Deploys for the week of 2012-08-27

[Cincia Singh]

I've been in SL a lot longer than you and I've been paying tier 7 years. LL doesn't treat me like c**p. Of course I don't rant endlessly using profane language either. And yes LL has terms of service, you agreed to them, those are the ground rules for using their service, and if you find them burdensome and too restrictive you don't have to use the service. That's the choice you, as a consumer, have. Find another hobby if this one is so upsetting and unenjoyable. Learning the rules and playing within them doesn't make anyone a sheep, it makes them a mature adult.

[Cully Andel]

All companies have TOS and we all agree to them when we have any kind of contract with them. MOST companies will refer you to TOS in times of dispute, but if they are in anyway liable for any part of the problem, they will usually meet the customer halfway. Or at the very least, discuss the problem and reach some amicable agreement. What they DON'T do is just say 'hey you agreed to the TOS. We can do what we like,' which is unfortunately what LL do. It may not be treating people, or rather their customers badly in your book, but it most certainly is in a lot of other people's books. If I ran my business like that I'd go out of business pretty quickly, and deservedly so.

Just because a company has TOS it does not mean that they never mess up, and it does not excuse them offering a basic level of customer service and care. The only ones who will truly suffer if they don',t is them. As a member of 7 years, you must also be aware of the fact that while LL encourage new members (and nothing whatsoever wrong with that), they also do very little in deed to try to keep their more established, loyal customer base happy. Where are any incentives for us to stay?  we had a glimmer of hope when Rodvik was communicating and telling us things that were happening, but even that avenue has seemingly been closed.

Customer service is extremely important in any business. If you lose a customer it's very difficult to get them back. And what never gets taken in to account is that one customer usually takes others with them, and those people know others, who know others.......... and so it goes on. The biggest one I remember here in the UK is BT, who not so long ago had the lion's share of all telecoms business. Their customer service let them down badly, and they only realised the damage when they'd lost a huge percentage of their customer base.

So yes, ignoring your customers and just chucking TOS back at them, is treating your customers badly, and if people are being asked to pay for something they cannot use, because of an admitted error (I don't get how people keep missing this one fact), then they have a right to be angry. If your landlord spraypainted your house and accidentally used something, you'd have to find somewhere else to live. If he then said, 'I messed up but you still have to pay me the rent for the period you can't live here,' you'd have every right to think that was a little unreasonable, and be angry. This is what LL are doing. Same principal. different circumstances. If you're not affected, then you won't appreciate how angry people are, so please stop telling them they have no right to be.

[Qie Niangao]

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Cully Andel wrote:

[...] because of an admitted error (I don't get how people keep missing this one fact), [...]

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There's missing it, and then there's intentionally not making too much of a thing about it.

I hope I've been clear throughout that I really want this fixed, and I really wish LL had done a better job of spreading the word of the risk, and promptly sharing all they know with those trying to help isolate the problem and its effects.

Sure, I'd also enjoy some free tier or cash back or something, but I'm more concerned about what lesson LL takes away from this for the future.  If that lesson is to never admit anything and keep all bugs and screw-ups under wraps lest somebody threaten to unleash the lolyers, that would be much worse for me than to eat some overage charges.

In fact, I'd like LL to somehow take away from this a resolve to be more public about problems, even to actively publicize problems that affect their customers. I want to encourage every Linden communication on the subject, including admitting error.

[Ayesha Askham]

I see the Google calendar has been ammened to show that there will be no Main Server roll on Tuesday 4th September (today for me).

This, I assume, is due to Labor Day in the USA.  Main Server residents will have to wait at least one more week to see SVC-8124 eradicated.  I can only hope that the bug-fix will reach some of the RCs tomorrow (Wednesday).

It is a pity that the header post was not altered to reflect the fact that SVC-8124 fix was NOT on LeTigre this last week.

In respect of Qie's comment, I see a greater preparedness in some of the newer Lindens to communicate, perhaps they are not so jaded by the drama and flaming that occurs in the Forums.  Whatever the reason, we can only hope that a more open approach will come with time - it really must if Linden Lab are to salvage any reputation they have left.

Rod's dislike of Open-Source will only harm SecondLife, and sooner or later he MUST see that.  If he really believes that he can wrest a functional and profitable SL back from the OS community and TPV developers, he is deluded.

[Cully Andel]

If there's a way to make a bad situation even worse they find it. This is now utterly unacceptable.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

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Ayesha Askham wrote:

I see the Google calendar has been ammened to show that there will be no Main Server roll on Tuesday 4th September (today for me).

This, I assume, is due to Labor Day in the USA.  Main Server residents will have to wait at least one more week to see SVC-8124 eradicated.  I can only hope that the bug-fix will reach some of the RCs tomorrow (Wednesday).

