The Fanboi Playbook: what are your best strategies to counter?

In my view there are three sectors of population (in relevance to what I believe is the issue at hand)... that is, LL making people happy for the sake of recruitment and retention (where their money comes from) :

1. People who are not yet in to SL

2. People who are in but might not stay depending on how they like it

3. People who are addicted/committed/obsessed and probably wont leave no matter what until they switch off the servers. For the record, I class myself in this group so don't get hot about my terminology

When ever I see a video from LL its usually about 1. above. To my mind, this is good business sense in the main... get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow... but you have to get your hand on their short and curlies first.

Its hard to reach the group 2. they probably don't read the forums, they probably just play SL as occasional fun, and are not much impacted by 'How it used to be in SL' and wouldn't understand the passion we feel.

Group 3. are a done deal. Complacent it may be on LL's part to think of us like this, but, though this group may dwindle day by day as/when/if they hit the 'Last straw', mainly we stay through thick and thin.

Its important that we feel loved, us group 3s. I think so, but I am in group three.

From a recruitment angle, we are not their target for warmth... and we are not in the majority...


Imogen

I plan to respond further tomorrow, but for now:




I'm not sure from where you're getting this.

Where did I ever discuss anything to do with identifying "who is guilty"? Where did I ever discuss any particular person being "moderator of the logical fallacy", holy or otherwise?

Where did I advocate ANY classifications of particular individuals?




If some reader feels that an argument that has been advanced is a fallacious one, are you saying they should not be permitted to express the view that it is a fallacious one?

???

As you've made an unsupported accusation here, and since I don't know what your schedule for getting back to the Forums might be, I ought not wait until tomorrow to ask you to support your claim.

Obviously you cannot be claiming that the three Bad Arguments listed in my OP have never been made in the Blogs, or, indeed, in these Forums. Such a claim is too easily disproved.

So, what IS your claim? And can you support it in any way?


Also: the term "addiction" would surely imply use of Straw Man in more than one thread, wouldn't it? So if you are going to attempt to support this portion of your claim, we will need evidence indicative of "addiction". Given that a well-accepted definition of "addiction" is "Addiction is a dependence on a behavior or sub-stance that a person is powerless to stop", to support your claim, you surely would need to demonstrate, at a minimum, that all or most of my posts contain Straw Man claims.


We both know that you will not be able to support either the major claim or the rather clumsy ad hominem attack concerning "addiction".

So, what was your purpose in typing what you did?

...If I didn't know better, I'd think your aim was to provide a very useful compendium of Bad Arguments, so as to aid me in making my point!

Hi Imogen,

I think you're right in that LL, like most businesses, tend to segment their product portfolio and customer base.

Ok, some on these forums will throw their hands up in horror and cry "we are not a number", and thats fine and I agree.. but still, let's just play with the cards we're dealt.

Let's assume LL is run by at least some old MBA types and try to read their minds by segmenting ourselves.

Ok, let's hack the old Boston Matrix and see where we should position some of the groups you mention, by using a revenue share/potential revenue growth continuum to create 4 segments with accepted strategies;

Dogs.
------
Low revenue contribution/low potential revenue growth. These are the canine version of 'real turkeys!'. They do not generate cash for the company, they tend to absorb it.

Cash Cows.
--------------
High revenue contribution/slow potential revenue growth. Cash Cows generate more than is invested in them.

Problem Children.
---------------------
Low revenue contribution/but High potential revenue growth. They consume resources and generate little in return initially, but given investment these may generate high revenues in the future.

Stars.
-------
High revenue contribution/High potential revenue growth. Stars tend to generate high amounts of income.


The idea obviously would be to create a mix of the above, thus securing both the present and the future.

Your perspective is that people on these forums represent Cash Cows and that's why we aren't given the attention we deserve.

My guess is that LL see most people on these forums as Dogs, they contribute little in the grand scheme of things and are likely to contribute less in the future.

The only redeeming quality of dogs in the business sense is that they may be cute and cuddly and welcoming to the other three segments.

Please note, I'm not agreeing with any of this, just speculating on LL's thought process.

But if it was me, just me.. I'd think about completely changing perceptions, showing the worth of a different model, or at least try not to appear so much like yappy little pickingnese.

I don't know where this term came from and I think it's particularly tacky and it certainly would be helpful if it vanished from everyone's vocabulary. However, I do think you're reacting rather strongly to it and are focussing on that particular word to the point of martyrdom. I got called a Linden quisling over there once, that made me laugh I must say.

What is most interesting is that you're telling us the blog population fear change. If that's the case then it's interesting you're turning on the new arrivals and blaming them for fearing change and being rowdy about it. Inconsistencies abound!

