Its Red Tuesday, run for your lives!

No need to worry, as long as I have a computer,
I'll always be able to keep you updated on SL..

I love it when others repeat what I've been saying...
Did you hear that Jonas? Stipends ARE the problem.

Don't you love it when even the Linden support everything
I've been saying.. Damn, I guess Jonas and Co. really are a
bunch of doofs. Ohh well, somebody has to mop the floors
after the great minds of SL finish in the conference room...
Right Jonas?

hahahhah

So the next order of business, which day will Stipends be Cut?

Not that I think the newer basic account holders should be striped of their weekly stripends after a couple months I think it probably should stop IF it would indeed help the economy. Also so people know, I am a basic account holder who earns money playing SL games. The stipend is pretty much nothing to me now, while I do create some stuff, it usually doesn't sell well so I don't really count on getting any money from something other than from any of the games in SL. Just showing support of the basic stripend being removed from someone with a basic account but with new users (say 6 months or so) of being here. Give the newbies a weekly bonus so they can afford to make money if they can or start buying off the market!

Please provide a reference for this assertion. The quote was "stipends are not necessary for the economy" not "stipends are a problem for the economy".

Would you take financial advice from some one who called the British currency the Pound Dollar? Or the Japanese currency the Yen Dollar? How about the Canadian Dollar Dollar?

"...and in the Great Book of Forum it is written, Yea, verily ye shall know them by their silly mistakes and their inability to spell check..."

LOL

Your assessment is correct. I am pulling ever single linden i can get my hands on out of the system because:
a. I am tired of paying for my land maintenance fees, they're too high and also force me to pay for higher tier than I need.
b. I am tired of land griefers, barons, and horrible neighbors with guns and gangs so I am not buying any new land

I think a lot of other people have the same idea.

Also in the works is, selling my land and tiering down.

$75 a month buys me 6-7 midsize plants at home depot that I can put in my yard every month. Lately, spending the money on plants I like that I put in my own yard (that no one can put a BUSH sign next to) seems to make more sense.

Call me crazy. ;-p

Troy

You're just making a fool of yourself, even if what you're saying may be ultimately correct.

Thanks for your opinion, we got it. No really, it's been heard.

Now be reverently silent.

Thanks in advance,

Troy

Or not, as China sure does have a long and continuing history of blocking access to many Internet based sites. Sure, you could always proxy around. Just be sure you don't get caught or it's the hoosegow for you. Actually this could work out very nicely. Are you collecting L$ from interested residents to offset your relocation expenses?

There is a major difference in saying "reasonably certain" and "IS". Reasonably certain leaves room for doubt. She is saying she -thinks- stipends may be the cause but she is -not absoultely 100% -certain-. -IF- she had said -without doubt- that it -IS- then you would be correct.

Of course the stipends also have to be considered on a noneconomic level: drawing in players and keeping them (including making premium attractive).

Economics are rarely 100% w/o a doubt certain about anything. Reasonably certain is generally about the best you can get, because you are working with statistics.

I encounter very few people that will say without a doubt this or that, and then have it be correct. I'd say somewhere around half the time I hear someone say without a doubt this or that, they're either wrong because they forgot to account for something or they're just plain lying.

Most economists rarely resort to speaking in absolute terms.

"Reasonably certain" in economist speak, is about as certain as it gets.

Ever hear Alan Greenspan speak?

If not, research some of his speaches.

It should prove to be a very enlightening experience for you.

That is exactly my point. No one can say without doubt that the stipends are causing any problems. Yet there are those who have stated just that and done so in a manner as to leave no doubt.

There is also a big difference between saying that stipends are contributing to devaluation and "The best thing for the SL economy would be to get rid of stipends." Several other things might be better:

1. Scaling stipends back a bit.
   
2. Raising the cost of an annual premium membership.
   
3. Creating more sinks/increasing existing ones.
   
4. Or... it might be best to simply let the linden find the value it wants to be at.

Damn it Mike, you know these people don't know
what a Yuan is.. I must include the word "dollar" to
give them a hint as to what I'm talking about. lol

Doesn't matter what image I portray, the truth is still the truth.
You can either ignore it because you don't like the messenger and
suffer, or you can accept it. It is your choice...

Actually, I was thinking of getting a job with IGE in Hong Kong,
and then paying myself ooodles of Linden Dollars in the biggest
cyber banking fraud the world has seen.. lol

The point is...she knows it, but simply doesn't say it in absolute terms.

That's the point.

There is one other option...

Eliminate Linden dollars completely.


*runs and hides from all the hate ims from the major Linden dollar holders*

This has been mentioned before, in fact most of the people that want to bring RL investers and RL bussiness into SL are clamoring for it.

They want the linden removed and want all transactions to happen in USD.

Personally I'd rather have L$ as it makes micro-payments a lot simpler, and it also adds a level of abstraction that helps with some legal issues.

Then let's do away with all stipends, including premuim account stipends. I bet the premium account holders would love that. I can just see the forums now, being flooded with threads and posts screaming about how LL has taken away thier stipends and how important and vital to them it was. Then maybe, just maybe, they will finally understand why a measly 50L a week can make such a difference to the -honest-, hardworking basic accounts holders.

If anybody knows anything about the Casino Business,
there is a reason they use Chips at the tables instead of
USDs...

Same applies to SL.. If they get rid of Linden Dollars and
only accept USDs, this place is going in the toilet, fast...

I agree with you. IF LL were to do such a thing then SL would be come nothing more than a glorified version of Active Worlds and the only thing SL would have going for it above and beyond AW is the graphics and in world build tools. Even AW doesn't charge near the amount of USD for accounts or for worlds (sims) and you can get alot more land with thier worlds than you can with a sim.

How do I know this? I used to own 6 worlds in AW. I paid about $1000 USD per year for all 6 worlds. A total of about 2,040,000 square meters. The set up fee was a one time fee of $69.95.

Accounts run $7.95 a month or $69.95 if you pay annually. Or at least it had just gone up to that shortly before I left.