End of an Era, no more Pods.

[Asadora Summers]

36 minutes ago, Patch Linden said:

 

This is where part of my confusion is.  The LDPW and the Moles do not have a real ticket system.  We sometimes receive JIRA's for issues, but that's not really a ticket and the Moles are not reachable directly through the support ticketing system.  While I'm not here to dispute any of this, there also seems to be some real confusion on what or how this happened.  If this took place in July, this is the first I'm becoming aware of it.   There is no "fight city hall" here, again, we have no reason to do anything other than help with the system and the situation.

We in the Pod Riders group, Yavanna's official pod group,  are not planning to 'fight city hall'. What we aim to do is to show how important the pods are to us, share our experiences with the pods in a positive way.
Yavanna has always been open with us, letting us know what was broken, what was added and things of that nature. We support her and will continue to do so, but in no way shape or form will we spread negativity or 'fight city hall' mindset in her name, or for the pods or even for Mainland itself.

https://modemworld.me/2020/08/21/yavascript-pod-tours-mainland-operations-suspended/

Kind Regards.

[Asadora Summers]

4 hours ago, BJoyful said:

Yesssss  Please!!!! ♥♥♥  What in interesting idea!

About the Pod Stations themselves  as well as the Pod Stops, a big majority of those areas have been sponsored by the land owners of which they are placed. People who have wanted to host a pod station or pod rest in aid of making the pods more accessible to everyone on Mainland. Once this is requested to Yavanna, she creates the station or pod stop - again this shows just how integral the Yava Pods are.

Regarding the rezzing on demand - yes the pods themselves can be rezzed on demand from any pod station. You go to a pod station, you don't want to wait for the next pod to appear, you click on the timesign and suddenly there is the pod. All you have to do is click on it to ride a tour of that particular route it's set too.

[Asadora Summers]

As of where things stand now this is what is important to know:

 

Pod stations are remaining where they are. But pods won't go out onto the road by themselves without a rider. If you take a pod from a station, you can still ride it but once you leave the pod the pod will vanish within 5 mins instead of carrying on it's route like it normally would.
The ferries are working as they normally do, for they weren't on the same system as the pods.

All Yavanna has to to, and these are her words, is to flip the switch back to on located on her server, in order to allow the pods to run as they normally have been. So, as things are now, it is all reversible.
The main issue here is that there has been a miscommunication/misunderstanding/glitch that has caused things to be as they are now. That is something that LL will have to communicate directly to Yavanna. She simply does not want the stress of feeling as though she doesn't have the support of LL @Patch Linden
 

No one wants a 'fight the city hall' movement.
We just want what has become a Second Life Mainland institution to continue.

Kind Regards.

 

[ChinRey]

14 hours ago, Patch Linden said:

This is where part of my confusion is.  The LDPW and the Moles do not have a real ticket system.

I was a bit confused about that too but I know both Yavanna's tickets were filed through the regular support system with proper case numbers and everything. I can give them to you if you want me to but it's better if you contact Yavanna yourself.

I had a long chat with Yavanna before I posted here and she gave me all the details and even tickets she filed. Since timeandspaceanddreams already has given the essentials, I might as well fill in with the few details that are missing.

As timeandspaceanddreams said, one of the pods got stuck on some land owned by LDPW and that caused Yavanna's account to be suspended for 24 hours. Yavanna  filed a support case about it and received the standard copy-and-paste reply from a Linden. When she tried to reply and ask for more details, she found the case was already closed, presumably because the Linden who handled it (and who usually is very service minded) thought the case was closed since the 24 hour suspension was already over.

As I'm sure you know, when somebody tries to respond to a closed ticket, they are asked to file a new one instead and that's exactly what Yavanna did. This is the (in)famous "LDPW ticket". It was closed immediately without even a reply (I didn't even know that was possible btw) by a Linden I'm not familiar with but as far as I know is not associated with LDPW.

