Lost Inventory - AGAIN!

Why is it we have absolutely no redress with the Lindens when things 'disappear' from our Inventory? How many times will I put something down, only to never see it rezz, and never see it again? Or to Take something I own, and never see it again (please don't instruct me how to search, because I'm a former reference librarian and computer professional of several decades, and I think I have that down, in spite of the poor excuse for a search engine in Inventory).

I've written to tech support and been told it's just the breaks of the game. That is just so irresponsible on their part. I've had some very nice items (music boxes, clothing, furniture, jewelery) that had monetary and sentimental value. I know it's just a game, but this includes losing things I was building/creating. What's the point if anything can be so arbitrarily 'taken away'? It's counter-intuitive, non-productive, frustrating and unhappy-making. Rant over.

There definately has to be a better way to handle the situation. "Oops, our technology just erased your virtual merchandise, sorry bout that" totally sucks. There needs to be a way to track what happened to that virtual merchandise, and that merchandise needs to be shipped back to you ASAP. Its just math dammit. Collate that data and gimme back my fake junk that has monetary and sentimental value.

*moves*

yes, Every day it seems that I log in, I find something else missing. And that's only the things I notice... I can only wonder at what undiscovered disappearances are waiting for me.

I think a lot of "inventory losses" are, in fact, just a lack of synchronization between the server database and the client database. The client seems to dowload our directory (I mean asset references and names, not real asset data) and cache it.

First, there is a problem which seems to stop directory downloading before it reaches the end. Do this : clear your cache, relog and search for some improbable name like "zzzzzzzz". Look at the items counter. First, it increments quickly by thousands. Then is slows down, like exponentially. Then it stops. The status line changes from "Searching" to "Not found". Write the total number and redo the test from the begining. You may read a different number, which means your directory was NOT REALLY loaded. Secondly, there may be a cache corruption or out-of-sync condition when we crash (and we crash often these days).

If you want to be sure of an inventory loss, write your total items number before loging out, and search your whole inventory again when reloging. It may take 10 minutes, or forever. If the number is less, you HAVE lost assets.

a nice, long winded way to say "clear your cache". Sorry, been there, done that. The items are really gone.

No. A way to say that client/server inventory synchronization is UNRELIABLE.

I have cleaned my cache today. Logged in and made a search for "xxxxxxx". Gone away from home for about 20 minutes. When I came back, the counter was stuck at 7372. I know I have 10k+. Should I say I've lost 2628 items?

After I had written this, it was 8392. Should I say I have lost 1608 items?

I left my home again for another 20 minutes. I'm back and number is still 8392. Remember, I know I have between 10000 and 11000.

Question for you : how much time should I wait before deciding i've lost inventory items?

The point is: THE TIME TO COMPLETE INVENTORY SYNCHRONIZATION IS UNBOUNDED. As it seems te decay exponentially, this time could be infinite.

But wait. This session is now about one hour long (doing nothing but staring at the counter behind my web browser). I quit then relog. Remember, last number was 8392. It is now 8320 and growing slowly. V..e..r..y.. s..l..o..w..l..y.. Finally, here are my 10145 items. So it took me two sessions and more than one hour to resynchronize.

It is unreliable because you never know when it's finished. I suspect that is when the counter clears and the inventory window displays "No matching items found". But sometimes, the counter clears and it is not finished. That's a user interface concern. When SL was fast, it made sense to download silently in the background, assuming the user wouldn't notice the missing items during the first 20 seconds. Now SL is slow and the UI miss the goal.

I bought some clothes from Bare Rose a few days ago, put a vest on, saved my appearance and all attachments and clothes as a new outfit, and logged out.

Logged in an hour later, all three folders I'd bought were gone, as was the vest (just the vest) from the new outfit folder.

Cleared cache, rechecked inventory, the count was right, but the assets were still gone.

