What has happened to the Linden Blogs?

[Curious Hazelnut]

I used to love to watch the Linden blogs for news and insite into Linden Lab. It seams that the only thing left active is the Second Life Pick of the Day, and that one never interested me. I miss Torley's tutorials. I miss the monthly economy updates. I miss the hints of new continents, improvements, LDPW activites. I would really like to see a blog every month or so from the Rodvik. Even if he just talks about the toys he keeps on his desk.

I was really looking forward to Rodvik's posts about his own experience as a new user and what he thought of SL as both a newbie and the CEO. He did sort of hint at this in his very first blog post.

[Boudicca Littlebird]

Well I got out my crystal ball and cauldron out and conjured up a tiny troll to spy on him and climb in his ear to hear his thoughts, this troll tells me he is very disappointed, he was thinking that user created content could help SL grow, games mainly with limited budget he had creator tools improved, but what disappointed him were the users were unstable nuts, people so unstable you could not put a companies future on them, so he now had to steer the company into a more stable pathway of revenue, but his options are very limited because others with far more money may pip them to the post,.

Then he put his finger in his ear and killed the troll.

[Robin Sprocket]

Hey Curious,

I was just thinking the same thing a few moments ago. Back in the day the users got regular communication from the Lindens about what they were working on, what they thought was important, exciting or just a big challenge. It made it seem like the whole SL thing was something bigger, something we were part of, rather than just a "user base".

Granted, they took a lotta flak from us, as well as occasional praise, but they also knew that the users were passionate about what they did, and that has to make anyone at the lab care more. In other words, I think their lack of regular communication hurts them at least as much as us. Back in the day people could actually name some Lindens, because we heard their voices.

A return to some regular communication might do a lot to make SL a better place for everyone.

 

Robin

[Canoro Philipp]

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks, they cut Winterfest, the support for Burning man, they cut the videos by Torley and put him into more coding, and the pressure to have continous blog posts. it seems they are using that energy to make new products and to refine the server side of Second Life.

[Perrie Juran]

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks,

---

It's more like they completely plugged the faucet.

 

[Echo Hermit]

---

Boudicca Littlebird wrote:

Well I got out my crystal ball and cauldron out and conjured up a tiny troll to spy on him and climb in his ear to hear his thoughts, this troll tells me he is very disappointed, he was thinking that user created content could help SL grow, games mainly with limited budget he had creator tools improved, but what disappointed him were the users were unstable nuts, people so unstable you could not put a companies future on them, so he now had to steer the company into a more stable pathway of revenue, but his options are very limited because others with far more money may pip them to the post,.

Then he put his finger in his ear and killed the troll.

---

This really tickled my funny bone. Totally believable. "Unstable nuts" is what we are (as opposed to stable nuts who work in LL)

[Echo Hermit]

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks, they cut Winterfest, the support for Burning man, they cut the videos by Torley and put him into more coding, and the pressure to have continous blog posts. it seems they are using that energy to make new products and to refine the server side of Second Life.

---

Instead of kick   kiss-a-Linden on Isle of View sims they had some kind of valentine's photo contest and a fun poem one on these forums.

[Czari Zenovka]

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks,

---

It's more like they completely plugged the faucet.

 

---

This ^^  The recent shutting down of the jiras to public view was just another way to plug communication to/from Lindens - and each other.

 

[Echo Hermit]

---

Czari Zenovka wrote:

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks,

---

It's more like they completely plugged the faucet.

 

---

This ^^  The recent shutting down of the jiras to public view was just another way to plug communication to/from Lindens - and each other.

 

---

Yes, it does look that way.  I just attended a user group session, and when people were talking about JIRAs they'd submitted this week, it was like tumbleweed was going across the land. In the past, we would have all clicked to look, add our vote/watch, comment, and pass on the information where appropriate.

 

 

[Perrie Juran]

---

Echo Hermit wrote:

---

Czari Zenovka wrote:

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks,

---

It's more like they completely plugged the faucet.

 

---

This ^^  The recent shutting down of the jiras to public view was just another way to plug communication to/from Lindens - and each other.

 

---

Yes, it does look that way.  I just attended a user group session, and when people were talking about JIRAs they'd submitted this week, it was like tumbleweed was going across the land. In the past, we would have all clicked to look, add our vote/watch, comment, and pass on the information where appropriate.

