Fatigue as a style of management

[Cam Mode]

I'm getting tired of this style myself---

            great new Linden homes -but not enough for months, years

             premium rate increase

            cash out fee increase

              slight tempering of above with non premium groups and 3 mo premium staying the same

             badly explained Tilia roll-out

Second Life is getting to be like shopping for cable and a cell phone provider. On two lines at the same time.

It's supposed to be fun, smooth easy. For most of us SL  is LEISURE.

I want to eyeball the blog and go "ok."

Tired of the Forum clusters while we work through the maze of unanswered ,partially answered questions.  It is tiring. TIRING.

Why don't they have internal resident ,creator focus groups, anticipate the sticking points and either change or explain them .

Finally, introduce a polished product. Right off. Like most 16 year old companies do. Thanks.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

Can’t tell if rhetorical question disguised as complaint, or complaint disguised as question.

[Alyona Su]

10 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Can’t tell if rhetorical question disguised as complaint, or complaint disguised as question.

I'll go with the latter. Definitely.

[BelindaN]

The title got me, but it's a sand box.

People kick sand about. I can live with it.

[Love Zhaoying]

21 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

The title got me, but it's a sand box.

People kick sand about. I can live with it.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by Love Zhaoying
*Credit Charles Atlas

[Chic Aeon]

Loved your title and I actually GET IT. 

 

Even though I have a lovely beachfront NEW Linden Home -- I definitely understand the frustration factor of trying to get one. After a few tries with the autorefresher the angst was palpable. So I DO REALLY get it.

 

Anyone reading the "Tilia Takes Over" thread knows I am not happy on many counts -- none having to do with money. 

 

But you know --- you are absolutely right; Second Life is SUPPOSED to be fun --- and part of that fun is how WE use it. So, I made some changes in the way I will use it. I am working around the rights stripping Tilia by simply not using it. No more cashing out. I will still make things but mostly for myself. I came up with a new long term project idea yesterday morn and it will work or not but it will hopefully be FUN.    I hardly ever shop. Now with hundreds of dollar to use at my leisure each month -- I will; and FRIVOLOUSLY. This will be an adventure in itself as I am not typically a frivolous kinda gal.

 

So while I agree that there is plenty to be displeased and depressed about --- I am choosing to pick a new path rather than dwell on what I cannot change. 

 

We always have options.   

 

Thanks for this thread.  

[Amanda Crisp]

I can muster up some sympathy for the O.P.

I ‘ve had a second career in the Business world with an overlap into non-profits. Attention to Detail is “God” when rolling out a new process - but so is simplicity and understandability. Understanding the 2nd and 3rd order impacts of your actions comes in right behind them.

I love SL, but in all honesty - they have some issues with how they implement and roll-out new things. Communications seem un-coordinated at times and it almost *takes* a full-on firestorm to get them to provide clarity. This can be off-putting to many for a variety of reasons.

But as I said, I love SL - I can work through the “word soup” for something I care about.

[Raevyn Addams]

35 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

The title got me, but it's a sand box.

People kick sand about. I can live with it.

Probably the best answer I've read in the forums that could cover a multitude of topics actually. Kudos! 👍

1 hour ago, Cam Mode said:

Why don't they have internal resident ,creator focus groups, anticipate the sticking points and either change or explain them .

Finally, introduce a polished product. Right off. Like most 16 year old companies do. Thanks.

Not sure if you're venting or wanted an actual reply, but I'll share my opinion for the sake of keeping things on topic and conversation going.

First line: Probably because like SL in general it's always changing, growing, and evolving (especially lately). So the means to convey all that information is, at times, second to these changes, or as a direct result of them. That also means there's a lot of "catch up" or patch work going on since it's impossible to anticipate everything or even some things. And like most things progress takes time, effort and personnel. And right now all of those may already be under considerable strain trying to manage the points you listed in your OP.

