Forget waiting til stipends are cut..

I still think the actual solution is for SL to alter LindeX in such a way that the only cashing out or buying is done there. Set a fixed rate, charge a markup on buying. Make it a banable ofense to sell Lindens on any third party site except maybe ones they approve of ONLY if trafic goes to high for them to handle themselves. If they set it that you sell them say 300 per USD and buying price is say 275 per USD, they make money, ppl can depend on a stable amount from cashouts..no more problems.

I, too, prefer a stipend over the buying-Lindens model. As for this lovely future we are supposedly suffering now (Linden-value-wise) for, I don't see much sign of it.

coco

Actually the way I see it he is proposing boycotting those responsible for this in the first place. Those ppl releasing large blocks of L's on third party sites in an effort to cause a panic and make Linden drop stipend thereby forcing ppl to buy L's from them. The unfortunate upshot is finding out who is doing that. While it is a buyers market one fact holds true. It's the seller who sets the price and when you have your 600 L for sal for 2 bucks and someone else puts thier 1000 for sale at 1 buck, you're gonna lose and ahve to drop price to compete. I still say the fix is for Linden to take control of the L market, stabilize it by setting a fixed rate on L's for cashing out to THEM, and a small markup to buy from THEM. Also make is a bannable offense to sell L's on ANY third party website except for whatever ones linden might contract to do this once again...at a fixed rate and said contract only being needed if Linden cannot handle the trafic themselves. That would remove these market fixing tactics adn all the flaming troll posts lying about stipoend causing the issue in an efort to control the market and line thier own pockets by subterfuge

At first blush, I'd say I wouldn't mind that a bit. (Though I think the buyer price would have to be around 365 - make it attractive over what you can get for apremium account)...

However, this is still - by nature of what SL is - a personal-interest driven economy. A enforced-stablity market is vulnerable to shifts in people's interest in what content creators make for folks to do. Letting the market roll and sway with that interest is nessesary.

That's why I want to see the market settle in the 350-370 range, and see tighter balances between sinks and sources. Greater incentive to really be something special in whatever entertainment one provides, and more power to everyone to control thier spending choices.

If its -only- for the money, lindex is right. If its for -both- premium is right.

edit: yes a boycot will hurt innocent parties. It will also hurt the ones killing the market. Same things with stipend killing.

BOTH are double edged swords.

ok a side note to people claiming its cheaper to buy L off lindex then the stipend. Like hell it is. only half of the premium membership costs go to stipend thats 5 dollars a month for 2k. Now people that pay jsut for the stipend are not paying 10 dollars because they do have a choice to own land thats a 512 sq meter plot. Which the tier is 5 usd a month for. In retrospect we should only be getting 1.25 usd worth of L a week which is jsut and fair to lower it to that. This would fluxate the L on a basis of a weekly average so basically the lower the value pushes the more L we get the higher it goes the less l we get. It isnt fair to cut the stipend be it premium or basic however. Whatever people wanna believe the stipends both premium and basic are the life blood of Development in SL. People should not be expected to have to buy all their money. Its a counter productive act to do that and its not about acheiving goals that LL set.

Their goals have been met but if they ruin the platform in favor of the minority then it will become a big issue both to content developers, the majority of players in SL, Linden Labs themselves, and their investors. Its a losing situation all around except for the people that have L now. Alot of you people that call for ending stipends etc dont realize one thing. People wont pay for your product if they like it or not if they have to pay USD for all products in SL. Its not being agressive but alot of you dont quite care about anyone else but yourselves. This was all a strange argument which came about because of a statement the economics linden made. Personally you cant compare this to real life. The Linden value is gunna do one of 2 things if its cut.

The first being the exact opposite of what is happening now. Buying L will become to expensive and prices on items will need to drop accordingly. You will then all whine that no one is buying your products and that your not making any money and that we need a way to get money into SL on a regular basis. The second thing will be people's greed will drive it in the continuing manner it is. Its a lose-lose situation unless your hording a ton of L now. In which case your prolly hoping for the first response so you can make a mint as people will have to buy for what you wanna sell it for. Eventually it will come down to doing the same thing either way and wouldnt benefit anyone other then those that have L now.

Regardless if you wanna believe what im saying im backing this by people's actions in the past year. I've seen alot of stuff in SL I've been over the spectrum and i know that people will not take it lightly if you cut the stipends. If a boycott is called there is no harm in it. It may show the linden's how opposed the majority of the population is against cutting the stipends!!! Simply put nothing other then people's greed is throwing the linden value down. They want fast cash to cover their tier or whatever and will do so even if it hurts a ton of people. Basically cutting the stipend is rewarding these people.

Like i stated in a previous post this wont work at all unless the linden's put a set value on L and sell it themselves with an unlimited supply. It'd just cause the same bs in the other end of things. We should get 1.25 usd worth of L a week it evens it out, gets rid of some of the L going into SL, is based off the average on monday night, makes stipend actually appear more of a part of the premium account. Most of the problem here is human nature as opposed to anything. Its simple to see if you watch other people's actions. Thing is you cant cure human nature. Things will go one way repeatadly or they will go to the other extreme.