---

Obviously both the support Lindens assumed the tickets were about the 24 hour suspension that was already passed so they closed the tickets in good faith. Unfortunately they misunderstood Yavanna there. The tickets were not about what had already happened but how to avoid similar incidents in the future. As we all know, vehicles in SL gets stuck and go astray all the time, usually because of some glitch in the server software or some other reason that is outn of cotnrol fo the driver/owner. And obviously Yavanna can't live with getting a 24 hours suspension every time one of the pods hits some bad spot on the road. She's already spending a lot of time and money on these pods with very little in return - she actually reprograms the pods every day to compensate for new problems that turns up!

----

Patch, I hope you can contact her as soon as possible. I've taken the liberty to send her an IM to tell her you're on the case now so it's in safe hands.

Edited August 22, 2020 by ChinRey

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I would not oppose them if they had STATIONS where they could be REZZED ON DEMAND. The Lindens could use their considerable amount of roadside land to put some pod stations where anyone could come and rez one.

That's a brilliant idea. It should also be possible to add rezzers to all the existing stations on private land.

---

But those pods on a regular schedule have - or at least had - another function too, one we hardly ever think about. I mentioned all pods report any problem spots they come across back to the server so they can be programmed into next day's pods. Yavanna also used to report any serious problems to LDPW, giving them constant updates on the condition of the Linden road system. I don't know if she still does. It was Michael who handled those report and the communication may ahve broken down when he left. If that's the case, maybe it's time to reestablish the contact.

[Asadora Summers]

11 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

I was a bit confused about that too but I know both Yavanna's tickets were filed through the regular support system with proper case numbers and everything. I can give them to you if you want me to but it's better if you contact Yavanna yourself.

I had a long chat with Yavanna before I posted here and she gave me all the details and even tickets she filed. Since timeandspaceanddreams already has given the essentials, I might as well fill in with the few details that are missing.

As timeandspaceanddreams said, one of the pods got stuck on some land owned by LDPW and that caused Yavanna's account to be suspended for 24 hours. Yavanna  filed a support case about it and received the standard copy-and-paste reply from a Linden. When she tried to reply and ask for more details, she found the case was already locked, presumably because the Linden who handled it (and who usually is very service minded) thought the case was closed since the 24 hour suspension was already over.

As I'm sure you know, when somebody tries to respond to a closed ticket, they are asked to file a new one instead and that's exactly what Yavanna did. This is the (in)famous "LDPW ticket". It was closed immediately without even a reply (I didn't even know that was possible btw) by a Linden I'm not familiar with but as far as I know is not associated with LDPW.

---

Obviously both the support Lindens assumed the tickets were about the 24 hour suspension that was already passed so they closed the tickets in good faith. Ungotunately they misunderstood Yavanna there. The tickets were not about what had already happened but how to avoid similar incidents in the future. As we all know, vehicles in SL gets stuck and go astray all the time, usually because of some glitch in the server software or some other reason that is outn of cotnrol fo the driver/owner. And obviously Yavanna can't live with getting a 24 hours suspension every time one of the pods hits some bad spot on the road. She's already spending a lot of time and money on these pods with very little in return - she actually reprograms the pods every day to compensate for new problems that turns up!

----

Patch, I hope you can contact her as soon as possible. I've taken the liberty to send her an IM to tell her you're on the case now so it's in safe hands.

Thanks, @ChinRey - I emailed Yavanna with a copy and paste of Patch's post. Because, with all the messages of support to Yavanna, her offlines will get capped, if not already have.

[GideaNinja Dagger]

5 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I would not oppose them if they had STATIONS where they could be REZZED ON DEMAND. The Lindens could use their considerable amount of roadside land to put some pod stations where anyone could come and rez one. They could put them in every 2 sims, even. Then we would see their actual use. We would seldom see them. Because only real people would use them, occasionally. There is absolutely no reason not to make stations with rez-on-demand. 

