Just in Case - Inventory Hoarding

[Persephone Emerald]

Are there kinds of inventory that you keep but don't use, just in case you might want it someday? I think many of us have packages we haven't opened or old items we've forgotten about, but are there things you specifically save, imagining you might want them, and then realize you're really never going to use them?

I've separated my skin tones into Light Tones, Medium to Dark Tones, and Fantasy Tones. All my avatars are light skinned Caucasian. Yet I still save Asian and African skins.

I used a medium brown African skin once for roleplay as an ancient Egyptian woman and once for an unfinished Steampunk romance story I was creating and illustrating. I also used a medium brown male skin for modeling Egyptian male clothes I made and for the man in that unfinished Steampunk story. I've used a lighter medium tone for roleplay a couple other times, created a Mongolian warrior look for my guy avatar, and put on an Asian skin with kimonos a few times.

Generally, though, I know I'm not going to use the darker tones I've been saving in my girls' inventory, so I think I'm finally going to delete most of them.

I also have boxed up stuff I've put away over the years, but haven't gotten around to sorting and deleting. When I used to decorate for the holidays, for a few years I'd box up my holiday decorations afterward. Some of that stuff is outdated  now - sculpts for instance. I also saved group gift sculpts from a couple creators I liked, but I know I'm never going to build with those now. 

Do you have a hard time deleting these kinds of inventory? Or do you regularly clear out your old inventory if you don't use it?

Edited March 4 by Persephone Emerald
"there", not "their"

[BilliJo Aldrin]

I have every body version for every article of clothing I buy, even though I never know I'm gonna switch from maitreya lara (not x because that is a switch too)

I'm at 45k but could probably drop to below 40k just by deleting those clothes i'm never ever gonna need.

Plus I have a ton of applier clothes, which i should delete since i don't use appliers any more, it's fitmesh or nothing for me

😁

Edited March 4 by BilliJo Aldrin
added a line

[steeljane42]

I keep original boxes/unpackers as a backup in well organized backups folder. Because you never know when some creator will decide to leave SL (and they can manually take their items down making them impossible to redelivery anymore) or a delivery system going to break. There's probably a few of those backups/boxes I could delete now, mostly with the old clothing that never got an update for any newer bodies than maitreya/freya/slink from back then, but not too much as I've been deleting them and some things actually got updated, in which cases I've replaced the backup boxes with a new versions.

But unpacked things and stuff that I know I would never use is an instant deletion for me. I've deleted all old standard sized clothing I had before mesh bodies became a thing, and just about everything else from there. Same goes for stuff that I just won't ever use, for example darker skintones as "it's not me", and just some stuff I don't like anymore or that got replaced by better items/creations through the years.

[Wesley Spengler]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Do you have a hard time deleting these kinds of inventory?

Coming back to SL, one of the hardest challenges is reacquainting myself with the inventory, and how I struggled mightily from the very start with organizing it well, being able to find anything, and how today I'm paying the price of 18 years of poor inventory hygiene. But, I can't let go of it. There are memories intertwined with a lot of it, and even if it is utter junk I'll never want or use, I have neither the time nor the interest in rezzing-out or wearing every single thing to make that call. 

One particularly weird example... This past weekend, I spent at least nearly two hours just renaming all my outfits; I'd used three different date-driven naming conventions, so I moved the dates in the name to a consistent format, just so they auto-sorted by date of creation — knowing full well I'll never wear system avatar outfits again for any reason other than nostalgia. Which I suppose is a good enough reason.

Just finding that one favorite old very prim-heavy version of "me" had an avatar complexity of around 253,000 gave me enough of a laugh to make it worth the time... 😂 

[Sid Nagy]

I still have every prim door, script and texture that I ever used for my Door Store and Window Shop that I had a gazillion years ago and every shop texture and prim shop as well.
Most likely I will not trow it away anytime soon but I keep it for nostalgic reasons. I filed it nicely though:  Business resources > before 2015 > door store and window shop.

I always have tried to keep my inventory somewhat in good shape. But during the creative periods that is sometimes hard, because all I want to do then is build.
In periods with lack of inspiration it is "sorting the inventory time"

I trow away lots of outdated stuff that I did not make myself, so most from the prim period is gone.

Edited March 4 by Sid Nagy

[Wesley Spengler]

14 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Business resources > before 2015 > door store and window shop.

Reading your post gave me the thought that I could probably make a lot of this easier on myself just by spending an hour or so creating appropriate sub-folders, and dragging a lot of stuff en masse into them. Like you, waaaayyy back in the day, I had stores, and I want to keep the merch, scripts, textures, storefronts, etc. I used to build them, just for old time's sake. But they certainly do not need to remain at their current level in the folder hierarchy. (As one example, among others.)