As i have said b4 LL needs to find a happy medium between corporate reponsibilities and their responsibilites to the users of SL be them business or resident users both. The medium has to be met on that front as well as between business in SL and the average user who views it differently and isnt here to try to make a ton of L or spend a ton of USD.

I am premium. Right now we have situation A as below.

A) I pay tier for land AND get 500L a week stipend.

What you suggest is situation B as follows

B) I pay tier and get NO lindens stipend, then HAVE TO PAY USD on the lindex in addition to tier for lindens I would have got included in Situation A.

So its somehow better for me to pay more to get what I am currently getting? How in the nine hells is option B better for me or anyone else, oh great businessperson? All I see is another greedy merchant wanting to drive up the price of the lindens for more 'beer and skittles' money on the backs of the other players.

Stop cashing out, and THEN we'll talk about cutting stipends. Frankly, I have no interest in paying LL more dollars to boost YOUR cashout...and that is all doing away with the stipend MIGHT at best accomplish.

You didn't read her whole post, did you?

Are you Jillain? No?

"All I've said so far is that I belive, in the end, buying on the LindeX will be better for folks than having the stipend."

I want her to explain HOW paying MORE for the same is to my benefit when at it appears only to benefit cashouts like her. You're free to explain it too, if you can, but if you want ot make smartassed comments only, well...your input is noted and ignored.

Jillian, direct quote from her post.

"ok a side note to people claiming its cheaper to buy L off lindex then the stipend. Like hell it is. only half of the premium membership costs go to stipend thats 5 dollars a month for 2k. Now people that pay jsut for the stipend are not paying 10 dollars because they do have a choice to own land thats a 512 sq meter plot. Which the tier is 5 usd a month for. In retrospect we should only be getting 1.25 usd worth of L a week which is jsut and fair to lower it to that. This would fluxate the L on a basis of a weekly average so basically the lower the value pushes the more L we get the higher it goes the less l we get. It isnt fair to cut the stipend be it premium or basic however. Whatever people wanna believe the stipends both premium and basic are the life blood of Development in SL. People should not be expected to have to buy all their money. Its a counter productive act to do that and its not about acheiving goals that LL set."


You were saying.....

My bad, I mixed Jillian and Lina up. Carry on.

As always Jillian, you are a voice of reason.

You're making an assumption.

See, I figure the L$ will probably settle in the 350-360 range. That means getting your L$ for about the same or less as paying for a full year at premium.

That gives you the power to decide to spend your USD on L$, and gets you more L$ for the same amount of USD. This is a good thing, see, for most folk.

Now, if premuim stays as is, then those interested in land may still find it more useful than buying on the LindeX. But I doubt it will stay the same, I do expect the Lindens to start messing with stipends at some point - some distance in the future, really. I just don't belive it'll be the big awful painful disaster so many make it out to be. I honestly belive that for the vast majority, it'll work out for the best.

The rest have only a little mild adapting to do. No biggie.

Also, "cashouts"? please. Polarizing the issue aint a help.

your'e making one BIG assumption here, that premium fees will get reduced for to make up for loss of stipend. Sure, if premium price drops 50% or is eliminated, then the Lindex would be a real bargain. Howerver, unless that happens, buying lindens regardless of the rate is STILL adding money atop premium fees and costs more...no matter what the exchange rate is.

In all honesty, I do not see premium fees being permanently reduced. NO company cuts prices merely because it elimiates part of the service. Why would they want to when they can have the premium fees AND the Lindex fees for the exchange...cake and eating it too. IF LL does away with stipends for premium accounts, they might do a short-term cut in premium fees...but within a few months expect the 'increased costs of operation/servers/bandwidth/<insert bogus and unprovable reason here>' excuse to come into play and it will be right back to the old price for less service. Seen that everywhere I have worked, small and large businesses alike are as ethical as their highest ranking members, and you don't get to the top of the business world with functional ethics. In the end, LL will figure out a way to screw us over once the stipend is gone.

And sorry, but polarizing the issue as you call it (a codeword for 'you labeled me correctly, WAH!') is the heart of this issue! This whole argument comes down to a hanful of big name businessmen and the second string of smaller cashouts wanting what is in their financial interest rather than the interest of the bulk of SL society, while piously claiming it is for the good of the economy and the playerbase. And, just like the wealthy cry 'class warfare' when its pointed out that their tax breaks come at the expense of other taxpayers, the capitalists of SL (such as yourself) scream 'polarizing' and 'divisive' when its pointed out their plans benefit them more than the average SL player. When an SL businessman says he has an idea for the good of SL, I grab my virtual wallet because you can BET he/she ain't going to be the one paying for it, but rather the bulk of the playerbase.

You're cashing out, you mentioned it in your previous post....its a businessperson's nature to be self-serving and want to see things in their interest over that of the genral good, but please skip the fake offense when others point it out to you and your capitalist kin.

It's pointless to discuss with you, you're putting words in my mouth. I know you'll claim otherwise, but the fact is you've twice now attributed motive to me that simply isn't there.

As it is with you, who speak in nothing but generalities and wishful thinking.