 

good news!  they already have rez pods on demand.they been around for quite sometime.

[ChinRey]

2 minutes ago, GideaNinja Dagger said:

good news!  they already have rez pods on demand.they been around for quite sometime.

Yes but only at the big hubs. What Prokofy suggests is to have many more of them along the entire routes.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

I remember riding some of those things. Such fun!

[SweetTaffeyLove]

My understanding is that people donated part of their land for pod stations. I don't know If she sells pod stations on SL Market but I would buy one. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by SweetTaffeyLove

[Asadora Summers]

3 minutes ago, SweetTaffeyLove said:

My understanding is that people donated part of their land for pod stations. I don't know If she sells pod stations on SL Market but I would buy one. 

What Yavanna sells is on the MP and it's a complete Pod Tour system for sims.

Here is the link:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/YavaScript-Pod-Guided-Tour-System-V50/226138

and this

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/YavaScript-Pod-Guided-Tour-System-V33/226164

Edited August 22, 2020 by Asadora Summers
to add second link

[ChinRey]

31 minutes ago, SweetTaffeyLove said:

My understanding is that people donated part of their land for pod stations.

Not quite, we host stations but we still own the land.

 

40 minutes ago, SweetTaffeyLove said:

I don't know If she sells pod stations on SL Market but I would buy one. 

Yes but those are simplified systems for smaller independent routes.

[Pixie Kobichenko]

Sending her good vibes 💐 

[Maryanne Solo]

Reminisce a short while and consider the wonderful story of a very talented, much loved and extremely popular SL'r: -> Strawberry Singh. <-
And what Joy Strawberry brings to our lives.
In case anyone hasn't noticed 🙄.... Yavanna has achieved something of truly monumental proportions.

It is entirely possible we might be witnessing a new dawn of SL, (with the sale and all that), as none of the impoxters, (medieval spelling lol), have a clue how to do Wirtual Vorlds.
I vote Yavanna, (and her work), be embraced by LL, (as others have already suggested), and march proudly and joyfully into the future of Second Life.

Watching the video  reveals immense talent and a true passion for SL.
A true passion for all of US.
(I do have a tear trickling down my cheek).

I can only speak for myself but I send Yavanna a huge thank you, a big hug, my best wishes and my love. ❤️
We were active friends for a good while and always will be.
 

[Arielle Popstar]

Just to chime in, until this thread I had no idea that the pods were not owned and operated by the Lab themselves. I liked them so much that when I went premium, I specifically chose a parcel that has road frontage on one of the Pod routes. Seeing one of the pods go by even if empty is nice in an otherwise static view and is to my mind a forerunner of a R/L future public transportation system. They are great for taking a leisurely tour through areas I would not otherwise ever get to and a reminder that there is more to this world than clubs and fashion stores.

Hoping that the exposure in this thread will be of benefit to the actual creator in being able to continue her contributions and compensate her in some way for the time and effort that has gone into adding to the enjoyment of S/L for others.

Ps, the empty pods going by were the reason I started looking into what they were in the first place. In that sense they are the advertisement that these things are available and more then worth the small resource hit to the region.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Arielle Popstar

[Garnet Psaltery]

Poor Yavanna.  Get well soon.

[Zero Starchild]

I love the pods, rode one a few hours ago actually and hope they stay! I am in the Pod Riders group too and as a lifelong mainlander I cannot imagine not seeing them anymore.

[Jennifer Boyle]

10 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

No one avatar should be able to dominate all sims and all roads in this way. It is profoundly wrong. Even if they ostensibly don't use it for commercial gain, it's reputational visibility and gain and no one should be allowed the entire world as their canvas without paying for it as everyone else does -- ESPECIALLY when it diminished the value of others' land and experience because it is essentially endless spam.

If you live and work on the Mainland as I do, and you aren't a tiny percentage of forums regs with this pro-pod opinion, you grasp the issue: nearly 100% of the pods have no drivers, and are spam. They endlessly careen across sims, occasionally crashing and piling up, and if they were some other thing, they'd be called spam and banned.

