Second Life Forums Archive

Doctor Hickman

Registered User

Join date: 16 Oct 2006

Posts: 15

06-29-2007 05:38

Is there an article in the Knowledgebase or Wiki that explains how the traffic figure for a sim is arrived at. Or can someone briefly explain. Thanks.

Jessica Elytis

Goddess

Join date: 7 Oct 2005

Posts: 1,783

06-29-2007 06:28

If you figure it out, come let us know *Grins*

Seriously though, LL's "official" explaintion was that there is a complex equation based on the % of an accounts time spent in areas visited over a 24 hour period, based on a number determined by how old that account is.

Others have tried to figure it out and some have said it's simply determined by how many minutes an account spends in the area (time per traffic point vary from 1 per minutes to 1 per 10 mintues).

With the haze around this due to lack of a simple concise explaination from LL (I'll hold my breath for that one), most of us have simply gone with the comparrison method for looking at traffic, or (like me) simply ignore the traffic numbers anyway.

People use camping devices and alt accounts to generate false traffic numbers anyway. So while some very poorly designed/organized places rate high in traffic, other very well built places which are absolutely fantastic to visit, have fairly low to middle range traffic.

On average, anything with 3000-15,000 is a popular place. Anything over 20,000 is either a very popular place or a falsly generated number. These numbers are simply my opinion and are not based on actual data, only my feelings and experiences.

All in all, Taffic is about as useful as massage oil for a porcupine.

~Jessy

_____________________

When your friend does somethign stupid:

From: Aldo Stern

Dude, you are a true and good friend, and I love you like the brother that my mom claims she never had, but you are in fact acting like a flaming douche on white toast with a side order of dickknob salsa..maybe you should reconsider this course of action and we go find something else to do.

Paulo Dielli

Symfurny Furniture

Join date: 19 Jan 2007

Posts: 780

06-29-2007 06:59

From: Jessica Elytis

All in all, Taffic is about as useful as massage oil for a porcupine.

Sure, but nevertheless traffic count prevents good store from listing high in search. Does anyone know what the status is? Will traffic count be removed by LL or was this just a rumour?

Kitty Barnett

Registered User

Join date: 10 May 2006

Posts: 5,586

06-29-2007 07:17

From: Paulo Dielli

Will traffic count be removed by LL or was this just a rumour?

It should be gone when LL rolls out the new search functionality, which was due to be released Q2 2007.

Don't hold your breath

.

Actual comments:

From: someone

http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/12/20/town-hall-with-cory-introductory-transcript/

[15:15] Jeska Linden shouts: Chalky White: Do you have a technical fix imminent for the camping/clubs making their neighbors land permnanently unusable?
[15:15] Cory Linden: a question about camping chairs making land unstable… we are looking to change dwell to eliminate the benefits of camping chairs.

From: someone

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/03/transcript-cory-linden-town-hall/

Lewis Nerd: When can we expect to see “Traffic” removed? It serves no purpose, is entirely inaccurate and gamed, and most likely adds to many other problems we have
Cory Linden: Removing the current traffic metric is part of the new search project, so the goal is to pull it as soon as possible.

Travis Lambert

White dog, red collar

Join date: 3 Jun 2004

Posts: 2,819

06-29-2007 09:35

Prior to version 1.1 of what was then called 'Linden World' (October 2003), objects called 'Voting Booths' were used to determine which locations were popular and which ones were not. You may even see them still around today, or given out as a freebie - but, alas, they're long-since defunct.

Once version 1.1 was relased, Linden switched to a system called 'Dwell', and made those old voting booths obsolete.

In the 9/29/2003 Town Hall, Nova Linden & Haney Linden explain how Dwell is supposed to work:

From: Nova Linden

Nova Linden: How does traffic measurement work?
Nova Linden: As you may or may not know, we will be using the dwell system. This is a very basic set-up, so allow me a moment to explain.... Say Sally Jumpingjack is on for 20 minutes. She spends five minutes at a friends place, and then another 15 at one of the amusement park destinations. She has a certain amount of points each day. So Sally's friend would receive 25% of those points, and the person who owned the land at the amusement park area she was at 75% - make sense?