Which brings-up something I wish LL had done... Allowing sub-folders in the Outfits. But per my earlier post, at least appropriate date-based numbering (e.g., 2009/10 Fred Flintstone Halloween Costume) means I can scroll through that stuff fast enough...

[Porky Gorky]

2 hours ago, Wesley Spengler said:

Coming back to SL, one of the hardest challenges is reacquainting myself with the inventory, and how I struggled mightily from the very start with organizing it well, being able to find anything, and how today I'm paying the price of 18 years of poor inventory hygiene.

I just came back after 12 years and looked at my 32000 items and thought NOPE! I know the MP stuff is in a folder called MP Migration. Beyond that I decided to ignore the rest and just make a new folder called 2024 and I am working out of that. 

I was never into avatars much and am still walking around in one I put together in 2010.  I know nothing about mesh avatars or how clothing works or any of it. I don't even know what I don't know yet, if that makes sense. It's a bit overwhelming, 

I need someone to make a youtube video that starts with “previously on Second LIfe” and then recaps  12 years of development.

[MissSweetViolet]

I have folders designated for every category I can think of [base folders with sub and sub sub, and even sub sub sub categories to sort my stuff], and I store backup boxes in prims at around 500-700 per prim. My biggest fault when trying to coral my inventory is the thought of "what if I find a use for this later?". Sometimes I actually have [never thought I find a use for teapot avi, but load and behold a theme dance provided an opportunity], which doesn't help with the hording problem, lol.

[Wesley Spengler]

1 hour ago, Porky Gorky said:

I know nothing about mesh avatars or how clothing works or any of it. I don't even know what I don't know yet, if that makes sense.

Makes 1,000% sense to me. I can't even tell you how I struggled to remember how to fly — let alone how to attach anything, find anything, or frankly DO anything. I thought my 10 years away was a lot; 12 years, huh? Well, welcome back to both of us. 

As for figuring out that stuff, I guess after discovering just how many of my oldbie friends were still around, I succumbed to peer pressure, watched a few Boston Blaisdale videos on YouTube, and dove right into the deep end. Not for the faint of heart, and absent some motivation or reason, it feels like it's mostly just caving to the palpable shift from content creation to content consumption that was always slowly happening, but now seems pretty much complete.

1 hour ago, Porky Gorky said:

Beyond that I decided to ignore the rest and just make a new folder called 2024 and I am working out of that. 

So far, I've taken a similar approach. I do plan to do what I suggested in my very last comment above... Clean-up the old, and put the new in the usual places.

1 hour ago, Porky Gorky said:

I need someone to make a youtube video that starts with “previously on Second LIfe” and then recaps  12 years of development.

With markers on the playback timeline by year, so you can dive-in at the point you made your exit!  

[Persephone Emerald]

1 hour ago, Porky Gorky said:

I just came back after 12 years and looked at my 32000 items and thought NOPE! I know the MP stuff is in a folder called MP Migration. Beyond that I decided to ignore the rest and just make a new folder called 2024 and I am working out of that. 

I was never into avatars much and am still walking around in one I put together in 2010.  I know nothing about mesh avatars or how clothing works or any of it. I don't even know what I don't know yet, if that makes sense. It's a bit overwhelming, 

I need someone to make a youtube video that starts with “previously on Second LIfe” and then recaps  12 years of development.

"The Virtual Bloke - Queer Eye for the SL Guy" website gives a good breakdown of how to create and dress an avatar, from system layers, through mesh, appliers, and now BOM.

[Wesley Spengler]

5 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

"The Virtual Bloke - Queer Eye for the SL Guy" website gives a good breakdown of how to create and dress an avatar, from system layers, through mesh, appliers, and now BOM.

Another excellent suggestion, and I'd add that even AFTER I'd figured-out the basics, Skell had a lot of really useful information on his site. 

[Sid Nagy]

17 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

"The Virtual Bloke - Queer Eye for the SL Guy" website gives a good breakdown of how to create and dress an avatar, from system layers, through mesh, appliers, and now BOM.

I never left SL (and not really interested in the avatar beautification that much) and I still think that website holds a lot of abracadabra.
Getting a mesh body working wasn't that hard, but I still haven't lost my classic head . Too complicated for me.

That said: Back to building.

Edited March 4 by Sid Nagy

[Kylie Jaxxon]

UGH...I do the "just in case" with houses.  Have a ton of them   AND. anything Neva makes   Will never  be able to use all, but I just can't help myself, lol

 

Edited March 4 by Kylie Jaxxon
grammar

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

I've had an idea for a new way of "storing" an outfit in the inventory which doesn't currently exist.