After checking with June Dion, and trying again in the morning when the lag was lower, they were still gone. June replaced all three packages for me - too bad she's not in charge of customer service for SL.

I had bug-reported it, and last night when I finally got home I couldn't log in right away... all my stuff was being moved to a new database server. Don't know if that was related, but hopefully that's the end of it.

This is ass...since last night I have had 3 items that are "no copy" completely disappear after putting them on the ground and then using "Take." Competely GONE! And no it's not my inventory. I never have the problems with "lost" inventory some people seem to have. Sellers be warned - don't expect to sell many items with 'no copy' right now unless they are clothing.

If you type in 3-4 letters in the search box, the client will retrieve your full inventory listing within minutes, no long drawn out waiting required. I'm not sure exactly your point. If I open a folder that had a 4 piece outfit in it, and there is only 1 piece, and I clear the cache, log out, and log back in, go back to that folder and there is still only 1 piece, I think I can say with upmost certainty, that inventory is lost. I think I can also say with upmost certainty, that LL will never retrieve it for me, and it is lost forever, as that has been my experience every time. Linden Lab's Blog Post on the subject (http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/04/14/experiencing-inventory-loss-read-on/) had a lot of nice ideas about where some lost content may go, for new and inexperienced users, there are a lot in SL, as we are adding 1 million new accounts every month now. However I can assure everyone my items did not end up in the floor, and weren't given to anyone on accident. They vaporized. Anyone who says otherwise can kiss my posterior.

One of the problems with understanding why stuff is lost is that objects in Second Life can live in two different places -- in the asset cluster, where they are stored as mere data, and rezzed inside of sims where they are active, have running scripts, can move and so on.

When you drag an object from your inventory into the world (or on your avatar), it moves it from cold storage to the "warm" storage of the sim. From that point onward, it's at the mercy of the sim. (Especially so if it's a no-copy item, as it will disappear from your inventory -- that cold storage -- upon rez.)

If the sim crashes and does a rollback, or anything happens that causes the asset cluster to lose sync with the sim, then you got a problem. Your item is gone. Kaput. Not recoverable. (At least with the tools LL has given us.)

That's why I am careful to only rez valuable items in situations when the system is stable (ie: no "Asset cluster issues!" lingering in the blog) and inside sims that are rock solid and not known for just crashing and causing me to lose work or items.

The worse part is there are transitory states for item -- For example, you're wearing an item that you've edited (say, resized to make it fit you, or worse, have editing its texturing or scripting), that item does not get saved back to the asset cluster until you either A) take it off, or B) leave the sim. If the sim blows up before you do either A or B, transitional items like this will not be saved and will revert to the last time they were saved.

Yes ive had several "complaints" from customers about such occurances....When the object in question is transferrable then its the Merchants that are left to tell people sorry but i cant replace due to possible scams etc which leads to unhappy customers when the buck lies with LL.

2 hours after clearing my cache.. I am STILL waiting for my inventory to finish loading.

Don't know what to tell you. maybe you have more inventory than I do. I'm at around 13,000 items. I can clear the cache and have everything reloaded in less than 5 min. Did you type something into the search box of the inventory window? or maybe it has to do with your internet connection, I'm on broadband cable, with my bandwidth cranked to full (1500).

Definitely sounds like client to DB sync. However, the other day I was working on a script in an object. The script had been created six hours before. Then after several hours of work, and many saves, I saved it again, only to be told there was an error.... ok, fine, whatever. I copy the script, then close it then try to open up the script again... "Sorry, Item not found in database". So the script was gone. Even though it was RIGHT THERE inside my prim, it was missing from the database. So, just killed it and created a new one.

Sounds like there may be something else going on in the way an item is deleted before it's updated in the db? Why in the world would you delete a record to create a new one. Why not just update the record? That's just a guess as to what's happening, but I think it may be more than items just not showing up in your inventory.