...And another clarification:

From: Haney Linden

Surina Skallagrimson: What time resolution will the dwell meter have? Does a person have to stay for a second or 5 minutes to be counted?
Haney Linden: Minimum of 5 minutes.

...And finally, in Unison:

From: Nova Linden and Haney Linden

Nova Linden : I'd like to take a moment to define dwell to everyone if I may.

This won't take long, I just want to give everyone an idea of what dwell will be like! So, Jenny Hurtzdonut is exploring one day. She has about an hour to check things out. Jenny decides to come over to Lindenworld and stays on a plot for 15 minutes. She goes to another, again it's 15 minutes, and a third for 30 minutes. Jenny has a certain amount of points (100 per day). These points would be divided among the three plots, with 25% at the first and second, and then 50% at the third.
Haney Linden: everyone has the same dwell impact, whether they are on for an hour or 10 hours
Nova Linden: Right! But they have to stay on a plot for a minimum of five minutes for it to count.

So, that's where 'Dwell' came from. Later on, in 2005 - 'Dwell' was renamed to the 'Traffic' we see today. From what I understand, this was just a title change, and not an algorhythm change. The biggest change other than the title, however - is landowners no longer got paid for their dwell once it was renamed to Traffic. (Yes - you actually used to receive money for your dwell - both in US$ and $L!)

Rumor has it that a new system for measuring the popularity of a location is in the works by Linden, and has been for some time. What form it will take is anyone's guess at this point.

Hope this helps to further clarify!

_____________________

------------------
The Shelter

The Shelter is a non-profit recreation center for new residents, and supporters of new residents. Our goal is to provide a positive & supportive social environment for those looking for one in our overwhelming world.

Kitty Barnett

Registered User

Join date: 10 May 2006

Posts: 5,586

06-29-2007 09:51

From: Travis Lambert

From what I understand, this was just a title change, and not an algorhythm change.

That's the official claim, but also not true

.

The reality today is that you can create an infinite number of alts. All you would need to do game traffic is write a proggie that logs every alt in for 5-10 minutes, lets them idle on your land and then quit. Camping chairs would be totally pointless, the land owner could game it for free with little to no hassle.

Traffic has been calculated as one point, per avie, per minute for months now. The maximum number of avies on a sim is 100 which makes for a traffic of 144000 as a maximum and if you pay any attention to popular places, you'll notice they keep their sims stuffed full and never ever go above 144k.

It's easy enough to verify for yourself if you feel it can't possibly work that way:
/327/66/157270/1.html

From: Kitty Barnett

I started thinking the knowledge base article was how traffic actually worked, the only thing I was personally curious about was how many traffic "points" an avie got assigned in a day so I logged my alt on and let it idle for about 15 minutes and logged it off. The next day the traffic read 17 which wouldn't account for places being able to get 60-80k+ worth of traffic.

Next was letting my alt idle for much longer than the original 15 minutes which according to what the Lindens keep telling, shouldn't affect the generated traffic in any way as long as it's the only place it visited that day. The next day just showed the amount of minutes I left it idle.

Next was letting it idle for 5 minutes there on the parcel and then idle for just under an hour somewhere else which if the article were true should give a negliable rating since it spent 10 times more time on the second parcel than it did the first. The result just reflected the number of minutes.

Idling along with my alt added twice as much which definitely contradicted the article since I'd be logged in for the better part of a day and only spent 10 minutes idling/testing so whatever I added should have been close to nothing, not the equal amount my alt did.

Take a look at what's on popular places at different times throughout the day, and make your own average of how many people are on the sim during the day and then multiply by 60 minutes and 24 hours and you'll get a number that's on the same order to what their traffic reads the next day.

I honestly prefer the old way, it puts greater value on social gatherings since whoever attends those isn't likely to idle online 24 hours a day and their traffic would be more valueable; with the way it seems to be right now, it doesn't matter if you attract a zombie or a live person, they're worth the exact same in terms of traffic.

Darien Caldwell

Registered User

Join date: 12 Oct 2006

Posts: 3,127

06-29-2007 12:15

From: Kitty Barnett

It should be gone when LL rolls out the new search functionality, which was due to be released Q2 2007.

