Slink is closing.

[Ernst Osterham]

1 hour ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

It is not mean spirited. It is her intellectual property, why would she give up her rights to that? And given that her husband developed most of the scripts used for Slink products, he would have to give up his rights as well. Just because she chose not to sell Slink does not mean that the assets are worthless and should be given away.

Maybe not mean spirited but it was sudden and essentially removed the option for people to enjoy her work from SL.  I had the hands and feet, and also the male bodies on multiple avs and had no idea it was closing until it was gone.  
 

SL is heavily weighted towards the new and the now but it’s nice sometimes when old stuff is still available for people to enjoy even if only as part of SL history.
 

 The slink male body still fit a lot of clothes even ones not intended for it and there was a huge backlog of freebies and sale items for it.  If it was available as a freebie like the legacy classic meshbody is I’m sure it’s use would go up and give male newcomers a great body option that has years of back support until LL releases NUX.  Slink physique is also much less resource intensive or script heavy as the free classic meshbody so perfect for those running less than optimal computers.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Ernst Osterham

[Ceka Cianci]

18 hours ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

Prima is dead in the water. The creator did not do a whit of pre-launch partnership. Also, there's no alpha HUD. 

My stomach kind of turned for them on that whole release.. Especially with the booth they got at Fameshed for the official release..  I couldn't even find it at first.. they should have had all those booths in the center where you land.. instead they got one of the small ones with all the other 40 boothes on the outside wall.. Then going up against GenX releasing on the same day..

It just kind of melted when it hit the grid.. It felt very much like a release we would have gotten back when mesh bodies first came out.. Build it and they will come, when those days are over.. it's have all your ducks in a row first and then hope for the best plan for the worst..

 

[Marianne Little]

8 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

It is not mean spirited. It is her intellectual property, why would she give up her rights to that? And given that her husband developed most of the scripts used for Slink products, he would have to give up his rights as well. Just because she chose not to sell Slink does not mean that the assets are worthless and should be given away.

I agree that mean spirited is wrong to use. It could have been done better, but mean? No.

She had struggled in 18 months with keeping the business afloat, lauch a new body that flopped, and suffered personal losses. It is not strange that the breaking point came fast and hard.

Maybe she thought to make it another year, and then it all became unbrearable.

I hope that she can connect with friends in SL, maybe they would be happy to give her a little place to set up redeliverey terminals.

I wish she could edit, or have somebody she trusts, edit her products to make them mod. It would be a great gift to her customers, to get a modify redelivery.

A modify Slink body could maybe lead to new people complaining they can't buy one. 😉

I dusted off my male alt with the Slink body and decided to buy CZ Slim. I took a demo and really looked at it and Slink, looked at both bodies with fresh eyes and not "Slink is so old" eyes.

Slink male is really good. I like that body's legs more than CZ Slim. Then I looked at my alt with Hourglass, that I wanted to buy Reborn for. Same result. It is darn good bodies.

Somewhere in marketing the bodies, things went wrong. 

[Blaise Glendevon]

The entitlement is real. . .

[Rowan Amore]

Right, make a mesh body available free to everyone and sit back and wait for all those people to start whining on the forums about broken this and that.  Sounds like a great plan. 

Giving it to LL to distribute?  Then they would be responsible for any issues and we ALL know how that would turn out.

[EliseAnne85]

11 hours ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

It is not mean spirited. It is her intellectual property, why would she give up her rights to that? And given that her husband developed most of the scripts used for Slink products, he would have to give up his rights as well. Just because she chose not to sell Slink does not mean that the assets are worthless and should be given away.

I agree with you 100%.  I see no reason a creator leaving/closing is a reason to offer things for free.  Although (this is a different story) there was one creator who was upset with LL and began offering her items for 1 linden each until she finally closed, I guess so LL wouldn't make much money.  I don't think she got her point across to LL about being upset by offering her items at 1 linden.  LL couldn't have cared less.

Edited January 8, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Seicher Rae]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:46 AM, Scylla Rhiadra said:

They have been teasing a new update of Genus, with screenshots, in Genus group chat in the last few days. I couldn't nail them down on an actual date, but it looks like it is coming.