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Come on Lindens - you only have one day's holiday yet you delay a whole week's worth of rollouts - pull your finger out and roll over the fix to the main grid.

[Theresa Tennyson]

The shore line was peaceful and flat, and the calm sea bumped it playfully along the sandy beach. In the distance a beautiful island covered with palm trees and flowers beckoned invitingly from the sparkling water.

"Nothing can possibly go wrong now," cried the Humbug happily, and as soon as he'd said it he leaped from the car, as if stuck by a pin, and sailed all the way to the little island.

"And we'll have plenty of time,'' answered Tock, who hadn't noticed that the bug was missing--and he, too, suddenly leaped into the air and disappeared.

"It certainly couldn't be a nicer day," agreed Milo, who was too busy looking at the road to see that the others had gone. And in a split second he was gone also.

He landed next to Tock and the terrified Humbug on the tiny island, which now looked completely different. Instead of palms and flowers, there were only rocks and the twisted stumps of long-dead trees. It certainly didn't seem like the same place they had seen from the road.

"Pardon me," said Milo to the first man who happened by; "can you tell me where I am?"

"To be sure," said Canby; "you're on the Island of Conclusions. Make yourself at home. You're apt to be here for some time."

"But how did we get here?" asked Milo, who was still a bit puzzled by being there at all.

"You jumped, of course," explained Canby. "That's the way most everyone gets here. It's really quite simple: every time you decide something without having a good reason, you jump to Conclusions whether you like it or not. It's such an easy trip to make that I've been here hundreds of times."

"But this is such an unpleasant-looking place," Milo remarked.

"Yes, that's true," admitted Canby; "it does look much better from a distance."

As he spoke, at least eight or nine more people sailed onto the island from every direction possible.

"Well, I'm going to jump right back," announced the Humbug, who took two or three practice bends, leaped as far as he could, and landed in a heap two feet away.

"That won't do at all," scolded Canby, helping him to his feet. "You can never jump away from Conclusions. Getting back is not so easy. That's why we're so terribly crowded here."

---- excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

We're going to have to wait for Tuesday to see what the story is. Given that there was discussion as to what would be promoted on Friday at the server meeting, that everyone knew that Labor Day was, well, Labor Day and that I can see no history of the Lab not running Tuesday rolls due to Monday holidays (i.e. they rolled the servers the Tuesday after Memorial Day) I'm a bit dubious about your assumption. 

[Ayesha Askham]

Theresa

It is not an assumption.  The Google calendar is supposed to be a means of allowing those of us that run SL businesses to plan ahead.

If you are now saying " Well the Lindens can choose to ignore the calendar and just roll when they please", then they may as well roll up the calendar and stick it where the sun don't shine.

Wait on this, wait on that...wait for Godot.  If by reading into the fact that the Tuesday roll was actually REMOVED from the calendar, I am "jumping to a conclusion", I have to say that it isn't much of a jump.

I started off snarking around at Oskar.  Then I learned more sense.  I am becoming disillusioned.  I am not alone.

[Theresa Tennyson]

You jumped to conclusions by saying ti was because of Labor Day, which Hitomi then latched onto. It's being removed implies that it was there was something TO remove, which there wouldn't have been if it was due to an annual holiday.

[Innula Zenovka]

Andrew and Simon Linden were certainly telling the Simulator User Group on Friday that 

[16:04] Andrew Linden: The Tuesday rollout will happen, baring any problems that pop up over the weekend."

So it looks to me as if there was something there to remove (probably the promotion of Bluesteel or Magnum, from what was said later in the meeting), but its removal is to do with something other than US public holidays.   Or it's been removed from the Calendar by mistake but will, in fact, go ahead as planned.

We'll know one way or the other, soon enough.

 

[Ayesha Askham]

This is tiresome.

Whenever there is a US public holiday the Google calendar has NOT shown it.  The Tuesday roll (if the holiday is a Monday, at least) is only removed a few days prior to its occurrence.

Innula's post does suggest that there was or might be another reason for the removal.  Or it might just have been a mistake...or a practical joke.

The fact is that we simply do not know.  How in God's name can we plan in situations like this??  This if there ever was an imperative is WHY LINDEN LAB NEED TO COMMUNICATE!!

Maybe someone stood in the ofice cat's bowl?

[Oskar Linden]

I appreciate that people need a place to rant, but many comments in this thread are borderline unacceptable. We work hard here and many worked over the weekend on a holiday weekend to make sure things would be ready for a Tuesday morning release. That is how we have done it every other time we've had a holiday on a Monday. I am not sure why you think it would be different this week. A showstopper blocker issue was discovered and we cannot promote it to the main channel. I am sure you can understand the need to stop issues before they reach main channel wherever and whenever we can.

__Oskar