An open Letter to Philip Rosedale

Just very amateurish way of doing things---cheap software--outsourced moderation. It should strive to be a Ferrari of forums.

It should copy siuccess, not copy other typical, low budget forums, just to avoid hiring real employees and saving money. It should have pride in the forums and lots of participation and offer a vehicle people can learn and also have fun, argue or whatever and still have a real sense of freedom---while being strict about certain specific things.


Millions of virtual world people will judge it against this one:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/

Just posted this on the blog comments:


Comments are still open on the blog ... please post there if you agree.

They are, but someone had to say it.

Compared to the sheer number of residents, seeing a Linden in world is like seeing a very endangered species in the wild. You're more likely to see 'em at the zoo (aka office hours.)

Im sure you can remember seeing a Linden at least once a day. And actually talked with them As I often say at NCI "I can remember when Lindens were people!"

It is Number One and staying that way it is the standard by which all else is measured in virtual realities.

Now they control 52% of Activiison (Guitar Hero) now it's ActivisionBlizzard. Largest game company in the world. Their new stock is about to split. They have 4 major projects coming out.

Their forums are the most active in the world. They have all the principles of good moderation nailed, yet people there do not feel oppressed. Instead the forum moderators are respected and loved as well as being helpful. They put LL to shame. They are the example LL could learn from.

Many millions of wacky people post and it is crazy, yet people know the consequences of going too far over the line.

There is a general forum as well as Off-Topic, People can troll harmlessly and wildly, yet if you post a Movie Spoiler you can get Suspended from forums.

Their categories of suspendable or bannable forum offences are here:

[url=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/forum-coc.html?sid=1[/url]

A sticky to the off topic forum, posted by a "Blue" (moderator) is here:
[url=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=328515786&sid=1[/url]

As Trilliannas, I saw M Linden today. I can confirm that he's not wearing Phil's cod piece.

Actually, I recall a time when I'd see a Linden daily, whenever I went to a welcome area, because back then SL was lucky if it got to 5000 concurrent users during peak hours. I even recall seeing Lindens in the public sandboxes, chatting with us, exchanging tips and tricks.

In my two years in SL (almost) I have met precisely three Lindens.

imogen

QFT ! ! !



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oh yeah!

Just ridiculous

sorry imitation koolaid-guy art using Smileys is not my forte.


Evidently I got my point across though.

I met one, using my Alt.

LOL! He/She must've felt "safe" talking to a Newb


Rise from the rubble or Go Down in Flames with Sl, either way....meh.

I was a member of Heat.net back in the day, dog tags & everything, then one day their service disappeared. Didnt care. Companies disappear on the Internet faster than Chris Angel doing a magic trick.

I did get it and did laugh.

I met 10... yesterday. I've met lots more than that overall, though.

Where do they flock in such numbers?

I have been fortunate I guess in that I haven't felt the need to go to many town hall meetings. I went to one about a year ago, I think it was after the Project Open Letter thing. (Mind you, there havent been very many in my time, or perhaps I just didnt get to hear about them).

My first meeting with a linden was early 2007 when there was still a live help system... I was being griefed while running a club for a friend who was on holiday. He hadn't given me full enough permissions and the security scripts had crashed and burned. I had to BEG a linden to come and bar the guy from the land, which, after 5 days of continual abuse and havoc by which time i was almost out of my mind, a Linden did come and ban him from the parcel. Of course, he was back in an alt within the hour.

I met Torley briefly, while flying over Grasmere... looking for help for the above-mentioned problem. He was the only Linden on the Linden sims, and was in the middle of being interviewed, for the Messenger I think, so I left him alone.

I met my third Linden at the Big Bash for P2 last week, dancing, and actually had a chat, but of course, not about anything deep, being not the appropriate time or place.

As a regular resident, with no Sim of my own, no longer running a club, no major issues like inventory loss or account difficulties, I have no real need to meet with the Lindens on a business level...

But it would be really nice to know that they are here, mingling, being part of the world.. and perhaps get to know them. Maybe I have met them, in alts... I guess having Linden as your last name isn't going to make for easy and relaxed mingling. If I knew that they were out here in alts getting to know the residents and experiencing the residents' day to day problems, that would be enough.

imogen

I wouldn't know a Linden if one fell on me.

Mainly office hours and in Linden Village, amongst other spaces.

