LL advertising private businesses in their blog?

[Phil Deakins]

9 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

I think the issue is more about transparency than the favouritism itself.  At least it is for me.

Transparency, yes, but it's not just that. If there's anything that needs to have been transparent in this case, then it opens up a real can of worms.

Suppose you are playing a multi-user game and a manager is manipulating things to enable a certain player to make easy headway, while you are not being helped and are falling behind. Would it just be a matter of transparency then? If you knew what was happening, you may well quit the game because of its unfairness. Many people would quit in those circumstances.

With SL businesses, it's not a mere game. It's real money. If there is assistance from LL to help a certain business to be more successful against its competition, and offer no such help to the competition, then, although it would nice if it were made transparent, it would certainly open up a real can of worms.

Imo, LL should not give any preferential treatment to any of its customers, however big a customer they are, other than things like additional help services.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Love Zhaoying]

21 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Just to clarify....

Restate everything in case you’ve been misunderstood ?

26 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Soon afterwards, somebody told me about the Blueberry 'premium accounts' promotion. It seemed to be a bit of a coincidence

Oh, all innocent-like..you’re the one that connected the two in the first place! 

[Phil Deakins]

I know. As I said, that was because someone told me about Blueberry's premium thing after I'd started the thread. In the op I mentioned Blueberry because it was one of the businesses that Xiola appeared to promote, which is why I was contacted. It's perfectly straight forward.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Phil Deakins said:

I know. As I said, that was because someone told me about Blueberry's premium thing after I'd started the thread. In the op I mentioned Blueberry because it was one of the businesses that Xiola promoted, which is why I was contacted. It's perfectly straight forward.

So you admit the Xiola post and Blueberry promotion may be totally unrelated? Shame, all this talk with nothing to back it up.

[Phil Deakins]

Of course I do. In fact I did in the post that you quoted from 2 posts up.

If you read the thread carefully, you'll come to understand that I haven't judged anyone or anything. I've raised questions that, imo, are well worth rasing, but that's all. Are you bored?

ETA: I'll save you the trouble. This is what I wrote in the post you quoted from:-

Soon afterwards, somebody told me about the Blueberry 'premium accounts' promotion. It seemed to be a bit of a coincidence, and that may be all it ever was, but I mentioned it, because the impression I got, right or wrong, was that it could be some kind favouritism from LL to the Blueberry business, which, imo, would have been grossly unfair to other businesses (customers) when done in the official Linden Lab blog.

Note the bloded part

 

9 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Shame, all this talk with nothing to back it up.

What do you mean, nothing to back it up. Of course there's stuff to back it up. There's Xiola's blog post, and there's the Blueberry group notice. It's all right here in the thread. What more do you want?

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Jules Catlyn]

I am out of coffee which is worse than being bored *runs to the shop*

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Jules Catlyn said:

I am out of coffee which is worse than being bored *runs to the shop*

Yes, coffee is required for this boring gossip thread.

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Of course I do. In fact I did in the post that you quoted from 2 posts up.

If you read the thread carefully, you'll come to understand that I haven't judged anyone or anything. I've raised questions that, imo, are well worth rasing, but that's all. Are you bored?

ETA: I'll save you the trouble. This is what I wrote in the post you quoted from:-

Soon afterwards, somebody told me about the Blueberry 'premium accounts' promotion. It seemed to be a bit of a coincidence, and that may be all it ever was, but I mentioned it, because the impression I got, right or wrong, was that it could be some kind favouritism from LL to the Blueberry business, which, imo, would have been grossly unfair to other businesses (customers) when done in the official Linden Lab blog.

Note the bloded part

 

What do you mean, nothing to back it up. Of course there's stuff to back it up. There's Xiola's blog post, and there's the Blueberry group notice. What more do you want?

Connecting the two! You created that connection purely of “whole cloth”. 

[Phil Deakins]

Are you serious? Naa, you can't be that dense.

ETA: Maybe you are so I'll connect the 2 for you. Xiola, a Linden, appeared to promote Blueberry in the official Linden blog. Blueberry (note it's the same name) appeared to have been given some favour by LL, as written about in the group message.

Ok now?

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Love Zhaoying]

I propose the following scenario by which the two could be unconnected, a coincidence:

1) Posit that: Blueberry is one of the largest brands, so that any mention at all of Blueberry may be coincidental.

2) Proposed: that we have no idea of the arrangement Blueberry has made whereby they - not SL - are giving the “free” Premium membership prizes. Blueberry may have, as suggested by others, even paid LL the cost of the Premium membership prizes, and LL merely agreed to / facilitated the method by which they will be granted.