When someone has a complaint with my products, I refund their money. Even though they're all copyable and some are full permission. Even if I didn't simply believe that was the right thing to do, I wouldn't risk my reputation over an object with zero marginal cost.

Linden seems not to care about how much money we loose on sl i keep putting things out they don't rezz and i never see them again i call they give me the run around i email they give me the run around im just so tired of this crap thinking of closing my membership all they care about is that they make money they care nothing for the people who spend there money on sl and loose it this is so full of crap

I want my money!

You’ve ignored my last 15-20 support tickets!

I WANT MY MONEY!

-Ben

Hey on 4-17 or 18 , 2007

I lost just about all my inventory... I had crashed and relogged into sl ..
Behold all of it gone and never found again.. As of 4-23-07 nothing.. only the new items I had to get or purchase.. SO I wouldn't be undressed or hairless all the time.

im help on it said thank you for your patiences and nothing more done.


Alot of lindens, Us dollars went into that missing inventory and can't put my inventory into shops now..


Please correct this issue and want my inventory back.. Waited and now need some action and help..

thank you

mama Kidd

@#11 Fenrir, you must be joking. Or you will never rez items again in SL.
I was in a stable sim - island with 2000 prims used and got database issues. And I don't want to tp with that lag around just to make sure that my objects are really saved. It would take me ages to complete my work. How can you know that the db connection is unreliable if nobody tells you? I think this is a weakness in the design. And what about the crashes you get after a tp and clicking in the inv?

I already lost 600 items to a database glitch and was upset, too. But now I don't care any longer. It's just a feature now of SL and I try to circumvent in the best way I can.

But on the other hand, can anybody explain me, why in my Library in the inv - which comes from SL- the most part is missing? I only have 12 textures left there in the Textures folder, no subfolders, nothing. How would you explain that? A feature to save db space?

Damn, this is so frustrating! I bought 2 armoires and they're not in my inventory. I put out a hot tub and it never manifested. They're not in my lost and found, not in objects, not anywhere. Have used the '3-4' letter search method, then gone thru manually. Nada. I left, came back and rezzed a bed and a rug (hooray!). Foolish mortal that I am, I tried to rez a screen and a table. Failed to rez, and not returned to my Inventory. Cleared my cache and relogged. Still nothing. You can't predict when it will happen, and they have NEVER FIXED IT.

This really has GOT TO STOP. It's SO UNFAIR!

You think it's unfair, what about me, everyday I have customers demanding refunds and replacements because apparently it's *my* fault their items disappeared after they tried to rez it. When I tell them they should complain to LL, they aren't exactly happy. But frankly if I just go around replacing every item that disappears on REZ, then LL will never fix the problem. To get oiled, that wheel needs to squeak, and squeak LOUD.

hi Dari

i'm surprised LL hasnt commented about this as its very wide spread
and peopel just dont want to buy no copy items at the moment.
so not only are businesses supposed to hand out duplicates in good faith
but also have to swallow the loss in sales.

it's almost as if LL added llDelOnRez at the last update lol

Lost pieces of almost every bit of wardrobe... not the whole outfit, just the left shoe, or the skirt, or similarly useful items. Might not be a lot to some people, but I had a fair amount of USD in items I no longer have or can use.

I feel ill. Not only that, I feel like an idiot for thinking I could invest in funtime safely. Never had this happen to me in other online recreation. Always managed to get my money's worth without having it taken back.

Pleh... was there this morning before the shutdown. Not there now. Don't ask me if I left it somewhere. I was staring at my inventory when one of my items just ... well ... diappeared.

im actly afraid to build anymore
seems to me where getting screwed.... and it seems funny to me that every other online game had this stuff fixed in the first2 yrs of the game
i lost about 2700 lindens worth of product i could be making money off of in 2 days
so i feel your pain and suffering lets hope this get solved...... but it really is salty how they dont care and yesi filled all the forms and ims and emails and etc... and still didnt get a reply and im not planning on it

~fetal