Thanks for that info. Everytime I go to the Discord I feel like shooting myself in the head after 5 mins, or shooting the monitor, or drinking a shot...

[JeromFranzic]

9 hours ago, Ernst Osterham said:

Maybe not mean spirited but it was sudden and essentially removed the option for people to enjoy her work from SL.  I had the hands and feet, and also the male bodies on multiple avs and had no idea it was closing until it was gone.  
 

SL is heavily weighted towards the new and the now but it’s nice sometimes when old stuff is still available for people to enjoy even if only as part of SL history.
 

 The slink male body still fit a lot of clothes even ones not intended for it and there was a huge backlog of freebies and sale items for it.  If it was available as a freebie like the legacy classic meshbody is I’m sure it’s use would go up and give male newcomers a great body option that has years of back support until LL releases NUX.  Slink physique is also much less resource intensive or script heavy as the free classic meshbody so perfect for those running less than optimal computers.

Shucks... all this stuff about the SLink being less resource intensive makes me wish I bought one a couple of years ago, shortly after I first entered... but I went the Genus Strong/Lucybody Atenea route instead when I was ready for a more modern avatar. Oh well. I don't own a bonafide potato PC in my eyes, but it isn't new by current standards.

If Siddean somehow changes her mind, she might have one more loyal customer. Anyway... i do have enough freebie Slink shoes and clothes to wear if I can ever get one. The slink shoes work well with Atenea.

[Seicher Rae]

I think I got to page 3 of this thread...

Slink made a huge impact, for a while, to SL.

I don't know the designer personally, but of course I am sorry to hear of her bad times, and I hope her situation improves.

All things come to an end. To everything there is a season, turn turn turn ♫

Like others have said, I can get nostalgic remembering the wonders that were the feet and hands. I own all of them! OMG, I could never color match my feet! At one point I gave up, colored the feet blue and said I was wearing anklets.

I appreciate hearing the news, and will file it away. If I needed support, I'd be very appreciative of this thread and would hit up the resources asap. I don't, as I haven't bought anything from Slink since feet/hands (and maybe one nice hair that is a French twist... should locate that). 

I hope @Marianne Little is wrong about Belleza. I don't have one of those either, but know several people, especially male avatars, who do.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 minute ago, Seicher Rae said:

Thanks for that info. Everytime I go to the Discord I feel like shooting myself in the head after 5 mins, or shooting the monitor, or drinking a shot...

The Discord? You're a braver woman than I.

I've seen two sets of teasers now, mostly thumb nails showing details. But there look to be two new heads, one a man's and one a woman's, and they are updating all 7 existing heads for free. According to the CSR who seems to know most about this in the group chat, there will be HD bits and pieces, but the mapping isn't changing and older skins will still work (I'm not quite sure how they're managing that). No information about the things that a lot of existing users want fixed, animations, eyes, and neck fit, but I assume that something has been done about at least the last one of those, if not the other two.

There is, it is implied, a provisional release date, but the CSR won't publish it because they don't want to create a furor if it gets missed.

[Chase01]

On 1/2/2023 at 7:53 AM, Marianne Little said:

I am afraid Belleza will close too. Their latest bodies has not been the super success. I think what keep people away, is the high price. In todays oversaturated market of female bodies, you have to kill the competition and go for mass sale of a low priced product, not sell a few expensive ones. I always repeat myself with this example: Lelutka were way behind Catwa in popularity. Lelutka gave all previous buyers of the new heads a free update. Instead they could have said "Sorry, new UV, these are a new product, no redelivery". The EvoX UV would have been an obscurity and die. Like Slink Cinnamon & Chai did.

I totally agree. Lelutka took a risk and it was a very savvy move on their part. At the same time, Catwa was slow to respond. As a consumer, it is going to take more then hype to entice me to buy in. I need to see that there is product support on the back end or I am not interested.

[Marianne Little]

I am thinking, and this is not only about Slink, that some have this thought about sales: "My product is worth this, and I do not cheapen it by having sales", Or: "I spent so many hours on this, I deserve to get some back from it".

