Web profiles, and why I believe they're a mistake

[Void Singer]

couple of weeks?.... and thank heavens, because that "don't show profile on the web" checkbox was all kinds of broken (prevented friends and contacts from setting permission etc).... v2.6.2 I  think was the fix version for that.

I still despise the new profiles.... the old one I had formatted for main info up front, and personality stuff you scrolled for... now it's all splattered on the page, with no way to control layout or even order =/

 

[Qwalyphi Korpov]

The resident who provided the previous content, if any, has replaced it with this generic statement.

[Rhett Elan]

Well actually after giving the 2.xxx viewer last chance, I witched back to Phoenix, their latest build works like a charm...Bye Bye and this time for good viewer 2.xxxx

[Void Singer]

I agree that it is a blunder that when changing/porting privacy settings, they should always default to least permissive, unlike what you saw with sections being suddenly exposed

[ParisLeShea Cerise]

My issue with web-based profiles is that it ruins the photography business on SL. For those whose businesses involve making profile pictures for avatars, many of us now have to EMAIL pictures to our clients because those using viewer two can no longer simply click and drag the texture and set it as their profile picture. They have to now save that texture to their computer and then upload it onto the web server. Not only is this inconvenient but it also takes a long time for these web profiles to load.

[Andrew Gorham]

Now, now, people... everybody calm down...

The new web-based SL profiles have been a HUGE success.....

for Phoenix <grins>

Seriously.. notice when you're on (using phoenix, of course.. SL doesn't have this functionality) that your radar shows nearly 85% of EVERYONE is using Phoenix now? I have.

And we can't blame the poor performance of the web-based profile (which works, to a degree, albeit slowly.. don't get me started on their pathetic web-based search...) on low end computer systems.

I have a very nice high end gaming machine,the latest intel CPU's (three of them; one on a graphic board), 6 gigs of memory. I never EVER see lag in SL anymore. I'm the only person I know who can visit Phat Cat's and walk into the dance hall in LESS than ten seconds.. <laughs>

but I can't get the web-based profiles to work reliably, and I can't get their insipid search/events/destinations window to work barely at ALL...

My only solution? the same one 85% of everyone else is using...

Phoenix for the WIN....

 

[Void Singer]

actually my own observations are that Phoenix nets about ~40% of the market on average, lower in newbie dominated areas, higher in oldbie dominated ones especially among builders and property managers. V2 edges out above that at ~50%, and the rest going mostly to Imprudence and Ascent/Singularity and non-advertising v1x/snowglobe versions like Cool.

that's still a bit embarrassing for V2 though since that means there primary adoption market is new users who probably have no clue about their alternative (because honestly, when you are looking for the download to make something work, do you really read through the whole page for other options? or just scan for the download link? most don't)

[WADE1 Jya]

I think the web profiles are truly made for web (read that as searchable web), not so much for in SL.

It means (especially as these profiles get more fully featured) that more of Second Life can be "discoverable" on other channels.

I see where this is going I think... Hopefully a simplified version of them remain inworld, and we can click out to the more extended profiles by browser link only if we wish to.

Overall I think web profiles are going to be a good thing. It's how the internet works now... Facebook is Twitter is Gmail is YouTube... it all joins together back onto itself. If SL doesn't also enmesh itself in these loops it will be isolated from the fabric of Web 2.0

....or is this here called Web 3.0 yet? :matte-motes-stress:

 

:matte-motes-grin:

[Ossian1488303077]

 

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Qwalyphi Korpov wrote:

Well..  a chipmunks sense of time is not good, specially in the spring.

I found this:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Second-Life-Viewer/New-Privacy-settings-on-web-profiles/td-p/831063

So it looks like the change was about a week ago.  Although I see no announcement from the Lindens.

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As far as I know, there never was an official announcement. Ann O'Toole broke the news.

[Void Singer]

while I agree they are definitely made for searchable visibility, I don't think they are doing what they hope to be doing.... no one outside is going to care to surf avatar profiles from a site they don't already use, except maybe dataminers and spammers, meanwhile they are much less effective for the people who actually DO use them due to their poor integration (too big, too slow, etc)

IMHO rather than focusing on importing or exporting content, as the current business model seems to be doing, they need to focus a bit more on intercommunication and live connections between the wider web and SL. static imports or exports of content are just not enough... people want to interact with ease.

[WADE1 Jya]

So basically we need more rich content media capabilities and comment fields to start convos, status updates (with rich media), & blog-like features... that would get the ball rolling.

[Void Singer]

IMO, yes, those would be a step in the right direction.

[MissyMidnight Skytower]

 

I scanned the earlier comments, but not all of them, so I apologise if someone has already said this....but....from looking at the new profiles, it doesn't tell us if that person is online or offline does it??

[Void Singer]

no, it doesn't.

this information was deemed a matter of privacy, so online status only shows in your friends list, and then only if they enable their friends to see it. Some TPV's use a scripted workaround to provide this infomation

[MissyMidnight Skytower]

 

Oh for real?? Thats sh!t. It was really handy for knowing when a creator was online if I had a question or problem with a product, I guess now we either have to send an annoying "are you there??" message, or resort to sending notecards all the time.

Matter of privacy my butt! If it showed where we were inworld...yes thats an invasion of privacy...but just showing that you're online....no, that just comes with the territory. :matte-motes-sour:

Thanks for the response though Void.

[Void Singer]

You aren't the only one who thinks it's a little silly, although I do get that the intent was to cut down on the ease of stalking/harrassment/annoyance....

that said, you can still get this functionality from a scripted object, if need be.

[leliel Mirihi]

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Void Singer wrote:

You aren't the only one who thinks it's a little silly, although I do get that the intent was to cut down on the ease of stalking/harrassment/annoyance....

that said, you can still get this functionality from a scripted object, if need be.

---

I've always wondered why people would go to such lengths to find out if some one was online. I may take some flack for saying this, but I think the large number of people who have alts just to get away from all the IMs is proof that a significant number of sl users are closet stalkers.

[Void Singer]

welcome to the internet =D

[Fudge Donner]

after jsut coming back to sl, having updated to lion, i had no choice to update, i wish i didnt have to, i cant even load the new profiles, and alls i liike to see when im talking to someone, is the rez date and maybe they shared a little about themselves. the picks tab was very helpfull to find good hangout places and shops too, but thats all gone now.

[Mircea Lobo]

I tried the SL3 viewer last night. On this matter, there are good news and bad news. Good news is that, web profiles seem to be finally gone, and profiles are re-integrated into the viewer UI. Bad news however, is that search is now web-based instead. You can no longer search for people, groups, sims, etc. without using a web page. My feeling when I seen one thing getting solved for another to get broken was "why are we never allowed to have good things"

Seriously... I don't mind web-based features if they are separate. But I do mind turning parts of the normal viewer into web pages. If you wanna make a separate HTML viewer for Second Life, that is nice. But in the normal viewer, PLEASE keep the menus and features inside the client. That's my take on this.