3) Submitted: We have no idea the reason for Xiola’s post, and that her choice of Blueberry could well be sheer coincidence - again, Blueberry being one of the largest brands.

None of these 3 points are far-fetched. Your low-ball name-calling of “dense” exposes the weakness of your argument.

[Love Zhaoying]

I apologize for using actual logic and numbered points in my argument, I’m sure you’re quite overwhelmed. No need to reply.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Love Zhaoying

[Phil Deakins]

9 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I propose the following scenario by which the two could be unconnected, a coincidence:

1) Posit that: Blueberry is one of the largest brands, so that any mention at all of Blueberry may be coincidental.

I said that very early in thread.

2) Proposed: that we have no idea of the arrangement Blueberry has made whereby they - not SL - are giving the “free” Premium membership prizes. Blueberry may have, as suggested by others, even paid LL the cost of the Premium membership prizes, and LL merely agreed to / facilitated the method by which they will be granted.

I said that very early in the thread.

3) Submitted: We have no idea the reason for Xiola’s post, and that her choice of Blueberry could well be sheer coincidence - again, Blueberry being one of the largest brands.

I said that very early in the htread.

None of these 3 points are far-fetched.

I agree. It's why I said them very early in the thread.

Anything else?

[Phil Deakins]

8 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I apologize for using actual logic and numbered points in my argument, I’m sure you’re quite overwhelmed. No need to reply.

I appreciate your logic - expecially as it's identical to mine, as stated very early in the thread.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Love Zhaoying]

Good. Amazing that you agree without appearing to in the majority of your earlier posts on this “conspiracy”. Well done!

[Phil Deakins]

21 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

I agree that LL shouldn't favor based on merchant income though to be honest isn't that the fact with any good business with customers. You cater to your best customers

I was just wandering through the thread again, and I realised something about that statement that I hadn't realised before when I read it. And since I've nothing more pressing to do right now, I decided to respond to it. Sorry.

The "best customers" are those from whom you earn the most money. LL's best customers are the very large land-owners, and not those who remove the most money from SL. LL could be earning very little from those who take a lot out, making them very small customers by comparison.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Phil Deakins]

27 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Good. Amazing that you agree without appearing to in the majority of your earlier posts on this “conspiracy”. Well done!

The only reason why I would not have appeared to earlier is because either you didn't read what I wrote, or because you prefered to only remember whatever bits you thought you could be negative about. Had you read, and not skipped, my posts, we wouldn't be having this little discussion right now. It's all down to you.

[Blush Bravin]

4 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

The "best customers" are those from whom you earn the most money. LL's best customers are the very large land-owners, and not those who remove the most money from SL.

Oh Phil, really? First that's just opinion. Second, shopping is huge in SL. It attracts lots and lots of people. Then those people get land to put all their goodies on and then dress up their barbies. So merchants who attract shoppers are doing a service to LL. It is all part of the economy that drives SL.  

Also, LL is proud to advertise how people make real money and make a lot of real money. I see it in their ads.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Blush Bravin
Added to my response.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

@Ceka Cianci

Just to clarify....

I started the thread only because Xiola's blog post was odd, in that it didn't say anything other than 'look at me' and say where you can buy the stuff she is wearing. It wasn't an announcement of anything from LL, or information from LL, or anything like that. So it struck me that it was advertising certain products. That's why I started the thread.

Soon afterwards, somebody told me about the Blueberry 'premium accounts' promotion. It seemed to be a bit of a coincidence, and that may be all it ever was, but I mentioned it, because the impression I got, right or wrong, was that it could be some kind favouritism from LL to the Blueberry business, which, imo, would have been grossly unfair to other businesses (customers) when done in the official Linden Lab blog.

The discussions went on from there, with various people posting their opinions on various aspects of it. But, and it's an important but, nobody has judged anyone. Blueberry isn't "catching hell", as you put it, because none of the posters in the thread know any details. It's all been simple discussion and the expressing of opinions of various possibilities, sometimes opposing opinions, but nobody has been judgemental of either Xiola or Blueberry, because we just don't know.

Xiola's post was in with the rest of the, Pic of the day posts..They don't say much in those posts ever and are all about ,look at me and who took the picture and what sim it was taken in and what they are wearing..

All she did was give all the creators credit,from the sim owner to the other creators items used in her pic..Are sim owners and photographers not in business and creators also?They get mentioned in every single pic of the day post..Plus many of the blog posts have links to style credits if the people that posted the pic put them up..

Here is her post..

"Just working on that weekend look. Ignoring the laws of gravity - how we do on Fridays.

Pic taken at Mitsumi Town in Tokyo.

