They Kicked the Helpers Off Welcome Island...

[Lindal Kidd]

This is my night for discovering nefarious actions by the Lab. I just posted about a new notice in the snapshot window that seems to imply a variable upload fee structure is coming, or may already be in place.

I also teleported to Welcome Island 2, as has been my habit, to spend some time offering help to newcomers. Or I tried to. I got a "you can't return to Welcome Island" message, the same as every newbie gets after they exit the new user tutorials. My fellow White Tiger Guides also tried to access the region and found they could not.  Apparently, LL decided that they didn't need our (unpaid! volunteer!) help, and cut us off without warning or so much as a "thank you for your service".

We knew that having resident helpers in the new user experience was an experiment on LL's part, but really...would it have been so hard to contact the group, tell them the results of the experiment, and at least give us a little warning that it was coming to an end?

I'm pretty disgusted with LL at the moment.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

25 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

This is my night for discovering nefarious actions by the Lab. I just posted about a new notice in the snapshot window that seems to imply a variable upload fee structure is coming, or may already be in place.

I also teleported to Welcome Island 2, as has been my habit, to spend some time offering help to newcomers. Or I tried to. I got a "you can't return to Welcome Island" message, the same as every newbie gets after they exit the new user tutorials. My fellow White Tiger Guides also tried to access the region and found they could not.  Apparently, LL decided that they didn't need our (unpaid! volunteer!) help, and cut us off without warning or so much as a "thank you for your service".

We knew that having resident helpers in the new user experience was an experiment on LL's part, but really...would it have been so hard to contact the group, tell them the results of the experiment, and at least give us a little warning that it was coming to an end?

I'm pretty disgusted with LL at the moment.

you should stop for a moment,  this could of been something on the backend that was fired off, a script that was made and had a timer/date trigger and nobody remembered, it happens,  so @Monty Linden @Patch Linden  let's see if we can get you some answers. 

[yestothis]

Seems it’s designed so people can’t  go hassle or help newbies 

Edited December 9, 2021 by yestothis

[Lucia Nightfire]

Maybe just like what happened to the Mentors program, LL didn't want new users with deep pockets being "educated" on the problems/limits/costs/fees of SL, risking the stars in their eyes being knocked out of their heads and flight to other platforms before they could blow large sums of money first?

[Nick0678]

20 minutes ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

before they could blow large sums of money first?

Well.. people take it personally but they shouldn't cause "it's just business"..this isn't the Opensims.

[Lindal Kidd]

47 minutes ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

you should stop for a moment,  this could of been something on the backend that was fired off, a script that was made and had a timer/date trigger and nobody remembered, it happens,  so @Monty Linden @Patch Linden  let's see if we can get you some answers. 

Management/Developer Team error would be wonderful, at this point. If it turns out to be the case, I will apologize all over the place.

Until then, I remain Grumpy and Disgruntled. Yes, LL, I have lost my gruntle.

[Jaylinbridges]

Didn't you post recently in another thread that as a volunteer you get asked by newbies at the help island how to get rid of the floater box, quite often. And you even asked them what viewer they were using as part of helping them?

You made two mistakes here as an unpaid volunteer.  First you indicated there was more than one SL viewer.  Secondly, you posted in public that even newbies using the SL viewer were having trouble getting rid of the floater.  This might have made someone in charge of the SL new user program sad, hurt feelings, etc.  Time to dump those unpaid  volunteers...  I hope it was just a technical glitch, and you all get your unpaid volunteer positions back.  

 

 

[belindacarson]

It's about time.

[Alwin Alcott]

i really can't care less... when they ditched the "helpers/advisor roles" here on the forums also no Linden gave a *** ( and the complainer here also not), and could get a nasty vile lame reply from "one".
Let them do the help themselves... they have time for it.( and get paid)

move on.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Alwin Alcott

[Paul Hexem]

Linden Lab screwing up?! Making dumb decisions that hurt the platform more than help it?!

[Jaylinbridges]

2 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

Let them do the help themselves... they have time for it.( and get paid)

They could move the online help desk to the newbie area.  Oh wait, what online help desk?   OK, move the help desk for Premium members into the newbie area.   That's  the ticket.  Open 6am to 2pm SLT - please take a number and stand in the line.  BTW you need PIOF and PIU, and your first Premium payment will qualify you for PIU. Then stand in line.

Much better solution than having inworld unpaid volunteers standing around waitng for a basic question from a fresh arrival to SL.  According to you...

You think LL will actually hire more help desk people and pay them for 24/7 service for new arrivals?  

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Jaylinbridges

[Alwin Alcott]

14 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

You think LL will actually hire more help desk people and pay them for 24/7 service for new arrivals? 

instead of that they added a chatbot to live chat some time ago

[Prokofy Neva]

6 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

This is my night for discovering nefarious actions by the Lab. I just posted about a new notice in the snapshot window that seems to imply a variable upload fee structure is coming, or may already be in place.

I also teleported to Welcome Island 2, as has been my habit, to spend some time offering help to newcomers. Or I tried to. I got a "you can't return to Welcome Island" message, the same as every newbie gets after they exit the new user tutorials. My fellow White Tiger Guides also tried to access the region and found they could not.  Apparently, LL decided that they didn't need our (unpaid! volunteer!) help, and cut us off without warning or so much as a "thank you for your service".