Currently, an outfit is basically a folder of copied links from original outfit components, which when amassed over months, years and decades can cause an inventory size to balloon to extreme sizes, causing a larger inventory, slower inventory caching and laggier sim crossings.

Instead, how about a new outfit folder system that just contains a single unique UUID code component and not a list of copied links? This outfit UUID component could be given a custom descriptive name by the user, while also still retaining that unique UUID. Editing it would open a "currently worn" outfit folder and reveal all the worn outfit elements. Right-Click on another outfit UUID and have a temporary "Show Outfit" option too. Any changes to the contents of the outfit would result in a new UUID being created.

Edited March 4 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Orwar]

14 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

I've had an idea for a new way of "storing" an outfit in the inventory which doesn't currently exist.

Currently, an outfit is basically a folder of copied links from original outfit components, which when amassed over months, years and decades can cause an inventory size to balloon to extreme sizes, causing a larger inventory, slower inventory caching and laggier sim crossings.

Instead of outfit folders containing copied links for every single component to be worn, how about an outfit folder just containing a single unique UUID code that the viewer/server creates from detecting a collection of worn outfit components? This outfit UUID could be given a custom descriptive name by the user, while also still retaining a unique UUID. Editing it would open a "currently worn" outfit folder and reveal all it's components. Any changes to the contents of the outfit would result in a new UUID being created.

   That's a feature LL would have to implement though, and I don't expect anything such to appear any time soon. But I also hate inventory bloat, so I have a slightly different approach; I have one outfit which is my 'base' avatar, which is about 40 links to all the things I'll always want to have on me (and also puts all the layers in the correct order). When I put together an outfit with apparel and accessories, I then only put links to those in there - so instead of being 40-something plus 6 (shoes, top, bottom, rings, necklace, bracelet, for example), it's just the 6 items. Then I can just 'Wear - add to current outfit' to get dressed in an instant. Or remove that outfit in an instant. It also saves me having to go updating outfits whenever I make adjustments to my avi.

   It does take a little bit of work as you'll have to either create an outfit and then delete all other things in it, or manually put the links into an outfit via your inventory, but I can have 10 outfits with 100 links total rather than 460. 360 links saved is a lot when you actively try to keep your inventory under 10K elements.

   As for whether I hoard though, kind of. I save unpackers/boxes, but I also occasionally unpack things I stopped using to reassess them - if I feel like I'll never use something again, I may finally delete the box.

[Arielle Popstar]

23 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

I've had an idea for a new way of "storing" an outfit in the inventory which doesn't currently exist.

Currently, an outfit is basically a folder of copied links from original outfit components, which when amassed over months, years and decades can cause an inventory size to balloon to extreme sizes, causing a larger inventory, slower inventory caching and laggier sim crossings.

Instead of outfit folders containing copied links for every single component to be worn, how about an outfit folder just containing a single unique UUID code that the viewer/server creates from detecting a collection of worn outfit components? This outfit UUID could be given a custom descriptive name by the user, while also still retaining a unique UUID. Editing it would open a "currently worn" outfit folder and reveal all it's components. Any changes to the contents of the outfit would result in a new UUID being created.

Like a notecard describing the outfit and from which the avatar could put it on? Like they do for NPC's in that other platform? I was chatting with a friend last night and she mentioned that SL has a limit of only 64 kb memory per card though I suppose it could be upped.

[Pixie Kobichenko]

I was mostly gone from SL save a random log in once a year or so from 2017- till January 2024.  Decided to update w a new to me brand of head & body (so I would *have* to go shopping).

i just finally in the past week or so deleted my slink hands, slink feet, body & Lola tangos & all that went with them.   Probably deleted everything freya related, too.  
For some reason tho, I can’t seem to delete my older catwa heads.  I know I will never use them now that I bought a new brand, but there’s something I’m overly attached to identity wise with the faces.  If that makes any sense.

[PheebyKatz]

I try to keep at least one copy of anything I make, and anything I buy.

I put them all into big boxes, labeled "Backups", just to keep my inventory count down. Once in a while I go and open the boxes and see if there's anything in there I thought I had lost, or can't live without at the time.

Usually, I just leave it all in the boxes.

[Prokofy Neva]

I'm trying to brutally remove all those just-in-case uglies that I haven't used in literally 15 if not 20 years unless they have some antique value or personal meaning.

Elsewhere in the news, some people think this is a good time to download copies of all your textures on full perms you have purchased, and scripts well, not to mention mesh daes. I personally don't have time for this but I may do a bit of it.

