Lindex: 2000 per month limit? Wasn't that 2000 per day before?

Whew. After reading this whole thread, I have a suggestion for those who think LL is being arbitrary and unreasonable:

Go ask your bank about getting a credit card merchant account, and what the limits and fees are for a small business selling intangible goods over the Internet.

Then come back and thank Linden Labs for setting up such a simple and transparent system .

What in the world are you talking about?

We *could* have stayed in SL. We could have competed with Lindex. Given its current state, we probably would have won in the short term.

However after our dealings with LL, we lost confidence in Second Life as an environment in which to run a business. Given the instability of the recent version, and the problems that have persisted release after release, the "why do it right when we can do it fast" and "sure, that feature is coming Real Soon Now" attitudes we were presented with in our dealings with them seemed (and continue to seem) so deeply entrenched that extricating ourselves from SL was the best plan for us.

As I said, we could have stayed in SL and competed with Lindex. But that would only last as long as we were allowed by the Powers That Be. As was extensively discussed in another thread, the new TOS gives them absolute and unilateral right to cancel any account for any (or no) reason at all, or take and use any uploaded content they wish without compensation or recourse. Not the sort of arbitrariness we wanted to be exposed to. That's part of the reason we stopped dealing in other currencies -- the ability of an external company to arbitrarily eliminate our customers' deposits became unacceptably risky.

So, we had the choice: continue doing business with a company that we were no longer personally comfortable dealing with and had consistently demonstrated an unwillingness to listen to cogent arguments, or find another way to make the GOM platform successful. We chose door #2 and have absolutely no regrets about doing so.

Will we come back to SL at some point in time? If the underlying problems are fixed, and it proves itself to be sufficiently stable, and LL becomes willing to take even a modest responsibility for its user's IP, then maybe.

That's that. No "whining". No "playing dead". Simply a choice of whether or not to continue dealing with a company in which we were rapidly losing confidence. If that's what you call "blaming it on someone else", then I guess you're right on that count.

Main Entry: ar·ro·gance
Pronunciation: 'ar-&-g&n(t)s
Function: noun
: a feeling or an impression of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or presumptuous claims

It's a very good point. However,

a) there are many different competitors to go to for merchant accounts
b) merchant account vendors are individual entities

SL is becoming increasingly centralized.

Suddenly, your model needs to fully be cooperative with all divisions of LindenLabs or they can just IM or yell over a cubicle wall - hey we don't like how this person is doing business in SL.

I am pretty sure if I were to market a product that was within the TOS but pissed off SL greatly they could easily drag their feet on getting me access to business proper in SL.

Before they would have to ban you which was a nuclear option and made them look bad in all customers eyes.

Now they have these implicit quid pro quos which gives them the ability to subtly discourage those they wish to discourage rather than having to bring out the big guns.

This flexibility gives them a lot of power which they did not have before, because taking the shotgun out hurt them as much as it hurt their opponents.

Finally.. Someone sees the light.

I dont know about you, but if I didnt like the way things were being run here. I would just take my business elsewhere. In the end. This is a piece of software created by a private company. They have relinquish the copyrights of all content and most of the developing to the residents and you want their financial security as well?

Yea they are setting limits on your transactions but offer oppurtunities as well. But dont forget, this is their business as well and its their right to protect it.



Well then, maybe you should try and communicate your criticism in a more constructive manner. Cloaked allegations of corporate conspiracy wont get you anywhere.. Even in the real world where most financial institutions would sit back and look at you like a raving madman.

I think they are trying hard to accommodate the most people in the most flexiable way without hurting themselves in the process. I feel this is good first step in that direction. Its not perfect but hell, give some credit.

The fact is, any independent businesses who makes significant capital (over 15K USD / annum) doing something other than direct consulting for LL or LL referred partners probably agrees with me on this matter, but won't speak up becaue they have no desire to alienate LindenLabs.

The reason I'm willing to speak up, is because I *do* want to alienate them.

My theory is that as long as I can still do business and be at odds with SL, I still have the freedom to do as I wish.

As soon as my business model becomes dependent on not saying what I think, that means that I'm thinking less about product and more about politics.

And that's not so much a character flaw, I think, as a simple matter of practicality. My value proposition is my creativity and when that is constrained I can't produce properly.

This is something that Philip needs to take into account. He needs to create a platform that encourages people to think about their product and not about how it makes him happy.

In this case they are not limiting business though. They want to be able to look at people on a case by case basis to decide if the person is legitimate or wishing to commit fraud. One of the things that was unfortunate for GOM was the people taking advantage of the system to commit fraud. I see no problem with Linden Labs only wanting to allow large amounts of money to go to and from only the people that have already demonstrated that they legitimately do business on that kind of level. We all know about how such a tangled anonymous system can promote fraud even when possibly correct personal details are kept by Linden Labs. It makes sense they are being careful.

I'll tell you what - I'll leave this thread dormant until someone complains on this forum about not making it into the FIC tier.

At that point I'll bump it and we can revisit this discussion.

The rules for competing for the Developer Incentive Award are quite simple and completely transparent (every month when the Lindens post the list of award winners they include a link to the rules):

Any resident paying tier fees can compete. Based on Dwell/Traffic scoring over the course of the month the top two-percent will be paid an award (again, based on Dwell/Traffic scoring) as a percentage of the total prize amount for that month. The total prize amount varies from month to month based on the size of the candidate pool (tier paying residents). The greater your Dwell scoring for that month the larger your award amount. Your award is given to you in the form of a US$ account credit which you can use to pay account fees and/or pay tier fees.

If you did not make the list it's because you:
a) Don't own more than 512-sq.m of land (and thus cannot compete for the award as you're not paying tier)
and/or
b) Didn't derive enough Dwell/Traffic scoring over the course of the month to reach the top two-percent

Elex,

Completely separate issue - this is not about the developer incentive or land tiers. It's about limits on the amount of L$ that can be sold on the Lindex in a given month. The "tiers" in question are additional higher limits that can be given by Linden Lab on a case by case basis if an account meets the criteria they have for increasing the limit.

Yeah, also, when I say developer list I"m not refering to incentive awards. I'm refering to the list of developers that LL will contact and give business to.

Getting on that list is completely non obvious.

I hate to break it to you, Blaze, but if you're b*tching about your "lack of freedom," you're sadly mistaken. Since your last post was just the other day, I think we all can assume your account hasn't been wiped. "Freedom of speech" never exists to protect what you like, its there to protect what you *don't.* And since your b*tching, and still here, then there's no civil liberties violations here (yet).



Politics is everywhere, whether you like it or not. Especially in business. You'll never sell a single thing telling those you don't like that they're tools. You catch more flies with bullsh*t than with honey. Simple business practice. And since I assume you're making money, you can't be telling off the morons. (Again, yet)

Sorry, I just had to chip in my two cents. (Probably get change to boot. *grins*)

If you wish to discuss this topic, join me in this thread:

/130/e3/53386/1.html

I like you!

While the explanation/justification is appreciated, it was certainly not needed. If they don't like the LindeX setup - go somewhere else, end of story.

I think businesses providing information about their background expertise is always needed. It inspires confidence, which this certainly does.

I think if someone came and wanted to buy a product from me and asked me to justify why I'm better and I told him to go away, I'm pretty sure I would not be in business for very long.

The point is - you made an assumption about him. And you know how assumptions end.

Tissue anyone?

If you wish to discuss this topic, join me in this thread:

/130/e3/53386/1.html