Line two: See above. Also more likely to get a highly polished product if they pulled the ENTIRE product offline a few days/weeks/months and did the overhaul you describe so that it doesn't interfere with user functionality or access, or they don't get distracted or bogged down with real time issues. Then take more time for QC and bug fixing. Way I see it, it's much easier to strip a motor when the car is not running, but you can't get people from A to B if the car isn't moving. The choice you make will effect you or your passengers; pull the car off the road and lose business, or keep making repairs on the fly and hope it holds up like it always has in the past. It's a crap analogy but point made hopefully. Given the fact this "vehicle" has run (to whatever standard) the last 16 years and is still running means the higher-ups would be wary of deviating too far from a method that to them as a company has worked in the past, regardless what you, I, or the average LL employee thinks.

Does any of that mean I completely agree with their methods? No. But at the end of the day we vote with our feet. And while your point about wading through the information/misinformation is valid (to a point), it also works to highlight that sometimes when the company doesn't get it right or there's a significant shortfall there's always others who can offer a hand and help each other out. And THAT is what SL is/was/should be all about; community. I predict the backlash to that would be; it's not "our job" to do LL's job for them. Bottom line if you're not happy, find another 16 year old virtual sandbox more polished this and be happy there. It's a game/form of entertainment/choice/option/pastime/hobby/etc. There are far bigger things in the world we really should be worried about. 

For the record, everyone is entitled to their opinion so I am not attempting to insult or insinuate yours isn't valid. We're just allowed to disagree  

Anyway I could be utterly wrong, and I am frequently, but that's my take on it at least.

3 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

But you know --- you are absolutely right; Second Life is SUPPOSED to be fun --- and part of that fun is how WE use it. So, I made some changes in the way I will use it. I am working around the rights stripping Tilia by simply not using it. No more cashing out. 

So while I agree that there is plenty to be displeased and depressed about --- I am choosing to pick a new path rather than dwell on what I cannot change. 

We always have options.   

Summed it up beautifully.  

For the record NOT a fan of the Tilia changes insofar as sending my info overseas, but like Chic I'm electing to find my own way through it. It's not a deal breaker yet. Take each day, and each new change or development, as it comes.

Edited July 3, 2019 by RaeLeeH
To edit!

[Alyona Su]

I am left with the impression that too many people take Second Life far too seriously with too high a priority as a going concern in their lives. As for leisure and fun: it is everywhere. You control your own mood, if you go to a circus and look behind the curtains or worry about the smell of the people sitting next to you all the time, you're not going to have a lot of fun while there.

Or, you can focus on the rings at the center of the show and have an amazingly wonderful time.

C'est la vie.

[ThorinII]

I don't get it. All this complaining about this detail and that little thing - gosh, don't take Second Life so damn seriously! It IS a place to have fun, a leisure place, a hobby! Some people react as if their main focus, their highest priority were Second Life, although their Real Life should have the highest priority.

Yes, @Linden Lab raised some fees about some pennies, and yes they introduced the middleman Tilia, so what? Does that take the fun out of SL? No. Not at all -- unless you (generic "you") allow it.

[ThorinII]

2 hours ago, Cam Mode said:

 

Tired of the Forum clusters while we work through the maze of unanswered ,partially answered questions.  It is tiring. TIRING.

Can I have your stuffs? 😁

[Selene Gregoire]

37 minutes ago, ThorinII said:

I don't get it. All this complaining about this detail and that little thing - gosh, don't take Second Life so damn seriously! It IS a place to have fun, a leisure place, a hobby! Some people react as if their main focus, their highest priority were Second Life, although their Real Life should have the highest priority.

Yes, @Linden Lab raised some fees about some pennies, and yes they introduced the middleman Tilia, so what? Does that take the fun out of SL? No. Not at all -- unless you (generic "you") allow it.

Pricing things out of people's reach does tend to take the fun out of SL. 

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 minute ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Pricing things out of people's reach does tend to take the fun out of SL. 