I saw that Slink wrote "Once in a lifetime" about the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale they had last November. 

It is a Slink thing I noticed when I used to be a customer, it was never a sale. No summer sale, no back to school sale, no Black Friday sale. Last years Black Friday sale was the first I remember. Maybe they had some shoes on sale in the super old times, ten years ago or such.

I think a sale does not lower the way people view a product and store, because SL is entertainment. 

To stay relevant, you need to sell your product. And when others have sales every year, you will be left behind.

If somebody ask "Which body should I buy?" and some post back: "So-and so body is great, but I would wait a week until Black Friday and see if it is a sale." I mean... isn't that good? One new customer, instead that customer went and bought Maitreya.

[Lewis Luminos]

It will be sad if Belleza goes too. There's not much demand left for the female bodies and my girls have already switched from Freya to Reborn,  but it would leave male avatars with only the choice between Gianni and Legacy, both of which I feel aren't as good a choice as Jake.

But even if they do, I'll carry on wearing Jake anyway. I haven't needed support from a CSR yet, and I don't imagine I ever will.

Maybe all the new guys will just stick with NUX and not bother ever buying a commercial body at all.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

40 minutes ago, Lewis Luminos said:

It will be sad if Belleza goes too. There's not much demand left for the female bodies and my girls have already switched from Freya to Reborn,  but it would leave male avatars with only the choice between Gianni and Legacy, both of which I feel aren't as good a choice as Jake.

But even if they do, I'll carry on wearing Jake anyway. I haven't needed support from a CSR yet, and I don't imagine I ever will.

Maybe all the new guys will just stick with NUX and not bother ever buying a commercial body at all.

 

Well the NUX isn't gonna come with all the features that the top brands have, as far as what LL has said.. It might come down to whatever those features are, or just seeing a body that looks a lot better..

Maybe later if more things get made for NUX that might be a thing, But I think until it really gets creators making things for it, it's more just gonna be a stepping stone.. there is some really nice looking guys bodies as well and clothes out there that I seen men wearing around..

The women's market gets a lot made for it, but at the same time I also think we have a lot more crap to sort through to get to the good stuff.. hehehe

I can't wait for them to get here so we can see if they will be, just really good starter avatars or something that can be even better than just a starter avatar..

 

[Ealdian]

On 1/7/2023 at 11:14 PM, Jennifer Boyle said:

Having thought a bit more about it, I think it was mean-spirited to suddenly close the store without releasing her content to the public. She said she's leaving SL. If so, and the decision is permanent, it would cost her nothing to give her content away. Even if she changed her mind later, it would cost her nothing because content that is selling so poorly  that the business isn't even worth selling will be worth essentially nothing at some future time when SL has moved on. The effort required would be minimal---ask for volunteers to distribute it among her store group members, and give each volunteer a copy., requesting them to freely distribute it to others.

Maybe she didn't want to. It is her creation to do with as she pleases.

Nobody is entitled to the work of someone else just because they want it.

[Solar Legion]

I do still use my Masc/Male forms and went through a few bodies before Jake came along. It's what I was going for and is more generalized/versatile than the alternative (Regalia).

[Paul Hexem]

On 1/10/2023 at 7:57 AM, Lewis Luminos said:

But even if they do, I'll carry on wearing Jake anyway. I haven't needed support from a CSR yet, and I don't imagine I ever will.

The benefit of modify permissions.

If Belleza ever does leave, it won't be a big deal for those of us in Jake- we'll be able to fix the problems ourselves.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, Ealdian said:

Maybe she didn't want to. It is her creation to do with as she pleases.

Nobody is entitled to the work of someone else just because they want it.

This is true enough. No one is entitled to her work.

What is a little disturbing about this, though, is that there was almost no notice that Slink was closing down, which meant that there must be many out there who didn't get the opportunity to get updates or items that they couldn't have known would soon be disappearing for good.

And her Black Friday sale, which encouraged people who had no reason to think that the entire line was about to become deprecated to spend more might be read as an opportunistic move to cash in as much as possible at the expense of her loyal customers.

And that's not unimportant. Physique and Hourglass had very little support from creators as is; you can expect that no one will rig for them now. But at least there is a wealth of older content available for them.