 

 

---

Did the Linden's involved at least have a clue that the issues had been submitted?

 

[Dilbert Dilweg]

I used to enjoy the blogs. But it seemed to become very negative in the comments towards the end when they shut of comments. It was pretty bad there for a while, but tensions where up with poorly running servers and viewer bugs and massive changes lol.. I can see why.

I really miss Torleys vids. but in general it is another part of how they seperated them selves from the community. sighs. Not even an SL community convention.. So it's all about just "poping" in to the blogs now, and then to see if anything has changed for tech and that is about it.

I am sure user dedication has changed quite a bit as a result of the disconnection.

[JohnMiddlefield]

---

Dilbert Dilweg wrote:

,,,

I am sure user dedication has changed quite a bit as a result of the disconnection.

---

---

Yup, you are quite right. Before the disconnection, I didn't give two fecal deposits. Now after the disconnect, I don't even give one.

 

[Echo Hermit]

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Echo Hermit wrote:

---

Czari Zenovka wrote:

---

Perrie Juran wrote:

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks,

---

It's more like they completely plugged the faucet.

 

---

This ^^  The recent shutting down of the jiras to public view was just another way to plug communication to/from Lindens - and each other.

 

---

Yes, it does look that way.  I just attended a user group session, and when people were talking about JIRAs they'd submitted this week, it was like tumbleweed was going across the land. In the past, we would have all clicked to look, add our vote/watch, comment, and pass on the information where appropriate.

 

 

---

Did the Linden's involved at least have a clue that the issues had been submitted?

 

---

Sorry for delay in responding. I had to go re-read the transcript of the session. The JIRA numbers that were brought up by residents were commented on by Maestro and Oskar, and to give them their due, they did seem to know what was being talked about, although for me, it was like being among a bunch of secret agents speaking in code, as only those who submit the JIRAs now can comment on it until it goes to triage, etc.

 

 

[Echo Hermit]

---

Dilbert Dilweg wrote:

I used to enjoy the blogs. But it seemed to become very negative in the comments towards the end when they shut of comments. It was pretty bad there for a while, but tensions where up with poorly running servers and viewer bugs and massive changes lol.. I can see why.

I really miss Torleys vids. but in general it is another part of how they seperated them selves from the community. sighs. Not even an SL community convention.. So it's all about just "poping" in to the blogs now, and then to see if anything has changed for tech and that is about it.

I am sure user dedication has changed quite a bit as a result of the disconnection.

---

Undoubtedly. The nature of Second Life has always been "Your World, Your Imagination", with the LL people pushing for the residents to create and adapt and notify, and work together, etc., etc.  Their latest promo video confirms this too.

Maybe the new people that get reeled in by such videos won't care about the lack of involvement and communication, but for older residents like myself - and I was one who could always see through rose-tinted glasses - with the lapsing of the regular Linden blogs that used to pop into my email inbox, and now with the JIRA system changing, and the fact LL takes the help of the residents for granted (go look at the help page to see how it's worded about the experts on the forums who are available to help), it's hard not to become apathetic. Just like in RL when people get taken for granted by employers, wives, friends.

[Jo Yardley]

Via Twitter:

rodvik humble:
And off to another meeting. Sorry Should be a new SL blog this week just fyi SLers.

[wrable Amat]

It is the new and improved SL look!!

[Curious Hazelnut]

I can understand choosing to spend less time on communications and reducing the perceived waste of time and effort but it seams to me they have virtually stopped all communications. I didn't know Torley was a developer, but if he is, I can see he could easily be too busy working on current projects to produce another video. It might be nice if they let him make a video every 3 months, though.

The in-world economy blog was another useful one (for me anyway). Even if they don't have time to produce a pretty blog post, the raw numbers are already there somewhere. I used to be able to look at them in graphs on the website but those have disappeared. Seeing login high/lows, linden dollar trades, exchange rate fluctuations over time was nice. It would also be nice to have numbers on land purchases, available sqm of mainland, and how much total mainland there is.

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i think they cut some unnecesary energy leaks, they cut Winterfest, the support for Burning man, they cut the videos by Torley and put him into more coding, and the pressure to have continous blog posts. it seems they are using that energy to make new products and to refine the server side of Second Life.

---