We knew that having resident helpers in the new user experience was an experiment on LL's part, but really...would it have been so hard to contact the group, tell them the results of the experiment, and at least give us a little warning that it was coming to an end?

I'm pretty disgusted with LL at the moment.

1) As others have mentioned, you just didn't realize that the "variable upload fee" has been there for ages -- I would say more than a year. It's related to their (stalled?) "premium bonus" concept. I don't see that it is "coming soon".

2) I think it's a good thing that the Lab has ended this "volunteer" program which has always had many problems inherent in it. They should put paid, benefited, full-time staff on this difficult and complex but often boring job. They should also put ads in welcome areas so that newbies can TP to venues of interest where those motivated to help them out of "philanthropy" or "business" will do so, without the built-in advantage of being deployed at the first landing.

[Garnet Psaltery]

It's been a long time since I was a newbie so I can't remember if Welcome Island is the place you land in first.  If it is, then I must say I'd have hated to have someone disturbing my initial attempts at orienting myself, adding to my confusion.  Also I'm sure there are fine, dedicated volunteers but they are just other people, with their own cultural and personal stance, not necessarily in sympathy with the unknowns they're greeting.  As for vetting of volunteers, I can't imagine there'd have been much, given staffing levels.  On the whole I'd be glad if this has stopped.

[Chaser Zaks]

IIRC, Welcome Island has always been inaccessable to anyone but new residents. Learning Island is where anyone can go regardless of account creation.

However, if it is also learning island, it is kind of a double edged sword, because new residents get dropped there after welcome island, and I've seen people who have been on SL for a while and they are rather.. rowdy.
I'd personally like for new residents not to get scared off by SL goons(as they call themselves), who trust me, are very.. not good for public image and not something you'd want new people to see first time on your platform.
I'd also however, like new residents to be welcomed by experienced residents to help guide them and answer questions that would be otherwise take a while to figure out via navigating menus and searching help pages.

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Chaser Zaks

[Lindal Kidd]

3 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

They should also put ads in welcome areas so that newbies can TP to venues of interest where those motivated to help them out of "philanthropy" or "business" will do so,

They do, sort of. There's the whole "Newcomer Friendly" section of the Destination Guide, and that is specifically mentioned in the Welcome Island tutorial.

3 hours ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I can't remember if Welcome Island is the place you land in first. 

LL has had several iterations of the new user experience. Welcome Island is the newest one.

1 hour ago, Chaser Zaks said:

IIRC, Welcome Island has always been inaccessable to anyone but new residents. Learning Island is where anyone can go regardless of account creation.

No, not quite correct. The previous iteration was Learning Island, followed by Social Island. Some mentor groups had access to these islands, while everyone had access to Social Island 10 (and still do). When LL deleted Learning Island, they made Welcome Island the single region for new user orientation. There are three identical Welcome Islands. The same mentor groups that could access Social Island have been allowed on Welcome Island 2 up until now, while Welcome Island 1 is only newbies, no live helpers. Welcome Back Island, the third region, is accessible by everyone. (Minor note: the "you can't go back to Welcome Island" message you get if you try to return says to go instead to "Welcome Island Public", but there is no teleport link and the region is actually called Welcome Back Island, so a lot of people will probably never find the place.)

Another and ominous note: There used to be as many as 10 Learning Island and Social Island regions. Now there are only two Welcome Islands, and last night Welcome Island 1 appeared to be offline, leaving only a single region through which to funnel newcomers. That is a sad sign of the decline in new users.

[Lindal Kidd]

1 hour ago, Chaser Zaks said:

I'd also however, like new residents to be welcomed by experienced residents to help guide them and answer questions that would be otherwise take a while to figure out via navigating menus and searching help pages.

Thanks! And in reply to Garnet's cry of "I vant to be alone," I can only say that we helpers never forced ourselves on anyone.

[Patch Linden]

11 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

This is my night for discovering nefarious actions by the Lab. I just posted about a new notice in the snapshot window that seems to imply a variable upload fee structure is coming, or may already be in place.

I also teleported to Welcome Island 2, as has been my habit, to spend some time offering help to newcomers. Or I tried to. I got a "you can't return to Welcome Island" message, the same as every newbie gets after they exit the new user tutorials. My fellow White Tiger Guides also tried to access the region and found they could not.  Apparently, LL decided that they didn't need our (unpaid! volunteer!) help, and cut us off without warning or so much as a "thank you for your service".

We knew that having resident helpers in the new user experience was an experiment on LL's part, but really...would it have been so hard to contact the group, tell them the results of the experiment, and at least give us a little warning that it was coming to an end?

I'm pretty disgusted with LL at the moment.

 

It certainly is upsetting to see that what was a genuine settings error in our reconfiguration of an estate's setting yesterday cause such a vociferous and unwarranted public response.  In the spirit of yourself being a good steward to the very valuable helper volunteer core, who invests many countless and thankless hours of their time towards the efforts of on boarding new Residents to Second Life, I certainly hope this type of reaction would not occur in front of our new users, nor is carelessly displayed in such a public venue.  As a partner, The White Tiger Mentor group has direct access to escalate issues to both Support and Product Operations whom are at the ready to both assist and help connect the group to the folks directly responsible.

Thank you for bringing it to our attention.