The saddest day for LL will be the day people no longer complain despite the problems. It means they've given up on the company and that's a day I don't want to see.

fanboi's just haven't been around long enough / experienced enough of the labs to become like us In time they will be just like us

Hi Stephen




I think this is what my post was implying.. and I think its what Desmond Shang was saying in his long post earlier... asking us to look at ourselves realistically, how we are seen, how we are able to influence - where our power lies and what attitude we need to take.

I think its a mistake to believe that we in this forum group can expect to 'deserve' any special consideration or that we can make an impact by snapping at their ankles.

I like the point you make Stephen about the influence we might have with other sectors... I think that is, and has been through this forum, our main power.

Can we be influential in the new forum/blog? That's up to us.

Imogen

Some will. But some...

... well, take the first few comments on the "Upgrading the Forums" announcement, at https://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/8396. It mostly sounds like a gospel choir warming up for "Oh Happy Day." Thing is, I know some of these folks. They really are that welcoming of any f'd-up move LL may make.

And it's not that they haven't been shat upon yet. Some of these folks were former Mentors--it's hard to imagine a more Linden-abused group at this point.

It's like Stockholm Syndrome, or some codependent relationship with an abuser.

4. People who were in SL, maybe for a long time, and still have accounts and maybe land, maybe lots of land, but don't spend any more time in SL than it takes to clear IMs, respond to a customer, etc, and are waiting for their enthusiasm to return or an SL competitor to come along or the courage to just sell off everything. Or maybe they have sold off everything and are now just hanging out in the forum occasionally making a post about how they wish things were like they used to be.

Like me



But group 4 does. Maybe more SLU than here.

Never fight a land war in Asia.

Thank you. Next player?



You think that is a LOT? Put a few more zeros on that then talk to people here. Between being an officer at some places, managing events, and my own land I wind up keeping a separate email folder JUST for ARs. Then there is needing to file multiple ARs before something will get done.




Griefing ARs are a special case and get handled quickly (well, usually). As to other ARs - it is a widely known fact that the more people that file an AR for whatever the better chance of it getting looked at (although even then it is not unusual for them to take >month to remedy the smallest little thing).



LOL!!!!!!
Live Chat peeps have absolutely NO power, all they can do is the equivalent of telling you to reboot your computer. I have contacted them about open tickets and their response is 'submit a ticket'.



Umm, yes, because as you stated you rarely use it. Not to mention that I do not think you will find any positive experiences at all representative if we were to take a poll. You are the ONLY person I have yet to hear praise Linden support and we have been inworld about the same length of time.

Play for the win at Home, and the tie on the road.

Peggy, you are probably right that this is not the place to get LL's attention to our perceived grievances. But neither is sitting in a bar and griping about the government. But we all do that. It's called venting. It keeps us from doing irrational things sometimes, restores perspective.

The use of fanboi is interesting. You are, but so are most of the people venting here. Why? Because they stay with SL, and keep investing money, time and emotion into, despite their disguist at LL. You are SL fanbois, but not necessarily LL fanbois.

It is probably better that they vent here, and get it out of their system before they move to the Blogorama.

I've had great experiences with support...most of the time.

I also agree with 75% of LL's decisions. When I don't agree, I figure the best road forward is to adapt my business as quickly as possible to the changing environment.

Sometimes I whine, like anybody else.

Mostly, I expect change. People sit and throw hissy fits that LL isn't doing anything and then they don't it when they do something. It's a no win situation for them. Everybody thinks they know how the platform should be run and which are the right decisions. Except everybody is not looking at the raw numbers, the bank accounts, the logins, the real statistics and the possibilities. All most people see is their own little corner of SL and their own needs.

Just accept that you are selfish, resistant to change, and think you know better how to run a business than LL does. That makes you human, along with a whole lot of US based people who are going to sit on their couches today and armchair coach the Super Bowl. You don't know until you are sitting in M's chair and have to make decisions that are going to keep a couple hundred people employed for another few years during a Depression.

That's all I had to say.

/brushes Breakfast crumbs off her Ann O'Toole Official LL Sycophant badge on her SL Power User vest.


Peace. All. See ya on the next forum, blog, group communication thingy, whatever.

You don't need to be a business major to see that pissing off your existing users is not the brightest move. People remember bad business moves for a lot longer than good business moves, LL seem to only take plaudits from those who thank them for a move, that's all they listen to.

We have M spouting that the adult content move has made the platform into a more predictable experience, it's BS, major BS, those directly impacted know this but M doesn't want to know.

Working with us, rather than against us would make life a lot easier, I'm not expecting them to please all of the people all of the time but they make some shocking decisions, the homestead issue was another one, it was amazingly awful, you simply don't do that to your customers, they were told and told and told that something was amiss, they ignored it as they counted the USD$ from sales until such a point that someone at the lab said "Hey there's an issue here" and then LL, instead of taking a responsible move, blamed their customers. This was an awful move.

They won't keep getting away with this, they have to grow up.

The Depression is over. Mr Obama made it so.