The day in question, I started with a visit to the Governance Office Hours, which were hosted by Zara Linden and Kaylee Linden. I had a couple questions I wanted answered -- if the new beta's abuse category for "ageplay" could be reworded to "sexual ageplay" (answer, no) and an issue for a friend who had their account put on hold for age verification because someone freaked and though kid avvie = real kid on the MG. I also got Kaylee's bear.

A bit later, it was off to Jack Linden's office hours. Unfortunately, Jack was having some DNS troubles with his ISP, and was unable to make it. I had IMed him while we waited, just to see if he was on but busy (he wasn't). Harmony Linden did stop by to let us know, and hung out with all of us while we rezzed things like ad farm signage, sculpty noobs, and a toilet. All in good fun, mind you. Also, Dita Linden was in the building, so I got her bear.

(Aside: I did an informal count of my bears the other night. Would you believe it? I have over 250 of them. I gotta do some inventory cleaning!)

A bit later, Jack IMed me to apoligize for earlier, and we had a nice little conversation.

Later still, I decided to head to Prospero Linden's office hours, and buzzed through Linden Village on my way there. Saw Alexa Linden and Bridie Linden during that time. Also, Dante Linden was hanging out at Prospero's, so I got to pester him for a bear -- shame he doesn't have one yet.

Finally, later in the evening, after school, Rodney Linden came by HardKnock Academy due to a concierge request by the sim owner. The sim was acting funny -- I'm not sure, but I think the orca riding in the halls did't help. I asked for a bear, but he probably missed the request.

Anyway...

The easiest way to spot a Linden inworld is to go to their office hours. You can find the schedule for those here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours

You'll also spot them, from time to time, in Linden Village -- the sims running from Denby to Beaumont, as well as Grasmere, Hawkshead, and Ambleside. Bear in mind that many idle there and might not respond, or might be otherwise occupied.

You might otherwise spot them at some bigger events and, rarely, simply in passing. They're out there, though.

I find it odd that now they must be searched for. There was a time when you would just run into them, usually at a WA. Could easily carry on conversations with a Linden at the old, old Ahern WA. Ya, I can understand that its much busier now but one did feel a part of SL then that is now sadly gone forever.

GODWIN ALERT.......


And at one time, you could find a Stormtrooper on just about any street in Berlin, until one day, they all decided to just hang out in Der Bunker..........

QFT !!

*nods* I agree, heartily. If it wasn't a welcome area, you'd often find one sitting in a Linden sandbox, puttering around with the build tools to impress the noobs. They were always approachable. For the most part, they were there to show us what SL could do and to give it the more human perspective (even if some of them weren't human in appearance).

Back in the day, I'd get on the Live Help channel and ask a Linden to come out and deal with a griefer at the chalet. While explaining to the noobs to sit on the cages to get out and walk them through filling out ARs. I had the odd amusement of watching one Linden being shot at by a mech griefer there. *snerks* He got one warning to stop.. and it did, although not in the way the griefer wanted.

But now there are so freaking many of us compared to how many Lindens. I feel for them, I really do.

For them personally yes. But as a company, the consequences of wide open expansion are now coming to bear.

I think there are distinct "generations" of residents who just can't quite imagine what life was like for their predecessors. I feel that way, and I think it's because I started just before the floodgate of free/NPIOF accounts opened and the population skyrocketed for a while. (Yeah, a lot of alts got created, but there were a huge number of new users at that time, too. At least on a percentage-growth basis, it was totally different from how relatively stagnant it's become now.)

So, I've never had any expectations of seeing Lindens in-world except by seeking them out, as at their office hours. And I don't feel abandoned or anything.

Lest this contribute to my reputation as a fanboy suck-up, it's not that I think everything LL does is wonderful or anything: At best, they "move in mysterious ways." But on the particular topic of unplanned face-time with Lindens, it would just never occur to me that it could be any different than it is--which I think is a "generational thing."

In the early days during beta and the year that followed, seeing Lindens and interacting with them was extremely common. Many of the original beta residents went on to become Lindens themselves. With the vast size of the grid now I don't find it unusual that I don't bump into them anymore, but I do really miss having Lindens participating in the forums. There was a time when even Philip was a forum regular. That changed as the population started to expand exponentially as did the forum population. After that, any time Linden said anything on the forum, no matter how innocuous, they were met with considerable abuse.