Don't hold your breath

.

Actual comments:

Yes, Q2 is pretty much over, and surprise, no new search.

_____________________

Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive

Traffic Count

Traffic Count
Doctor Hickman Registered User Join date: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 15	06-29-2007 05:38 Is there an article in the Knowledgebase or Wiki that explains how the traffic figure for a sim is arrived at. Or can someone briefly explain. Thanks.
Jessica Elytis Goddess Join date: 7 Oct 2005 Posts: 1,783	06-29-2007 06:28 If you figure it out, come let us know Grins Seriously though, LL's "official" explaintion was that there is a complex equation based on the % of an accounts time spent in areas visited over a 24 hour period, based on a number determined by how old that account is. Others have tried to figure it out and some have said it's simply determined by how many minutes an account spends in the area (time per traffic point vary from 1 per minutes to 1 per 10 mintues). With the haze around this due to lack of a simple concise explaination from LL (I'll hold my breath for that one), most of us have simply gone with the comparrison method for looking at traffic, or (like me) simply ignore the traffic numbers anyway. People use camping devices and alt accounts to generate false traffic numbers anyway. So while some very poorly designed/organized places rate high in traffic, other very well built places which are absolutely fantastic to visit, have fairly low to middle range traffic. On average, anything with 3000-15,000 is a popular place. Anything over 20,000 is either a very popular place or a falsly generated number. These numbers are simply my opinion and are not based on actual data, only my feelings and experiences. All in all, Taffic is about as useful as massage oil for a porcupine. ~Jessy _____________________ When your friend does somethign stupid: From: Aldo Stern Dude, you are a true and good friend, and I love you like the brother that my mom claims she never had, but you are in fact acting like a flaming douche on white toast with a side order of dickknob salsa..maybe you should reconsider this course of action and we go find something else to do.
Paulo Dielli Symfurny Furniture Join date: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 780	06-29-2007 06:59 From: Jessica Elytis All in all, Taffic is about as useful as massage oil for a porcupine. Sure, but nevertheless traffic count prevents good store from listing high in search. Does anyone know what the status is? Will traffic count be removed by LL or was this just a rumour?
Kitty Barnett Registered User Join date: 10 May 2006 Posts: 5,586	06-29-2007 07:17 From: Paulo Dielli Will traffic count be removed by LL or was this just a rumour? It should be gone when LL rolls out the new search functionality, which was due to be released Q2 2007. Don't hold your breath . Actual comments: From: someone http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/12/20/town-hall-with-cory-introductory-transcript/ [15:15] Jeska Linden shouts: Chalky White: Do you have a technical fix imminent for the camping/clubs making their neighbors land permnanently unusable? [15:15] Cory Linden: a question about camping chairs making land unstable… we are looking to change dwell to eliminate the benefits of camping chairs. From: someone http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/03/transcript-cory-linden-town-hall/ Lewis Nerd: When can we expect to see “Traffic” removed? It serves no purpose, is entirely inaccurate and gamed, and most likely adds to many other problems we have Cory Linden: Removing the current traffic metric is part of the new search project, so the goal is to pull it as soon as possible.
Travis Lambert White dog, red collar Join date: 3 Jun 2004 Posts: 2,819	06-29-2007 09:35 Prior to version 1.1 of what was then called 'Linden World' (October 2003), objects called 'Voting Booths' were used to determine which locations were popular and which ones were not. You may even see them still around today, or given out as a freebie - but, alas, they're long-since defunct. Once version 1.1 was relased, Linden switched to a system called 'Dwell', and made those old voting booths obsolete. In the 9/29/2003 Town Hall, Nova Linden & Haney Linden explain how Dwell is supposed to work: From: Nova Linden Nova Linden: How does traffic measurement work? Nova Linden: As you may or may not know, we will be using the dwell system. This is a very basic set-up, so allow me a moment to explain.... Say Sally Jumpingjack is on for 20 minutes. She spends five minutes at a friends place, and then another 15 at one of the amusement park destinations. She has a certain amount of points each day. So Sally's friend would receive 25% of those points, and the person who owned the land at the amusement park area she was at 75% - make sense? ...And another clarification: From: Haney Linden Surina Skallagrimson: What time resolution will the dwell meter