Since most of the whiners are still in SL, I would say they have adapted and aren't resisting change. Those that haven't have probably left. Once again, everything you say is true, but it is Human Nature. Of course everyone has opinions on what SL should and could be. That's what gives it it's life. And plenty of companies have made business decisions that have turned out to be disastrous for them and their product.

A lot of times it's nt the decision that gets people riled up, but how they go about implementing them .SL is different than most consumer products. You buy a washer from Maytag, you buy it and use it. For the most part, the end user has no real input on the product development. In SL, the users are the product in many ways. They have a direct impact on it every day.

I think most perople would be a lot less angry withh LL if they would at least show that they do care about it's customers opinions sometimes. Of course they are going to mke their plans according to their objectives. But stop lying, speaking in cloaked corpro babble,and give straight answers. If they can't give answers for business reaons, then say nothing.

This is something that has struck me as odd the very few times I've read a few of the posts on the blogorum (and I do admit it is a limited view of a few posts and a few people)...

...when the new blog first began, I read some of the threads and didn't recognize one name until the last month or so. Now I don't expect to recognize even a fraction of all the people in SL and, as we all know, it's a small fraction of SL residents who post on the forums or even know it exists.

My puzzlement is - the people who began posting on the new blogs seem to be longer-term residents, basing this on many having businesses, etc., thus are not newcomers to SL. To me, this begs the question of why they haven't posted on these forums when they were the only SL ones in existence? It has been my experience in any venue that forum-type people find forums. It was one of the first things I did after joining SL. I'm not saying no one on the new blogs never posted here, but my scanning shows lots and lots of names I've never seen.

Where did all the people who see "us" as a threat (which for the life of me I can't figure why...we are all in the same virtual world after all) come from? If "they" (just using these terms for clarity of location) had been posting on these forums, then while we may not like the new blogs due to any number or reasons, as people we would have been moved over together, not feeling like we're entering a new neighborhood.

I'm asking this as a serious question - anyone have any ideas on this?

Call me arrogant but in all the years I've been swanning around blue chips (and some start ups), I have never seen an organisation act against its own financial self interest as LL does.

I'm even extremely confident that I could improve current profitability per user (without any extra pocket dipping), improve the quality of the platform and even restore the goodwill of the more disenchanted elements of their user base.

meh

My guess a lot of them came from the SLX forums and moved when it was absorbed by LL.

Or they have been here, as alts, maybe.

I've been wondering that too. I never recognised any of the names from the old blog (does anyone remember the wed shutdown?) or any of the other fora around, nor do I recognise their names from inworld.

It may be some are from the original forum here years ago and decided to give the blog a try and stayed but I would have expected some name recognition.

Agreed. I've worked in customer service and retail jobs, and the one I am in now requires customer contact. LL is horrid at communicating and dealing with it's customers. At least the regular ones. I bet they roll out the red carpet for the Enterprise crowd.

Good point, Brenda, as I've only just stayed in these forums.

Couldbe, glad I'm not the only one this has puzzled.

never went their either, since I've never used it.

I understand. But I am just asking that you all don't walk in there with a chip on your shoulder. I can't preach that - I have a few chips, myself.....but I can ask that you try. I try really, really hard and fail some times.

I've read there enough to know, that there are people just like you there. I really don't see that big of a divide. There are a few who participate more often than others. So you may think that their views are the majority views, and they are not....they are just repeated more often. It also might be a reflection of which blog you spend more time in - I'm usually reading the commerce blog.

But dealing with the tags that were applied based on only one issue, I find it hard to participate, because you feel inclined to spend half of your response explaining why that tag should not be placed on you.....and that is what messes up a pretty good discussion. When you discourage people from participating like that....you're missing out. Not saying that my participation is worthwhile to anyone....but some others comments were very helpful to me, for business....and they were being consistently tagged. I saw them slow down on participation, and that's not cool....they had good insight, regardless of which side of the fence you were on.

And I'm confused on why you're not able to "discuss" in the general answers section. They certainly allowed for extended discussions in the commerce section. I suppose it's about content, and how that reflects on LL. But there were a few "discussions" in the commerce section that lasted forever, and were not exactly glowing recommendations on the LL business model.

Just saying....go in, and be yourself, and don't worry about the framework already set up. It will change. But will hardly be productive, if half the "discussion" they do allow is based on 2 divides (which I really don't see)....and having to do major defensive mode on your own persona, when it's the "issue" that should be discussed. Heaven knows I can't counsel on that.....just suggest that an attempt be made.

In the discussions where I was repeatedly called a fanboi and cheerleader and elitist, as were a few others....tried very hard not to resort to that tactic in reverse. It's tough to stick to...but if you don't, they may be inclined to not allow much "discussion" at all, period, ever. If it were my company, this month....I would just pull the plug on all discussion. Rah Rah.

Weren't you called a Bitch there as well?