That's not true of the two new bodies, Cinnamon and Chai. Virtually the only garments available for either were from Slink. That has all disappeared now, and there sure won't be anyone filling the gap now that the bodies are gone. Basically, anyone who dropped the substantial sum these bodies cost, even on sale, before the closing are now saddled with essentially useless items.

Likely there aren't many who find themselves in this situation. But if it is true that Siddean has the right to simply drop out of sight, leaving her customers high and dry, it is also true that there is an ethical issue at stake here: if she knew she was going to be exiting, she should at the very least have warned those to whom she was selling soon-to-be useless content.

I don't know her situation: possibly she had no choice. But the reaction of her customers is more than mere "entitlement": the way this went down gives them every right to be annoyed at the least.

[Ceka Cianci]

3 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This is true enough. No one is entitled to her work.

What is a little disturbing about this, though, is that there was almost no notice that Slink was closing down, which meant that there must be many out there who didn't get the opportunity to get updates or items that they couldn't have known would soon be disappearing for good.

And her Black Friday sale, which encouraged people who had no reason to think that the entire line was about to become deprecated to spend more might be read as an opportunistic move to cash in as much as possible at the expense of her loyal customers.

And that's not unimportant. Physique and Hourglass had very little support from creators as is; you can expect that no one will rig for them now. But at least there is a wealth of older content available for them.

That's not true of the two new bodies, Cinnamon and Chai. Virtually the only garments available for either were from Slink. That has all disappeared now, and there sure won't be anyone filling the gap now that the bodies are gone. Basically, anyone who dropped the substantial sum these bodies cost, even on sale, before the closing are now saddled with essentially useless items.

Likely there aren't many who find themselves in this situation. But if it is true that Siddean has the right to simply drop out of sight, leaving her customers high and dry, it is also true that there is an ethical issue at stake here: if she knew she was going to be exiting, she should at the very least have warned those to whom she was selling soon-to-be useless content.

I don't know her situation: possibly she had no choice. But the reaction of her customers is more than mere "entitlement": the way this went down gives them every right to be annoyed at the least.

I'm wondering if any of the newer bodies sold on the Black Friday sale.. They were going up against the more popular bodies that were at 50%.. I didn't see the newer slink bodies mentioned on sale for Black Friday until this thread..

It's possible that they didn't sell any and maybe that could have had an impact on why they pulled out.. A sale on bodies that really have hardly no content made for them, is really going to influence their sales..

I mean GenX that week thought dropping their price by 20% was going to do something for them.. They had a reduction in wearers because of the other more popular bodies selling at 50%.. They've only shown an increase in wearers since they dropped 33%  off the sale price.. and that was only by like 25 more wearers  for each of their bodies at the most..

So it's probably a good chance  that hardly anyone got taken over the black Friday sale.. I'm guessing  but just looking at the whole picture of it not even being mentioned with the other bodies, it's very possible..

 

ETA: Changed it from sounding like the genX was at 20% when it was reduced by 20% from the original price..I also fixed the 33% version  to where it shows it was reduced by 33% from the original price..

Sometimes I just need to slow down I swear..

hehehe

 

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Ceka Cianci

[Ealdian]

3 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This is true enough. No one is entitled to her work.

I was commenting on a whole different facet of this discussion, namely, that someone felt the creator should have left her content in world for free since she was leaving. You've extrapolated and jumped  from that specific issue to others that are your own, you might want to go back and reread my original comment and the quote I included when I made it.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Ealdian

[Harper Held]

On 1/8/2023 at 4:13 AM, Ceka Cianci said:

My stomach kind of turned for them on that whole release.. Especially with the booth they got at Fameshed for the official release..  I couldn't even find it at first.. they should have had all those booths in the center where you land.. instead they got one of the small ones with all the other 40 boothes on the outside wall.. Then going up against GenX releasing on the same day..

It just kind of melted when it hit the grid.. It felt very much like a release we would have gotten back when mesh bodies first came out.. Build it and they will come, when those days are over.. it's have all your ducks in a row first and then hope for the best plan for the worst..

