to something else.

Also, while I do not enjoy being on the end of yelling and screaming, it does serve a purpose now and then. By having angry customers bark at you, it motivates you to get things working again, if for no other purpose than to shut them up. Its just when the same people seem to do it for no reason that it becomes useless. If it is targeted towards a particular screwup and has some constructive elements to it and not the same old "this sucks because of X" argument, it can be productive. But, like anything else, it has to be used in moderation to get the desired effect.

Just my 2 lindens.

question...My cable connection if it is consistently out or not working i call the cable company and give me a break on my next months bill...does sl do that because it seems i have been not able to log in on a consistent basis lately.

I've never had my DSL provider do that unless it was -really- down. 4-5 hours won't do it; 3-4 days will.

Then I would kindly ask you to shut up. I won't hide that I'm quite curious myself about what's going on, but I do understand that it's unrealistic to expect that they'll provide us with a complete network diagram, a database schema, a full explanation of what went wrong and where, and a pony (oh, wait, I think they gave us that last one already). And what use would that be for you anyway, if you wouldn't understand it?

I've been in the same situation as Michi a couple times myself. Something goes wrong and I can't give an estimate because I don't know what exactly is wrong yet, or because I need to wait for something that doesn't depend on me.

Poking people isn't going to make it get fixed faster. More likely it'll be slower if they're aware of it.

Yes Freddy but an 'invalid' ETA can honestly cause more frustration than alleviation. They've posted ETAs in the past, I think that if they had one, they'd post one.

Actually you can tell them this. It may be unreasonable, but it is definitely your right to do so. Of course they can always tell you to get bent also or refuse to do work or enter into any contract with you. Their choice, just like it is yours to complain.

Also, in your argument about time, people seem to work in a comfort zone and always seem to give themselves a little screwaround time to get something done. Rattling the cage now and then and telling them that it has to be done in less time tends to make them work harder to get it done. I feel if you do this though, and they do come through ahead of schedule, that you should reward them (by paying them more or giving them something in return) or you haven't done your part.

My cable connection was out for 2 whole days once and then sporadically for a week after that and all I got was a "gee we're sorry" ..... who do you know at the cable company and can you introduce me! LOL

You know LL is a company that is dependant on keeping customers at least reasonably satisfied. All this mess (and who knows what caused it really) recently isn't normal thank goodness. But I'd bet that if SL were completely down and no one could get in for like a straight week they'd probably do the smart PR thing and cut a week off of all premium accounts monthly fees. My guess (fingers crossed ) is that we'll be back on in a few more hours tonight.

hoping hoping hoping

I was supposed to meet with a couple of customers today but since I'm sure they can't get in either I'm sure they'll forgive me but it is frustrating. I wouldn't want to be a LL techie right now though... think of the overtime!

I didn't say it should be invalid, just a good guess. Nobody can say with certainty it is going to take 37 minutes lets say to fix a problem, but usually you can say something to the effect of "it will take an hour or so to fix". If it takes longer, just explain why. And again, it doesn't need to be the exact reason, it can be as simple as "unexpected problems arose while doing X". As long as you aren't doing it continuosly, people will take your explanation and that will be that. If they don't, at least you have done your part to get the word out there. People will accept problems, they won't accept bad customer service.

My husband is a mechanic and he deals with customers who know nothing about their cars and try to tell him how to do his work all the time so thats where I got my example from.

And lord you don't want to rattle his cage....lmao. But I get what you're saying.... rattle with kindness.

Everyone who's freaking out has a vote. In a capitalist (eww, I used an ist or ism.. I feel dirty) economy, every person has a vote. That vote is in your wallet. If you don't like what a company is doing, vote against them by NOT giving them your money.

Personally, even if I was a premium member, I wouldn't be freaking out. 34 cents isn't worth getting upset over.



Funny, they did just that.



They said right there that one of the basic parts of the SL world is screwed up, and they are doing what they can to fix it. They also said that they don't know when it will be back up, but the moment they do know they will tell us. So what are you asking for again?

If I get my car to the repair shop, I'd like to get at least a rough description about what is being fixed. "One of the basic parts of yur car has been repaired" might be okay for some people, but I'd rather hear "We had to replace the battery, because the old one had died".

So rather than saying "There's something wrong with the database, we're trying to fix it", I'd rather like to hear: "The main database server crashed and destroyed some of the tables. We're restoring the damage from a backup, which might take a few hours". Torley could then translate this "techno speak" to "end user speak", all will be happy

Oh, and on the point of "Trade Secrets" ... a backup on a database (as in my example) is hardly a trade secret. I'm sure you can give us more information without giving away secrets.

Ahh, but I was replying to someone who specifically said they didn't want to hear techno-speak. This is a perfect example of how no matter what statement they make, people will complain about it.