Notecards

Ok, self-disclosure here - I am a newbie (btw, when do you STOP being a newbie?? Is there a commonly accepted age when you graduate to non-newbie status??)

My question is... how do you communicate with someone in SL without using IM? If I have a lengthy message for someone who is offline, I don't want to boink them with a million IM's once they come back on.

I was hoping I could put something in a notecard perhaps? and send to them somehow.

Telegram, SL email, snail-mail letter?? Help me out here, folks...

Oh, an of course the follow-up.... if the notecard is the way to go, how precisely do I go about doing that???

Meggy

It's not uncommon to put longer stuff into a notecard and give it to the other person. It has the added advantage that it won't be capped, unlike IM's which can be important if trying to get in touch with a busy person.

To give it to them open up their profile and drop the notecard from your inventory onto the bit that says something like "Drag inventory here" or something (not in world right now so I can't check the exact wording)

Also, leave them an IM saying you sent a notecard. Dropping a notecard on someone who's offline will send off an e-mail message saying "Name Here has offered you inventory. Log in to accept.", but that's really easy to miss and upon login there is nothing that will tell you that you received one.

Thanks... I remember where it say's drop inventory here.. on the profile

but... how do I actually construct a notecard??

And.. again, forgive my newbie-ishness, but is it PREFERRED by most experienced SL'ers to get IM's or notecards for longer messages when they are offline?

I feel like such a bloomin' idiot on some of this stuff, really appreciate the help

Meggy

Thanks, that is helpful - don't want it to get missed!!

In inventory, go to Create>New Notecard. It'll pop up on screen, type in the info, then save and close. Find it in inventory and right-click, rename to something more descriptive than 'New Notecard.' Send.

PERFECT

And, again, is there a preferred method for communication when one is in-world, but the other isn't?

Am I doomed to permanent newbiehood since these seemingly easy tasks are escaping my mental grasp????

Meggy

I think that's probably just up to personal preference . If it's a content creator/seller, I imagine they might prefer notecards because it lets them read through those at their own pace, if it's a friend you could just ask which they like better.

I'm somewhat lazy and I prefer two-way conversation, so if I need to tell someone something that won't fit into one IM I'll leave them a "remind me to tell you about 'summary'". That way if I forget to mention it, I can share the blame .

As has been my experience in the forums...

You have all been most helpful. Very much appreciated, thank you!!

Meggy

There's no hard and fast rule for when to IM vs when to use a notecard, but circumstances will usually let you know which works.

If you're sending important information that the recipient may need to read again for reference, then a notecard is the way to go.

Example: I had a fairly involved customer request for a skin designer, so I used a notecard to detail my question to her.

But if you're sending information that someone can read through once, even a fairly long IM will work just fine.

Example: The designer replied in a series of long IMs. Her basic answer was straightforward (she already had the product I was asking for) and the rest was just commentary and chat.

I don't think this qualifies you for 'newbiehood.' lol If you haven't had a reason to use something until recently, it probably won't be obvious how to do it. Just like in RL, there are opportunities to learn or explore something new every day...and that's a very good thing.

You stop being a newbie when you are older then me.

Just kidding.

Sorta.


Notecards are the easiest way to give long messages. The plus side to them is if something goes wrong and the person that it was sent to doesn't receive it, it is easy to resent the card.

Kinda like when I was a kid and my mom wouldn't let me do something my sister could, and she'd say "she's older than you",,,, well, HELL she'll ALWAYS be older than me!!

Now I just let her go first and say.... "Age before beauty!"... lol

Meggy (the prettier one! )

Second Life merchants often get their IMs capped on a daily basis, so as a matter of course I always put my question/request in a notecard (with my name in the filename and in the note itself) and drop it on them, and also send an IM saying, "Hey I sent you a notecard with a question" just in case they haven't reached their IM limit.

If it's just friends I'm dealing with, I'll just send an IM, whether online or off- unless I've got a detailed request or story, or whatever, in which case I'll use the IM/notecard combo approach.

Simplest answer is, You are No longer a Newbie when you are answering as many, or more questions than you are asking.

Angel.

Well, crap Angel... you sound just like my mom now.

I'm never gonna grow up!!!

Talk about a killjoy...ok... so maybe I should pretend and act like I know sumthin' (which, in most cases I don't) answer a few questions, ask none, remain stupid and retain my Newbie status under a thin veil of ignorance yet proclaim to be a "non-newbie", "adult avi", "learned SL citizen" whatever the heck it would be.

As I believe that I will continue to be a life-long learner, I suppose I will have to remain a Newbie... though I was kinda hopin it was an arbitrary date, say 3 months old or some other nonsense.

Gee, thanks Angel for brightening up my day.

I can be kind of slow, but it almost seems like you were offended by Angel's answer. She was just saying that there is no fixed date of newbie expiry. The evolution from a n00b to just a resident happens as you learn, and is essentially complete once you find yourself in the role as occasional 'helper' instead of just 'helped.'

In a world as big and complex as SL, we'll all have questions sometimes. But there does come a day where you know enough to confidently live day-to-day on the grid.

No, really, not "offended", merely wishin' I was more helper than helpee.. Though on some subjects I am becoming quite knowledgeable and have helped several now in-world... so perhaps I am graduatin' though I will probably continue to ask more than answer.

How 'bout I say I'm in adolescence, but still kinda' a newbie. Maybe a New-scence.... heeeeyyyy that doesn't sound too good....

Meggy

I guess I graduated at some point.. I found myself explaining why some poseballs don't always load, and what's going on that's causing that.

When did that happen?

My preferred method is to drop a notecard titled "Note@Jane Smith" into my laptop and have it delivered in Jane Smith's laptop so she can read it later. Meg Box needs to own the same laptop as I own because, unfortunately, there is nothing like the Internet Engineering Task Force to set protocol standards.

Ugh, are you talking about the vanishing poseball thing? (Where poseballs seem to vanish for some avatars, not even viewable in 'show visible' mode, and don't block your movement when non-phantom?)

There's this one poseball vendor in particular I keep having this problem with and I was, for a while, convinced that she was putting a self-detonate feature in them because the things simply vanished. Turns out other avatars were able to see and use them the whole time whereas they didn't appear in my world in AT ALL.