 

At least the *****ing fundamentals -like Alphas, yes.

 

As a Tonic Body fan since 2017 or so "crushed" is about how I would describe how I feel about it. At this point even unsupported Tonic is still a better choice (than Prima).

As far as Slink goes? Never liked the body but I feel bad for her RL issues and I hope she gets to a better place in life soon.

[Harper Held]

On 1/7/2023 at 7:14 PM, Jennifer Boyle said:

Having thought a bit more about it, I think it was mean-spirited to suddenly close the store without releasing her content to the public. She said she's leaving SL. If so, and the decision is permanent, it would cost her nothing to give her content away. Even if she changed her mind later, it would cost her nothing because content that is selling so poorly  that the business isn't even worth selling will be worth essentially nothing at some future time when SL has moved on. The effort required would be minimal---ask for volunteers to distribute it among her store group members, and give each volunteer a copy., requesting them to freely distribute it to others.

I don't think it would have been any skin off her back side to keep the marketplace open with a huge disclaimer that all purchases were final and unsupported; but sometimes you just gotta get the fck outta dodge, you know?

That's the closest to reasonable that "the public" can be disappointed in not getting. Sure, as an open source fan for 25 plus years I'm disappointed to not see the model on github or something; but she was never under any obligation to do anything of the sort. As I said above, keeping an MP presence is about the most I'd ask for -but even that isn't required required at the end of the day.

Mean-spirited implies malice and that's clearly not what was going on in the situation. Other folks have taken you to task over that so I won't.

In b4 someone says slink is still on the mp (I honestly haven't kept up -I'm not a slink fan)

[Dafadilia Wayfarer]

My first experience with mesh was slink. I adored the hands and feet when they came out. My first mesh body was slink physique. I switched over to Maitreya when bento hands came out since I disliked the slink ones. I stuck with Maitreya after that. It's sad that slink has closed and the way it was handled. I do believe the creator should of given her customer base more time to prepare for that shut down. It could of been handled better. I understand the frustration some of her customers may be feeling.

That being said, the creator certainly doesn't owe us by giving her products to LL or releasing them for free just because slink was shut down. It's unrealistic to expect that from any creator.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

40 minutes ago, Ealdian said:

I was commenting on a whole different facet of this discussion, namely, that someone felt the creator should have left her content in world for free since she was leaving. You've extrapolated and jumped  from that specific issue to others that are your own, you might want to go back and reread my original comment and the quote I included when I made it.

Well, sure. But what I was responding to was your use of the word "entitled," which is why it was italicized. And in fact I was agreeing with you -- sort of, with caveats.

My point was that it's not merely a sense of "entitlement" that is motivating those who are expressing a wish for some sort of continued access to the Slink catalogue, and it's not really fair to suggest that that is the only thing at play here.

For whatever reason -- and because I like Siddean, I'm entirely willing to believe it was not deliberate -- this was not managed well. And it is in that context that I think one should read the pleas of those who'd like to see the sudden disappearance of everything remedied.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I'm wondering if any of the newer bodies sold on the Black Friday sale.. They were going up against the more popular bodies that were at 50%.. I didn't see the newer slink bodies mentioned on sale for Black Friday until this thread..

It's possible that they didn't sell any and maybe that could have had an impact on why they pulled out.. A sale on bodies that really have hardly no content made for them, is really going to influence their sales..

You may be right Ceka, although I was under the impression that the new bodies were also on sale. I'd have to do more digging around than I have time for to find out. I noted myself that I doubt if many were sold even if they were on sale. 

It doesn't really change my main point though. Whether they were purchased at full price before the sale, or at a discount during, they are now pricey bits of utterly useless junk littering people's inventory.

And although the situation is not as dire for those with the other bodies, the incredibly brief notice of the closing of the store will have impacted some who owned Hourglass and Physique, and who found out too late to update, etc. The fact that there will be no more of these sold means that the few creators still rigging for them will undoubtedly drop them too.

I'm not looking to assign blame here. I don't know the full circumstances of Siddeans' choice. But I can understand why people might be upset, regardless of the underlying cause for the sudden closure.