"Free" is out of reach?

[Beth Macbain]

wonders how many people who need to read this will actually bother

I work closely with our communications department at work. We get a ton of complaints from employees about how they feel they're communicated with poorly. We formed a committee, send out a Survey Monkey, spent hours and hours pouring over the results, batting different ideas around, fretting and worrying and trying to make every employee happy.

In the end we had to look at the avenues we used to communicate. Email. Text messaging every employee. An intranet. An app just for staff. Bulletin boards all over the buildings. 

In the end, we came to the conclusion that we were actually providing an abundance of communication and venues for staff to receive it. We could only go so far but employees also have to show a little incentive to actually open their email, or a text, or stop and look at a bulletin board. 

I seek out my communication from LL and that's how I know what's going on. They've put plenty of it out there. What one person sees as vague or uninformative, another finds perfectly clear and easy to comprehend. 

It really boils down to this:

• The original Linden Homes weren't built in a day, either. Perhaps it's because I live on Bellisseria already, and am fairly close to where they're currently working, but I can see how hard and fast they're actually putting these together. I very much hope that the pressure they're feeling from residents to constantly churn out homes doesn't force them to put out regions that become cookie cutter and bland just for the sake of keeping the production line moving. 
• They haven't increased the premium rate in literally forever. They gave a month's notice. I have no idea how anyone could think that was poorly handled or miscommunicated unless they expect @Ebbe Linden to actually show up at their (RL) house and tell them face to face. Prices increase. It happens everywhere. LL was long overdue for this increase and it's more than fair.
• LL explained multiple times in multiple ways that they were over a barrel with the cash out fees because the fees they have to pay increased, but people who cash out wanted LL to just swallow those increases instead of passing them on like every single business everywhere on the entire planet. That is absurd, and would be a very poor business practice indeed for a company that actually wants to make money and stay in business. 
• I think they made a mistake with rolling back their decision to take groups away from non-premium members. They bowed down to the vocal few (in no way do I believe it was the majority who even cared one way or the other). I wish they'd stuck to their guns.
• I understood everything about the Tilia roll-out perfectly well other than one single question I had that was cleared up immediately, and involved me not understanding a term I could have easily googled. People really could have stopped reading once they got to the "Tilia enables Linden Lab to continue the Second Life service in its current form through enhanced regulatory compliance protocols" line. LL didn't create Tilia for fun - they did it in order to comply with government regulations. Any internet lawyer in these threads who believes they understand the extremely excruciatingly complex requirements involved in international money handling really just needs to take several seats. LL has a compliance division and a hoard of lawyers, as well as a board of directors chock full of experts in global finance, with MBAs from places like Harvard and Stanford. They know what they're doing and why they need to do it. 

People have been crying for years for LL to change things, and now that they're changing things, people are crying about that. Some of these changes, I believe, are growing pains and we have to live with them in order for the Lab to get themselves in a position to make bigger changes. Money matters - they need to raise it before they can spend it, and the changes residents have been begging for for years cost money. 

[Raevyn Addams]

24 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

It really boils down to this...

...People have been crying for years for LL to change things, and now that they're changing things, people are crying about that. 

This. Which is a tactful way of saying "you can't please everyone all the time," and you're right. One man's trash is another's treasure, etc. 

That's not to detract from those feeling the pinch. For some things aren't fair. I don't agree with everything either. The same changes effect us all, not just one or two. But LL is a business first and foremost. When people don't like the service or product they get from one they vote with their feet. That's the right of the consumer and all of us have that choice.

EDIT: and sadly not a lot will likely read your post, since not a lot of people read posts that are wordy because attention spans don't seem to last that long. Since they can't read forum posts I'd imagine getting them to read anything of length LL officially released is wishful thinking, regardless whether it was polished to the OP's standard or not. I'd predict more of the usual 'skim and ask questions' if the panic doesn't kick in first. Feelings dictate over reason much of the time. A lot of people, not the OP but in general, would help themselves by reading first and then, once they have taken stock of the facts, proceed with the freak out if it still applies. Personal opinion is allowed on a public forum. Panic doesn't help... well... anyone.

