Feted Inner Core Issue: Your opinion?

It may be old. It may be "tired" to you or others.

However, if there were not an element of truth to it, the issue would have long ago died a silent death.

That it hasn't pretty much confirms that numerous people feel that some amount of favoritism is involved in LL relationships with certain residents.

(Consider this - You're a teacher. You have 35 students. 5 are loudly obnoixious (not all simultaneously, but regularly enough to be labelled accruately as such.). 2 are "perfect studetn" candidates, always prepared, always raising their hands or ready with an answer (perhaps even blurting it out at times). 20 are mediocre B-C students, not standing out from the crowd, but not necessarily hiding. And then there are the silent ones... the remaining 8 who never volunteer, who squirm when called upon, who never open up to answer, to go to the board, to read aloud or any such thing.... Come time to "evaluate" the students for Parent-Teacher conference time, the infamous 8 are the hardest to evaluate... right? Nothing is known of them. Butthe 2 "little perfect ones" or even the 5 obnoxious ones have taken/drawn your attention... so as teacher, you can speak about them more intelligently... it just happens this way. Which do you talk about off the job? The quiet ones? Probably not... the vacuum in this case would be speculative.

The analogy to the FIC is simple.... Those LL knows of get attention... and attention positive or negative, is still attention. The big thing is, however, the truly negative get banned, suspended and ultimately disappear from view. So, LL is left with the FIC.... It DOES exist in at least this perspective. Those who have been around longer are generaly more well known than new people, by their ingroups, by their neighbors, by their extended peers and by the Lindens simply because of time if nothing else. OTOH, if one never interacts with anyone else.. then he/she can still be "core" without being Inner or Fetid/Feted. So... the FIC exists in my mind --- simple social reality of human relationships and my experience. Disagree... oh well.)

Here is something I find interesting. Those who I hear say LL should have bid the job out, I have never seen a single thing they have built. I am talking about people I've heard inword as well, not just this forum. Maybe you need to show off your skills more. Do you understand what a bad situation it could be if LL recommended people who were not top notch to this project? It is a new area of business they are opening, HOW DARE THEY WANT THE MOST SKILLFUL BUILDERS CREATING THE CONTENT. This could be huge to the growth of Second Life and give them more balanced cash flow.


On the other hand, most people I hear that support LL decision, are mostly well know content creators who also could have been candidates IF this job was bid out. It is my understanding that most of the people on the Bedazzle team are PROFESIONAL 3-d artist, programers and highly skilled graphic artist. THese are not people that just signed up and learned with Second Life, they are SKILLED PROFESSIONALS.

You pay LL to be part of this world. I never read anything in then TOS that said I would be part of LL business decisions.

I understand that my viewpoint is likelly more emotional than logical. And it would greatly help if there was more to go on than a second-hand retelling of how this thing went down - there is a huge difference between LL culling a selection of the best builders in SL for the bank's review, and LL telling this client "Hey, go with Team B. They're the best."

Because, if it was closer to the latter, LL is basing their suggestion on mostly subjective standards - standards that could easily translate into accusations of favoritism ("Team B spends $X on SL tier every month, so LL gave them the bank job!".

I do hope that as more businesses come into SL and look for inworld talent to get their presence up and running, that a more logical, portfolio-based system be set up for residents that want to be considered for such jobs. Apparently according to a post in the Herald, Robin has done exactly that - instituted an email address or such for residents to contact to put themselves on this list. I can't seem to find it at the moment, however.

Again - its LL's business, they can do what they damn well please. Speaking from a customer standpoint, however, they should probably find a more fair and universal method of putting businesses together with willing and talented builders.

Again, I just want to clarify a point, considering I'm one of the few that are vocalizing a negative take on this.

LL has every right to do what they did. Of course they're going to pick the best - or, as far as they know, the team they picked is the best. I have no doubts as to the ability and professionalism of the team that got the job. Their hard work and ability has paid off and I congratulate them on it.

I'm also not taking the stance I am because I feel snubbed or I'm jealous. If this had been made into a public bid, I wouldn't have submitted anything. Hell, I'm not submitting anything for the employment center bid. I fully acknowledge that I wouldn't have gotten this bid no matter how it went down. Sour grapes aren't my thing.

