Any Solution?

Despite having "Mature Content" off in my About Land, my land's advert does NOT show in search with Mature Content off. This is adversely affecting sales, and is not fair for those who bought mature land versus those with PG land.

1) What is the point of this checkbox if it does nothing?
2) What are other people doing about this, is there any work around? Am I missing anything?
3) Is this a intended change, or is this a bug?
4) Do I have to waste a ton of money moving to PG land because of broken functionality?

Any suggestions of how to proceed, anyone?

Maybe someone will come up with something that works. I'm trying.

EDIT: OK, maybe you don't have signatures turned on and can't see my blatant ad below. I'm under the impression many people don't display signatures.

Meanwhile vote for a feature change VOTE!

1) What is the point of this checkbox if it does nothing?

I believe that there are plans to make parcels searchable via the web, which is probably why that checkbox exists on your parcel.

If you're referring to the mature checkbox on the Places Search, that filters out all or includes all parcels in mature "regions" or "sims" not on a parcel by parcel basis.

There was a recent change that resulted in the Places Search defaulting to not searching mature regions/sims, hotly debated, you'll find several threads if you do a quick forums search.

2) What are other people doing about this, is there any work around? Am I missing anything?

A method some are using is to buy a small parcel in a PG area and redirect customers to their main store from there.

3) Is this a intended change, or is this a bug?

It seems to be a deliberate change, unless LL has clarified more recently and I missed it. Whether or not LL will reconsider this change is rather uncertain.


4) Do I have to waste a ton of money moving to PG land because of broken functionality?

I would be cautious, PG land is at a premium at the moment because of this.

Hope this helps some!

...

Hey Darius...

This is something I'd asked in another thread as well. No one really answered me...I don't know if anyone knows.

I really hate this change, it's caused my business to take an EXTREME dip in sales, to the point of my considering shutting down.

I don't want to, but I don't know if I can continue the fees.

I hope it's just a bug and not a permanent change where we'll all need to move to PG.

Hoping this gets fixed soon!!!

Elle74

Only thing you can do really is place a classified with very good keywords. My business took a big dip too, but the classified has brought me a little back on track again. Not at levels before 1.14, but well enough.

I read that.

I also read the comments following.

Torley points to something internal called "SL-40097 - "Mature content" checkbox is broken -- fix it or remove it"

Where do I find that thing?

Because from what Torley is saying, I fear that they may be planning to hide the Classified ads on mature land, as well - regardless of their content?

coco

I'm not sure that anything in a mature rated sim should show on a non-inclusive-of-mature search.

You might only sell happy bunny avs, but your store might be right next door to a giant orgy club with really see through windows. People have a right not to be ambushed by stuff they thought they were avoiding by choosing not to search for anything in mature regions.

I posted one week ago something about filtering search with mature content based on parcel setting of mature/non mature instead of region.
Now if a region in mature, it doesn't matter whether you set non mature in your parcel. Region is mature = places won't be shown by default search (if you dn't check the search even in mature) indipendently on single parcels settings.

have a look:

/327/55/175162/1.html

Well... I moved my main store to a PG sim - I wanted to move away from where I was anyway - and my traffic jumped immediately. Then I put in a money tree and it doubled.

I'm not saying this to kick you when you're down - I too watched my traffic at my main store drop, while the traffic and sales at my smaller annex store that was already in a PG region surpassed that of the main store. If you don't want to move, you might consider putting in one of the networked money trees - the ones where new folks get the HUDs and surf - that is, if new folks are your target audience.

Link: http://www.slboutique.com/index.php?p=buy&phrase=money%20tree&n=1&itemid=133375

AND most importantly - not having the mature checkbox checked WILL help you in the classified search. If it's too expensive to move to a PG sim, you might put a little more money into your classified and choose your keywords carefully so more people will find you that way.

The lesson I learned from all of this is that more people use the places search to find stores than I previously thought.

What is their problem here and why the hell would they want to hide their paying customers?? I can't believe it. I'm not paying LL extra tier because of this just to move to a PG sim.

Good idea, except if you're selling stuff which is kinda ... mature

And as for erecting a money tree ... I noticed that people are mostly TP'ing in and out again very fast around these contraptions. Isn't this dragging down the sim (hard on the neighbours) while not leading to increased sales?

Granted, my solution only fixes the problem of showing up in Places, but I'd really like to try it out and see if it works. What if I offer the first week free to the first one to sign up? At this point I'm more interested in seeing if the workaround works than in getting filthy rich

Answer to number 4 is I think so. I wish we were told in advance that this would happen.

You could move in a couple of days without any costs but reduced sales from having no land temporarily while you buy some PG for the same or less than your mature lot is worth.

My sim actually runs very well compared to others I've been in, and the casino across the street has around a dozen camping chairs. I don't see the money tree impacting performance at all. Not that I would be terribly bothered by lagging the casino campers - but I wouldn't put something in my own store that would impact performance for my customers.

In my newbie money tree picking days, I actually did patronize the stores that gave me free money, and bookmarked the ones I liked so I could revisit them when I had more money. I find that it does lead to increased sales, because under our current traffic-based system, more visitors = higher traffic numbers, which brings my store higher up in the places search and attracts the attention of more customers that are searching for my type of products.

By the way, if anyone's interested in moving to a PG area, the camping casino across the street just went up for sale. I think the price is a way too high, but it's a nice location.

There is a whole business for sale right next to me, too but I suspect the price is too high.

I have a feeling the reduced visibility of stuff on mature land was intended.

Since LL isnt reasponsible for people's contnet - the fact that content for sale wasnt really "mature" is besides the point.