Huh? This is nonsense. I have occupied a house on the Mainland that fronts on a Linden road since 2009, and I have seldom seen one. They hardly "dominate all sims and all roads."

I "live and work on the Mainland," since 2007, and I've never had a problem with them.

[Cinos Field]

51 minutes ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

Huh? This is nonsense. I have occupied a house on the Mainland that fronts on a Linden road since 2009, and I have seldom seen one. They hardly "dominate all sims and all roads."

I "live and work on the Mainland," since 2007, and I've never had a problem with them.

Not all sims, but they are very prolific in the roadside ones. Prok is correct in that the ones that drive around without passengers effectively amount to spam.

If the whole system was purely on demand and I think everyone would enjoy it.

[Alwin Alcott]

1 hour ago, Jennifer Boyle said:

I have seldom seen one. They hardly "dominate all sims and all roads."

I "live and work on the Mainland," since 2007, and I've never had a problem with them.

i see them pass my mainland parcel several times a day, softly and silently floating by on the road.  Not disturbing anything, not dominating in any way.
I won't miss them myself as leaving a empty place in my life, but will miss the presence there.

[Qie Niangao]

Based on posts to this thread, I'm hopeful things can be worked out... eager to see the Pods return to their fully autonomous schedules.

On behalf of a group, I own a bunch of Mainland parcels along the SLRR; other members of the group do too. I can say without a doubt we need vehicles to pass around those tracks without anybody demanding them first.

I wish we could do that on the Bellisseria rails, too, but they disable object entry, so they're strictly "bring your own train" - BYOT.

The main reason BYOT doesn't work is that folks -- especially new arrivals to Mainland -- just don't expect to bring their own trains to the train station. Despite our group giving ready-made, free open-source locomotives from as near as we can get to those stations, before the Pods, we'd regularly encounter avatars standing on the platforms expecting to hop on a passing train, kinda like the Moles' systems in Bay City and Nova Albion, and like the SLRR itself in the distant past, several Havoks ago. Even a little like Real Life.

It would be theoretically possible for LDPW to operate a Pod or Pod-like network over the SLRR and other "touring" routes, but can they really invest the ongoing level of effort and technical passion Yavanna brings to the project?

[pearlhyacinth]

I think the pods are a wonderful way to experience and learn about mainlands. I think Yavanna deserves an official LL award for all of her creative and diligent work. SL is a huge and complicated world - and for both newbies and oldies who like to explore, the pods are perfect. I love them all -  trains and boats and egg cars. I have totally bought parcels for projects because they are on the pod routes and always love to see them go by.  I hope that LL is able to help keep them going and help people find out about them. This world is so spread out... anything that helps connectivity and exposes the creativity of what everyone is up to out there is great.

[North Crannock]

Since @Patch Linden has commented on this thread we know it will get looked into further, and if he can he will help sort something out.

[Rufferta]

I'm not in Second Life much anymore, but I remember the pod tours as a great way to explore the Mainland. I would ride with the map open and mark areas I wanted to return to. 

I'm hoping this is just a miscommunication, and not some part of a "DeJoy" conspiracy to sabotage the Mainland so that residents are restricted to Bellisseria and private Regions.

I hope Yavanna gets better and one of the Lindens finds a way to reward her - how about at least naming one of the new Regions (or even a new continent) after her?

Edited August 22, 2020 by Rufferta
musn't use word 'sims'.....

[Ashlyn Lisle]

I don't have any insight to add, but I want to chime in to say the pods account for a huge portion of my enjoyment of SL. They also taught me about the mainland after my first 8 years living on private sims, unaware of any details of the mainland. I now live on a mainland parcel that the pods helped me find. They are such a relaxing way to pass time, watching the very-interesting SL world roll by.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Ashlyn Lisle