However, I still care because of the impression that it gives to the vast majority of their customer base. A quick overview of the situation - which is all that most players are likely to give it - leaves the impression that LL hands out $17,000 building contracts to their friends. Fair assessment? Probably not, we don't know enough about what really happened yet. But for public relations, you have to look not only at the truth of the matter, but at how your actions appear to the general public. I'm not saying its right, but its something LL has to think about.

I agree, this is just how I feel as well!

Oh yeah!

And I'm sure LL made certain my resume was included!

Excellent!

This is a really good point Beau.

People who are decrying the lack of a bid process would REALLY help their own argument if they could show us a design team that would have produced a better quality product than Bedazzle had they only enjoyed the same level of noteriety. Who thinks they could have won against Bedazzle?

I personally think my work at Midnight City is not-too-shabby, and perhaps I would have been in the running. But being in the running doesn't mean winning I know when I'm beat and I am delighted for the Bedazzle team and I am delighted for new opportunities opening up for everybody here in Second Life.

Eh, theres a first time for anything I guess.

Well in this one I can see the logic behind Linden Labs decision. And Frankly the Capitalists are right on this one-ll is free to reccomend development teams with proven track records in SL. Bedazzle certainly has a proven track record. Of course, we don't know who else out ther has awesome building skills. Maybe a team could be put together that could rival Bedazzle. A bid process would be better. But thats not really an obligation, just a better policy.

As Far as the FIC goes. Well I have never hid the fact that I think its a real, natural and inevitable part of an human endeavour as large as SL. It may not be the group of plotting schemer's that is has been portrayed as, but there is an FIC.

Let's get some additional information before we chew off the heads of various Linden's.

Tony should be able to research this further and provide more information.

I agree with the business-standpoint -- this is going to be bad publicity in-world no matter what and/or how this is described by LL.

Sadly, I was hoping that when the new investment money came into LL that the investors would say... "You are a technogeek, go create technology. We are the administrative/marketing/public relations area now -- please keep your geeky nose out of business deals because you will only screw it up." I've seen more than one technology company fail simply because the creators (who do their job VERY WELL) simply fail at making good and solid business decisions.

LL is scewed with this announcement NOT being told to the in-world residents first; however, and depending on how they put their PR spin on the matter (listens closely) -- they will need several dozen washcloths to wipe the egg off their faces yet once again.

You had better watch all that FIC talk...

"Putting a team together" really isn't as attractive an option to a group of people about to take an already big risk. If it really is Bedazzle, as everyone is saying (and, of course, who ELSE would it be?) then you see there a very high-profile group that has already proven themselves to be more than capable of taking on projects and following them through. They've gotten the job done, many, many times and done it in a high profile way and that's what's necessary.

It's been said before. A bid process is for an elected democracy. Linden Lab is not that. They're a business and this is a truly critical transaction for them. They have recommended the best of the best in terms of project management because they can't afford to disappoint. If someone's work wasn't high-profile enough to attract the attention of the bank, then it's probably safe to say that they're not the group the bank was looking for.

Normally when it comes to Cocoanut, I try to resist the urge to dismiss out of hand her posts. Her views tend to be controversial and frequently are related to he-who-shall-not-be-named, so it can be easy to let the lure of drama to drown out the message she may be trying to convey.

However, Cocoanut is well aware that mentioning either the phrase 'FIC' or he-who-shall-not-be-named is all but guaranteed to reduce even the most sedate topic into a flame-fest. Yet she not only did one, but included both in her post. If she had truly intended to foster an open and meaningful discussion about this, she above anyone would have known not to deliberately include such inflammatory side-topics.

For the above reason, this thread shall be the first recipient of my newly declared 'Newfie's Stamp of Drama and Trolling.' Congratulations!

-Newfie Pendragon

I've hired people on recommendations, without checking out every other avenue. Maybe I've been ripped off or could have got better results if I had tendered out work, but when you get a great recommendation, usually by seeing that they can achieve what they are promising, then who can be arsed?

If it is Bedazzled it's great to see their talent recognised, I'd recommend them too.

I think we are looking for problems where none exist. It's Linden Lab's company. They can recommend who they wish and if someone doesn't like it, find another dang game that they can control more than they can here in SL. Enough with the FIC flaming too. Enough already. Geesh......