Hair: TRUTH / Daphne ( at Uber )
Top: neve top - jay ( at Uber )
Wrap Around Jacket: Blueberry - Alena - Wrap Around Waist Jacket - Blueberry Mainstore
Pants: neve pant - low ( at Uber )
Shoes: [Gos] Snooki Wedges ( at Uber )"

The only one on that list that's name is getting  mentioned in here is Blueberry's..You have TRUTH, Neve, GOS and Mitsumi Town Tokyo sim, on the list as well..

Nobody seems to have a problem with the advertising of sims and photographers getting  promoted in the pics of the day blog posts..Yet they are posted up and advertised in every pic..

I'd like to know the difference between a person that goes out and buys a sim, builds a build and tries to get people there to spend money, vs a person that buys land and creates items in the fashion field and tries to get people to spend money,vs a photographer that builds their portfolio from the blog mentions to get people to spend their money, that all end up in the same pic information that makes it to the blog?

There is a focus on one brand name and one field in here, while all the other brands and fields are getting a free pass..

That's about as singled out as it gets.

 

 

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, Blush Bravin said:

Oh Phil, really? First that's just opinion. Second, shopping is huge in SL. It attracts lots and lots of people. Then those people get land to put all their goodies on and then dress up their barbies. So merchants who attract shoppers are doing a service to LL. It is all part of the economy that drives SL. 

Yes, store owners use land, some of them a fair amount of land, but compared to the large land-owners, their land is very small. Some have several sims, but that's small change for LL compared to the big land-owners like Anshe, Desmond, and others. Those large land-owners are LL's best customers. Earning a lot of money and taking it out, hardly makes anything for LL, except for the land they use to do it on, and they are small land-owners (customers) compared to the big ones. People say that Blueberry is one of the biggest inworld business in terms of profits. How much land does it use?

[Cindy Evanier]

7 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Xiola's post was in with the rest of the, Pic of the day posts..

It was in the same Inworld blog section but it was called Look of the Day  which seems something different to the residents Pick Of The Day

[Phil Deakins]

7 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

There is a focus on one brand name and one field in here, while all the other brands and fields are getting a free pass..

That's about as singled out as it gets.

You're reading far too much into it, Ceka. Yes, Blueberry has been singled out (for obvious reasons), but not given hell, or even criticised. Nobody has made any judgements. Nobody can judge it. Nobody has said that Blueberry did something wrong, or that Blueberry has a deal with LL that isn't available to any other business, or anything. It's not even been speculation. You're reading far too much into it.

[Ceka Cianci]

3 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

It was in the same Inworld blog section but it was called Look of the Day  which seems something different to the residents Pick Of The Day

If she would have called it pick of the day, she would have probably caught crap for not winning the pic of the day and just taking it instead..Pic of the day is a competition of best pic of the day..

[Blush Bravin]

4 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Yes, store owners use land, some of them a fair amount of land, but compared to the large land-owners, their land is very small. Some have several sims, but that's small change for LL compared to the big land-owners like Anshe, Desmond, and others. Those large land-owners are LL's best customers. Earning a lot of money and taking it out, hardly makes anything for LL, except for the land they use to do it on, and they are small land-owners (customers) compared to the big ones. People say that Blueberry is one of the biggest inworld business in terms of profits. How much land does it use?

I wasn't talking about store owners using land. I was talking about the customers of those stores using land to put the things they bought from those stores on their purchased land. You are putting way too much value on land. Even the lab sees that the tide is turning and that their is added value in sales taxes. Merchants are pulling their weight and attracting people to SL. I'm not saying land isn't important. What I'm saying is it's an economy with my facets. Your talking from a base line of how much money does the person pay directly to the lab. I'm talking about how much revenue does a merchant stimulate through their business dealings.

[Phil Deakins]

My view is that LL's best customers are the big land-owners, because that's who they make the most money from. Of course, businesses play a part in land-ownership, due to their customers, but they are homes and furniture sellers, not the sellers of clothing, and I can't agree that it makes the homes and furniture sellers LL's best customers.

Land is LL's main source of income. They are in the process of shifting the balance to some extent, but it's still their main source, and the big owners are LL's best customers.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Phil Deakins

[Cindy Evanier]

5 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

If she would have called it pick of the day, she would have probably caught crap for not winning the pic of the day and just taking it instead..Pic of the day is a competition of best pic of the day..

The only reason I looked at it was because I saw something by a linden.  I don't pay attention to the pics of the day.  If Look of The Day is a new thing and going to involve a collection of Lindens participating, I am all for that fun.  There was no announcement or clarification about this though.  Hopefully there will be now.