have? Does a person have to stay for a second or 5 minutes to be counted? Haney Linden: Minimum of 5 minutes. ...And finally, in Unison: From: Nova Linden and Haney Linden Nova Linden : I'd like to take a moment to define dwell to everyone if I may. This won't take long, I just want to give everyone an idea of what dwell will be like! So, Jenny Hurtzdonut is exploring one day. She has about an hour to check things out. Jenny decides to come over to Lindenworld and stays on a plot for 15 minutes. She goes to another, again it's 15 minutes, and a third for 30 minutes. Jenny has a certain amount of points (100 per day). These points would be divided among the three plots, with 25% at the first and second, and then 50% at the third. Haney Linden: everyone has the same dwell impact, whether they are on for an hour or 10 hours Nova Linden: Right! But they have to stay on a plot for a minimum of five minutes for it to count. So, that's where 'Dwell' came from. Later on, in 2005 - 'Dwell' was renamed to the 'Traffic' we see today. From what I understand, this was just a title change, and not an algorhythm change. The biggest change other than the title, however - is landowners no longer got paid for their dwell once it was renamed to Traffic. (Yes - you actually used to receive money for your dwell - both in US$ and $L!) Rumor has it that a new system for measuring the popularity of a location is in the works by Linden, and has been for some time. What form it will take is anyone's guess at this point. Hope this helps to further clarify! _____________________ ------------------ The Shelter The Shelter is a non-profit recreation center for new residents, and supporters of new residents. Our goal is to provide a positive & supportive social environment for those looking for one in our overwhelming world.
Kitty Barnett Registered User Join date: 10 May 2006 Posts: 5,586	06-29-2007 09:51 From: Travis Lambert From what I understand, this was just a title change, and not an algorhythm change. That's the official claim, but also not true . The reality today is that you can create an infinite number of alts. All you would need to do game traffic is write a proggie that logs every alt in for 5-10 minutes, lets them idle on your land and then quit. Camping chairs would be totally pointless, the land owner could game it for free with little to no hassle. Traffic has been calculated as one point, per avie, per minute for months now. The maximum number of avies on a sim is 100 which makes for a traffic of 144000 as a maximum and if you pay any attention to popular places, you'll notice they keep their sims stuffed full and never ever go above 144k. It's easy enough to verify for yourself if you feel it can't possibly work that way: /327/66/157270/1.html From: Kitty Barnett I started thinking the knowledge base article was how traffic actually worked, the only thing I was personally curious about was how many traffic "points" an avie got assigned in a day so I logged my alt on and let it idle for about 15 minutes and logged it off. The next day the traffic read 17 which wouldn't account for places being able to get 60-80k+ worth of traffic. Next was letting my alt idle for much longer than the original 15 minutes which according to what the Lindens keep telling, shouldn't affect the generated traffic in any way as long as it's the only place it visited that day. The next day just showed the amount of minutes I left it idle. Next was letting it idle for 5 minutes there on the parcel and then idle for just under an hour somewhere else which if the article were true should give a negliable rating since it spent 10 times more time on the second parcel than it did the first. The result just reflected the number of minutes. Idling along with my alt added twice as much which definitely contradicted the article since I'd be logged in for the better part of a day and only spent 10 minutes idling/testing so whatever I added should have been close to nothing, not the equal amount my alt did. Take a look at what's on popular places at different times throughout the day, and make your own average of how many people are on the sim during the day and then multiply by 60 minutes and 24 hours and you'll get a number that's on the same order to what their traffic reads the next day. I honestly prefer the old way, it puts greater value on social gatherings since whoever attends those isn't likely to idle online 24 hours a day and their traffic would be more valueable; with the way it seems to be right now, it doesn't matter if you attract a zombie or a live person, they're worth the exact same in terms of traffic.
Darien Caldwell Registered User Join date: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 3,127	06-29-2007 12:15 From: Kitty Barnett It should be gone when LL rolls out the new search functionality, which was due to be released Q2 2007. Don't hold your breath . Actual comments: Yes, Q2 is pretty much over, and surprise, no new search. _____________________