Hi Colette, as pointed out earlier there were some threads on this a short while back. What I remember of a quoted extract of the official blog, LL were proposing a more fragmented classification of content parcel by parcel connected with this disabling by default.

What they have in fact done is simply the disabling by default, sabotaging any non-mature content providers who have built on mature land - not the complete package by any means

I stopped beleiving LL's damage control press a long time ago.

I suspect by the time this rolls around, what your going be allowed to do - is simply choose how "MATURE" your stuff is. Youll still be in the Mature main catagory.

I dont think you will be able to go back to advertizing in a range where people will see you by defualt.

Probably the most important thing for everyone to remember is that Linden Labs has reserved the right to change anything, any time, for any reason. As a company, they are mostly interested in their self-preservation. We are free to adapt or "die. I guess it's just the hard cold reality of this world. I had considered putting more money into SL and expanding my business into other areas. However, since LL is so god-like and unpredictable, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in recent weeks/months, I have changed my mind. I just don't need that kind of stress.

It appears that for whatever reason, they are trying to sanitize SL - probably to draw in the masses. What doesn't make sense to me, though, is that they don't offer more PG land for sale, if their practices are going to make PG land more desirable. I'm sure that the wheels are turning in California though, and all will be revealed in due time. Not that it will help at that point.

Then the Classifieds should not allow you to check your goods as non-mature, and thus show up even when mature is not checked off.

Which would be awful! Which is what I'm afraid Torley is talking about doing. I've had plenty of experience now in LL talking about something in a way that sounds helpful, just before they do something terrible. It's almost like they latch onto something someone says, and immediately use it as a segue into the horrible thing they are planning. May not be the case here, but I've seen it enough times so that my alarm radar goes up.

Anyway, isn't most land in SL mature? Probably the whole reason for it isn't to sanitize SL so much as it is to reduce queries to Search. Which, I believe, is in turn necessary so that all the bots can thrive.

coco

Think your exactly right about the classifieds.

Im about 90% convinced the classified fix will make it so if the ads tied to mature land the Mature check for classified is always checked

I think the sanitize is on the horizon, not the near term-- but well see. There will be increased demand for PG land soon. A clamor for more of it. A cycle started ..

I do not - absolutely do NOT - consider it sanitizing.

I consider it a sneaky, spineless way to reduce load on the database.

So that the BOTS can have a FIELD DAY ripping everyone else off. "Oh, gee, duh, it's a bot! That means it's good!"

And so they can cram in as many free rubberneckers as they can to a failing system to prop up their idiotic numbers.

As for setting up a satellite point on PG land, I have had the 16m that Desmond so kindly gave me to use for what, over a week now?

It helps a little, but not enough. I figured out today that is probably because it has a traffic of 4.

I really don't think I can continue to limp along like this.

It is so INCREDIBLY FRICKIN FRUSTRATING, because I have written to Lindens, and I wrote again today to Robin, and it is like talking to a frickin BRICK WALL. One Linden got back to me with the usual, "It's not my department," and "I'm sorry you feel this way," etc.

I have a whole half sim in a nice sim, and have had land there for two years come July, I believe, slowly building it up.

That they would flat out HIDE PEOPLE is just a total freaking slap in the face.

CHARGE US THE SAME but hide us. Because we are stuck on their mature sims which they never SAID would be hidden. When most of what they HAVE is mature.

Most of what they have is mature, so what better fell swoop to cut database queries than to hide everything on mature?

It pisses me off absolutely no end to know that they have smugly flipped a switch that WRECKS MY BUSINESS, and that they will smugly KEEP IT THAT WAY, because they DO NOT CARE.

In fact, I'm starting to think they never did care, and that was all an act in the first place. They really don't give two flying hoots in hell what they do to people.

As for this business about improved granularity in the future, does anyone here actually BELIEVE THAT? 99% of what they say is going to happen in the future never does.

I think they decide to do something that's awful, then they think up what they COULD do, if they were at all responsible, that would mitigate it, and promise they will do that "later." But since they don't really care about it at all, and no one will EVER care enough to decide they "want" to work on it (the Tao of Linden), it's just a bunch of empty talk, but they figure since they at least thought up what they SHOULD do, then that's enough.

We will get this improved granularity when hell freezes over.

You know, this is the first place I have ever come into which advertises one thing on the one hand, then uses the other hand to take away every last bit of it.

coco

P.S. AND to get people to buy islands.

To me, it's incredibly sad that LL is willing to sacrifice the long-term businesspeople like Coco in order to bring in more drive-by tourists to boost the numbers. I realize that I am very fortunate that I have a newer business, with a smaller amount of land, that I was easily able to pick up and move to a PG region when this happened. Though I am pleased that my business is starting to flourish, I feel very badly for the people behind the older businesses at whose expense I am now profiting.

It's a culture shift. Out with the old, in with the new. The new people didn't know SL without bots and corporations and freebie throwaway accounts. They weren't here during the days of first land and higher account stipends that made being premium worthwhile. They're probably more willing to get with LL's program and support the chasing of almighty dollar. I feel like I came in during a transitional time, and I see older residents - the ones who made SL into an interesting place that drew me in - getting fed up and getting out. Things change so fast here. I'll be a dinosaur myself before too long.

I've started selling off my land, piecemeal. The small prim parts have been listed now. I'll sell the rest when I finish my current build - it's sitting there unlinked now.

It's a shame - a year and a half of working and slowly building up this shop, in such a nice Sim, half a sim of it. Roadside, everything.

I'm not going to slip further and further into costly obscurity waiting for LL to do something about this. I'd rather not have a shop, and just get the hell out. In any case, I can't go on this way.

coco

P.S. Now that I'm done being mad, I think I'll cry.