[Miranda Tretiak]

I save everything. It's bad but I do. All neatly boxed up into their months/years/items etc..

They all come out to play every Rez bday

[BilliJo Aldrin]

One thing I got rid of a long time ago was all the system layer clothing and flexi prim dresses and skirts.

And to think, I thought I looked so good in them, and I did, at the time.

😂

[Midnoot]

On 3/4/2024 at 4:21 AM, Persephone Emerald said:

Are there kinds of inventory that you keep but don't use, just in case you might want it someday? I think many of us have packages we haven't opened or old items we've forgotten about, but are there things you specifically save, imagining you might want them, and then realize you're really never going to use them?

I've separated my skin tones into Light Tones, Medium to Dark Tones, and Fantasy Tones. All my avatars are light skinned Caucasian. Yet I still save Asian and African skins.

I used a medium brown African skin once for roleplay as an ancient Egyptian woman and once for an unfinished Steampunk romance story I was creating and illustrating. I also used a medium brown male skin for modeling Egyptian male clothes I made and for the man in that unfinished Steampunk story. I've used a lighter medium tone for roleplay a couple other times, created a Mongolian warrior look for my guy avatar, and put on an Asian skin with kimonos a few times.

Generally, though, I know I'm not going to use the darker tones I've been saving in my girls' inventory, so I think I'm finally going to delete most of them.

I also have boxed up stuff I've put away over the years, but haven't gotten around to sorting and deleting. When I used to decorate for the holidays, for a few years I'd box up my holiday decorations afterward. Some of that stuff is outdated  now - sculpts for instance. I also saved group gift sculpts from a couple creators I liked, but I know I'm never going to build with those now. 

Do you have a hard time deleting these kinds of inventory? Or do you regularly clear out your old inventory if you don't use it?

I back up my entire outfit + avatar + purchases, but other than that , not much so much hoarding . That way, i can try it on 6 months later  and think " I can't believe i thought this looked good. "

[InnerCity Elf]

Maybe a business idea on the opposite end of the spectrum of SL jobs from Personal Shoppers and Custom Avatar Creation Helpers - Virtual Organizers in different flavours, from Project 333ists over Capsule Wardobeists and MaryKondoists to Minimalists. And for the very determined, the Xtreme Minimalists with the "you just need 1 virtual merino outfit, and can wear it for a whole month without needing to wash it, no matter what you do in it, and then just throw it into a virtual washing machine in a virtual laundromat and put it back on virtually wet and dripping (tp to a sim with a warm and dry climate, for a bit, to not catch a virtual cold, though) approach. That would be bad for the SL economy, though. On the other hand, the number of virtual merino wool clothes you may have to go through to find the ideal one...

[Chery Amore]

It's usually costume or niche themed stuff that I tend to hoard like that. 
Like recently at the shop and hop I had a credit for a formal store. Got something I could use then bought a dress that looked like it would fit great in a 20's-30's style event or venue, so yeah I got it absolutely knowing I'd probably never use it. There's another store that gives credits now and then and I get hats from them.. again thinking oh this little net hat or top hat would be great for a costume if I ever put the outfit together and found just the right event or venue.
I also have a fondness for purses and sunglasses but forget to wear them. Just try them on give them a good ohhh and ahhhhh ..then put them in the dusty corners of my accessories folder.

[Persephone Emerald]

1 hour ago, Chery Amore said:

It's usually costume or niche themed stuff that I tend to hoard like that. 
Like recently at the shop and hop I had a credit for a formal store. Got something I could use then bought a dress that looked like it would fit great in a 20's-30's style event or venue, so yeah I got it absolutely knowing I'd probably never use it. There's another store that gives credits now and then and I get hats from them.. again thinking oh this little net hat or top hat would be great for a costume if I ever put the outfit together and found just the right event or venue.
I also have a fondness for purses and sunglasses but forget to wear them. Just try them on give them a good ohhh and ahhhhh ..then put them in the dusty corners of my accessories folder.

Switching to mostly Maitreya LaraX is making it a bit easier to delete some of my clothes, but I'm still going to keep some Lara classic ones, especially role-play styles.

As for glasses, I sometimes try them on and delete the ones with a high ARC. Same with hair. 

One organization trick that helps me is putting a * at the front of folder names for outfits or items I like best in different categories. Then I go back through the folders with no * and delete some of those. This creates a 3 tiered grouping that is constantly shifting: 1. unopened packages and outfits I haven't tried on yet, 2. Outfits and items I really like, and 3. Items I don't love and can probably delete without missing them. The * also puts my preferred items at the top part of the category folder, so they're easier to find.