Communication problems

This isn't a version-specific issue, but as it seems to be getting much, much worse lately this forum seems like the best place to put this.

The quality of ALL of the communication channels to and from Linden Lab has been suffering badly as of late. This appears (from the outside at least) to be a combination of intentional policy/process changes and problems with LL internal communications:

1) Blog postings.

This seems to work fairly well for communicating the current technical status (when it's used) or to talk about upcoming features.

Most users won't see the upcoming downtime posts, but many of us know to check the blog if we're having problems. This puts the onus on Linden Lab to quickly post on issues (such as the password and stipend problems many users are currently seeing), even if it's just to say "we're aware of it and looking into it now." This hasn't been happening in a consistent manner. Sometimes a serious issue will go for days or weeks without comment from LL. Not only does this cause a great deal of frustration on the part of the users, but it discourages them from habitually reading the blog for news and leaves people wondering whether or not LL is even aware of the issues.

Another problem is the posting of upcoming changes - such as the Age Verification system - followed by complete silence on the subject, leaving users to wonder whether the plans are being reconsidered, are going forward as planned, etc. As with the technical issues, even one or two sentences saying something like "We're still working out the technical details of these change. Stay tuned..." would do wonders.

The limiting of blog comments to 100 or so seems to serve no purpose other than to make users feel that they have no voice. This is exascerbated by the fact that Linden employees sometimes make reference to "community conscensus" which is directly contradicted by comments in the blog and the forums.

Finally, the blog is NOT an appropriate place - from a customer service and legal standpoint - to announce policy/ToS/CS changes, as happened last week. (The CS clearly states that "broadly offensive" content - whatever that means - is limited to private land in mature regions, whereas Daniel Linden posted that "broadly offensive" content is not permitted in SL at all. That is a very significant change.) The correct method for implementing policy changes would be to update the ToS/CS first, have users agree to the new terms when they log in, and post a login message directing them to the blog for elaboration on the changes.

Again, the lack of response to the confusion and concern surrounding last week's post discourages people from viewing the blog and comments as a legitimate avenue of communication.


2) Support.

I've been very, very fortunate in never having needed to contact support in the nearly two years I've been in SL (*knocks wood until knuckles bleed*), however it is clear from the forum discussions that people are extremely unhappy with the recent changes and many are of the opinion - with good reason, judging from some of the anecdotes - that the new support system is simply a placebo with no substance behind it at all.

If there's anyone reading this who has more personal experience with the support system and can elaborate, please do.

3) The demise of the General Discussion forum and lack of Linden participation

Many people view the removal of the General Discussion forum as yet another indication that LL is not interested in hearing from them. Some threads which would previously have been posted there are now being posted to the Resident Answers forum, which appears, along with this forum, to be the only "official" channel left where users have any voice at all. Even then, it appears that users are only preaching to the choir.

Fortunately, relatively few threads have been closed for being "off-topic" because they weren't phrased in the form of a question (when did this become Jeopardy, anyway?); however, it is somewhat disturbing that there is no forum provided for these types of SL-related discussions. The lack of Linden response to any of these discussions has led to the theory that this forum is yet another placebo.

4) Internal Communications

We as users are not privy to what goes on within the walls of Linden Lab, however it appears as though the company is having a lot of problems internally, as employees contradict each other (and even themselves at times).

5) Lack of Clarity

In several cases, LL has used very vague and broad language to communicate changes. (Age verification and last week's "Keep SL Safe" blog post are two examples.)

Words are important. "Safe" does not mean the same thing as "non-offensive". The phrase "broadly offensive" has absolutely no meaning in a global community. Different segments of the U.S. can't even agree on what this means, so it's naive to think that it would carry weight for a global user base. Daniel Linden has gone on record as stating that it is impossible to clarify what "broadly offensive" means. This implies that the abuse staff will be given no clear guidelines regarding what is and isn't a ban-able offense and users have no way of knowing *exactly* where the line is. Given that many people have considerable financial and intellectual property investments (as well as emotional attachments) within SL and that Linden Labs has openly encouraged this, the refusal to provide clear guidelines would appear to make Linden Lab extremely vulnerable to lawsuits should they follow through on the banning threat.

Linden Lab cannot have it both ways. Either this is a world in which people are encouraged to make contributions and investments, or this is nothing more than a game which should never be taken seriously because any and all "assets" can be taken away for any reason. Which is it?

Conclusion: All of the above factors have led to much of the SL community believing some or all of the following:

a) We have no voice

b) Linden Lab is deliberately cutting off and/or hobbling all existing forms of customer feedback.

c) Linden Lab has moved "beyond" us and no longer considers us to be "the customer." Even if this is true and we are now a product being sold to companies wanting to advertise to us, it is a mistake to ignore our feedback. No audience = no advertising revenue.

d) Linden Lab is falling apart internally.

e) The Lindens in general (with the exception of a few individuals, mostly in the technical side of things) have developed a sense of general contempt for ordinary residents.

Oddly enough, it appears that the technical staff at Linden Lab have much better communication skills than the P.R., business, and executive managers. This seems to violate a basic law of nature, and yet...here we are.

Correction: It appears that threads asking genuine questions of SL residents are also being locked.

Are you me, Annie?

Did I develop split personalities, including a more articulate and clear-thinking one than myself, and don't know about her?

I couldn't agree more with everything you said.

Yours is exactly my analysis, only put better than I could.

In addition, you pointed out several things that I hadn't thought of, but which I also totally agree with.

coco

This comes under the "Bloody hell we didn't know all these people would have a problem with this" category. They rushed in feet first to this one, it's their own fault. I have a lot of time for LL employees, especially Robin Linden but the id verificiation issue was simply not well planned.

People all over the world play this game and many are a bit miffed that they are expected to hand over such important data and then relinquish all their local national law rights to that data. This should have been discussed prior to any announcement.

Communication is not great, however I have seen some improvement this week but they need someone who is from a customer service background to whip them into shape. To me it seems they have a lot of technical people but very few customer service people, a customer service person would most definitely delay some updates and provide better feedback, even if it is (as you suggest) just to say "It's not fixed yet".

However it seems LL have technical people, hence they race forth with "We've fixed this in beta", time and again these updates appear when there are major problems, someone from a customer service background would put a halt to such updates until the main grid glitches were at lest improved slightly.

Just wanted to give props to the Lindens for keeping the blog on top of all the technical issues this week. Way to go!

Agreed, it's been far better in the last week or so, thumbs up from me too.