1. OK, notice - in that other thread, Robin has corrected the entire problem. Not that all this isn't still worth discussing, but didn't anyone notice that the whole problem has been corrected?

And she didn't do it by picking Option One on this poll, either. Details remain to be seen and discussed, but basically, the problem has been corrected.

2. I called the thread FIC for two reasons: First, I wanted people to respond to the poll, and quickly. Second, I couldn't think of a better way to put it. This was FIC all over the place.

One day, some of you are going to figure me out. Some never will. Doesn't matter. But understand this: I want what's best for the GAME. Just as you do.

coco

P.S. And Newfie - I think and say what I think and say because I think it. It's not calculated to get a rise out of you or anybody.

SOme of us dont have time to "figure" people out and the games they like to play with words.

Another suggestion - LL could develop BID-RFP's for the design of these content-rich builds once they decided to implement this great vision!

Robin L - Turn Key SL Business Ops!

Nothing personal, Cocoanut - but I can't help but feel you did indeed select the subject for your poll to get a rise out of people.

Doesn't this statement:

completely contradict this one?:

I don't mean to pick on you, but at the very least you seem guilty of a poor choice of words.

Well, I didn't use the term to get a rise out of anybody, Supersize. For one thing, getting a rise out of people might kind of mess up my poll.

I don't think the two things are contradictory, either. In other words, the title had to be short and pithy. FIC is good shorthand for this very kind of problem. I thought to avoid using the term, but ended up not avoiding it; plus, in my lexicon, there is no reason whatsoever to avoid it, except to spare some people's sensitivities. In this case, that wasn't a good enough reason to avoid it.

coco

I noticed Robin's post as an interesting development about the future, related to the poll question asking if the community conceives this past action as a problem at all.

It seems much more simple to me.

-wow theres a company that is considering spending a substantial amount on a SL project -

Option 1 - Cool, lets spend a month trying to figure out who is most qualified and tell them well get back to them.

Option 2 - Really? Wow! Tell them we know some people who can give them what they are looking for and more.


------ Anyone every try to sell anything? Which Option would you pick?


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think posters are right abou some day when SL is bigger there will be more competition for projects like this. There may even be a point where Bedazzled or whoever the best is at that time is too swamped to take on more contracts.

But when this sort of investment is just starting out - go with who you know can get the job done. Does anyone doubt in Bedazzled's ability? Or that the bank will get their money's worth?

It might not have been a good reason in your lexicon, but one little observation - your lexicon is radically different from the one used by the general forums community. Though you might not interpret or agree with the phrase in the negative light that most view it, you were plenty aware through past experience that the phrase would invoke a strong negative reaction.

Given that it would be all but inevitable that using the phrase 'FIC' (or making a 'he-who-shall-not-be-named is right' comment) would cause a drama and uproar - no matter what the subject - then your intention could not have been to ask a genuine poll question, but instead generate a furor and drama over the topic. At least in my lexicon, that's called trolling.


- Newfie

By Robin's post, I mean she has now given an e-mail address to which people can write, send portfolios, etc., if they wish to be considered for future projects of this nature.

Of course, I would like to see this in a prominent place, rather than buried in a thread. Pendari has suggested a new forum of ongoing announcements, and that would be a terrific place to have this.

They apparently have other things in mind, for just this sort of thing, a program of sorts, and I asked for more details regarding that.

Vestalia, I'm not sure what post you are talking about, but I'm talking about the one in the other thread where she gave that e-mail address. That effectively prevents this exact problem from happening in the future.

coco

I think we are at a point now where evoking the term "FIC" largely negates any seriousness for the discussion to follow. If people wish to discuss favoritism they may find a productive conversation will follow from using the term "favoritism".

Coco, if you don't understand how many people who have stood accuse of being "feted" feel about ther phrase "FIC" then just think about the taunting images posted by Pandastrong and others to make light of SL's Fifth Column efforts. To us, they are funny and they communicate what we believe to be the absurdity of so many baseless accusations against us. You on the other hand may find them abrasive, mean, and perhaps inaccurate. That is how we see "FIC" and you should expect people to react with all the emotion that phrase was designed to create.