Edited July 3, 2019 by RaeLeeH

[Selene Gregoire]

48 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

"Free" is out of reach?

It's free to join, that's about all that is free. Premium membership isn't free. Uploading images or mesh or textures isn't free. Having a place to call 'home' isn't free. Nothing in life is free. There is always a price to pay.

And please, don't give me the line about finding a "job" in SL to make Ls. Been there, done that way too many times. It never ends well.

 

[Cam Mode]

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

wonders how many people who need to read this will actually bother

Because you are the be all?                         "need"

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

It really boils down to this

Nope, you missed the dock, my issue is the style Linden is doing things not message content. Tired of the half baked deliveries.

[ThorinII]

2 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Pricing things out of people's reach does tend to take the fun out of SL. 

I don't know... I think you overreact massively here.

I spent a little over10€ /month for SL before I went premium, a little over 10€per month before the Premium rate raise, and will spend a little over 10€ after it. SO what's there "pricing things out of people's reach"? That little Premium raise from 9.50 to 11.99 bucks per month: So what? A simple cup of coffee in a Café downtown costs more than that difference.

And the raise  of transaction fees? C'mon, those few percent's won't take you the butter from your bread either.

But you can complain about it all you want, it's up to you whether you see it rationally -- or exaggerate things according to your mood, and let this mood affect your SL.

[Selene Gregoire]

18 minutes ago, ThorinII said:

I don't know... I think you overreact massively here.

I spent a little over10€ /month for SL before I went premium, a little over 10€per month before the Premium rate raise, and will spend a little over 10€ after it. SO what's there "pricing things out of people's reach"? That little Premium raise from 9.50 to 11.99 bucks per month: So what? A simple cup of coffee in a Café downtown costs more than that difference.

And the raise  of transaction fees? C'mon, those few percent's won't take you the butter from your bread either.

But you can complain about it all you want, it's up to you whether you see it rationally -- or exaggerate things according to your mood, and let this mood affect your SL.

You're over reacting to a non-emotional reply to someone else. I haven't been able to afford that cup of coffee from a "cafe downtown" in more than 20 years. Leaving out the fact that it's raunchy coffee anyway.

Since you know so much about my finances why don't you work up a budget for me so I can afford that cup of coffee from the cafe downtown on a current income of $0.00.

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Cam Mode said:

 Tired of the half baked deliveries.

I'm pretty sure all the mesh homes being delivered were fully baked.

[Keanu Ronwood]

So basically he saying second life is burning them self's up and pissing people off again. Pretty much putting nail in there coffen. I've been with second life a while, thought about playing again. I understand either people are white knights, or long term dedicated, gone threw LL BS shiz storm, here we go again, more B's shiz store. Sorry LL labs but Patriot act happen long time ago. So not at all reason you changing things, I blame Trump.

[Mahala Roviana]

11 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Since you know so much about my finances why don't you work up a budget for me so I can afford that cup of coffee from the cafe downtown on a current income of $0.00.

I prefer the gas station coffee anyway. it's cheap and strong here.

[Erwin Solo]

I find the LL notices self-explanatory.  I come to the forums for amusement, not knowledge.

[ThorinII]

8 hours ago, Keanu Ronwood said:

LL labs

it's Linden Lab, not LL labs. 😏

The rest of your post is ... debatable at best, in my opinion.

Edited July 4, 2019 by ThorinII

[Akane Nacht]

17 hours ago, Cam Mode said:

Finally, introduce a polished product. Right off. Like most 16 year old companies do. Thanks.

 

hm.. most mmos I've played toss us a beta-as-live with each new mod and lets us cry for bug fixes as we limp through the content. SL by comparison is not too bad.