Linden Lab - your profile pages don't seem to be working

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Good morning Linden Lab.

The profile pages that you've plugged heavily into the google searches, you might want to check on.

My page in particular is not working most of the time.

It's the page that you titled About Mickey Vandeverre - Second Life, then tagged to show really high in a google search.

It's hit or miss, but most of the times that I click on it - my profile does not come up, but rather a Join Second Life Page comes up.

I really don't want you using my name on that sort of page considering all the marketing that I do on the web.  Feels like you are trying to snag some of my efforts.  But I'm unclear on whether or not you own the Mickey Vandeverre name.  I'm starting to suspect that perhaps you do.  I don't know.

If you're going to snag efforts like that - you don't even have the page geared right.

I posted this here in the Merchants section...because it effects business marketing.

I've written blog posts about it and this morning I sent a support ticket to you under the title "account compromised" - it was the closest category that fit.

I'm not sure how else to reach you on this matter - I've tried everything.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Just to be clear - here is the way you've titled one page:

 

About Mickey Vandeverre - Second Life

Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type. Mickey Vandeverre. Member Mickey Vandeverre ...

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that's linked to an obscure page - a profile page from forum.  It's very odd that keeps popping up, particularly considering all the blog hits I get.  You're aware of those bitly and blog hits - you can see that in your Marketplace stats.

the next listing that keeps popping up is this one:

 

mickey.vandeverre - Second Life

Mickey Vandeverre is a resident of Second Life. Join Second Life to connect with Mickey Vandeverre. Second Life is a free 3D virtual world where users can ...

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and most of the time I click that - I get this page:

https://my.secondlife.com/

there is no Mickey Vandeverre name on that page, so it's like a misdirect or something - I don't know the lingo.

 

Do you...in fact...own the Mickey Vandeverre name and persona?  If so I will retreat back to my workshop and tell my 3700 twitter friends that I can't play anymore.

Or I'll just close the store.

Can you clarify whether we are allowed to be our virtual world names outside of the inworld log in ?

It's basically ME - just using a DBA name.

It's never been a problem before.

 

 

[Freya Mokusei]

http://world.secondlife.com/resident/881a3736-29e3-434b-b3dc-296d4c862b61 <- Your web profile 'past'

https://my.secondlife.com/mickey.vandeverre <- Your web profile 'now'

https://my-demo.secondlife.com/mickey.vandeverre <- Your web profile 'future'

 

All seem fine to me. Though I admit, I'm not sure if your post was directed at me.

Or do you mean a different page?

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Hi Freya - are you logged in when you get those?

I'm not logging in.  Testing without a log in.

[Freya Mokusei]

Ah no, I'm not logged in.

I'm logged into the forums, but that login doesn't carry across to profile pages.

I'm not logged in in-world, or to the profile pages.

I see all three profile's fine. Privacy settings hide your Groups, RL, and Picks if I'm not logged in, for both 'now' and 'future' profiles.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Thanks Freya - but they don't look fine from my computer.

Hiding profile is not an option.

[Griffin Ceawlin]

So... You're blaming LL for the way that Google indexes the pages that your SL name may or may not appear on?

[Freya Mokusei]

Correct, the profiles aren't optional. =]

But the links I posted work fine for you, yes? Or are you seeing the page layout messed up?

[Mickey Vandeverre]

No Griffin, that's not what I'm saying.  Google search has been our friend in marketing this year! 

(except for that google+ issue going now)

What kind of marketing are you doing for your store this month?

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Hi Freya - I think we would be sunk without a profile!  Definitely have to have those visible.

On the first link you gave, that would be a great presentation, but that's not the presentation they're sending people to via all my web networking.

On the second link, it gives you this:

Welcome to My Second Life.

Second Life profiles are now web-based!

What does this mean?

• All resident profiles are finally available outside the Viewer on the web!
• Privacy settings are inherited from the Viewer.
• Share and Like profiles, picks & classifieds.
• Stay tuned for more to come...

 

Join Second Life or Log In

 

and the web address ends up as this when you click it:   

https://my.secondlife.com/

 

that says nothing about Mickey Vandeverre, which was used in the ad copy.

 

On the third link it says this:

 

Welcome to My Second Life.

Second Life profiles are now web-based!

What does this mean?

• All resident profiles are finally available outside the Viewer on the web!
• Privacy settings are inherited from the Viewer.
• Share and Like profiles, picks & classifieds.
• Stay tuned for more to come...

 

and the web address comes out as this: 

https://my-demo.secondlife.com/

 

No Mickey name there, as implied by the copy that appears in the google search.

 

[Griffin Ceawlin]

I don't have a store, so no marketing necessary. :smileyhappy:

This is the first page of results that I get when I Google your name. All valid links, including the one to your Marketplace store.

 

I guess I just don't understand what the problem is.

ETA: Simple search, with not even quotation marks.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Since you're not doing any marketing...no, you probably wouldn't understand. 

[Griffin Ceawlin]

I understand enough. You complain that profile pages aren't working. Well, apparently, they are. So what exactly is the problem? Please. Do explain.

Edit: Typos.

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Griffin Ceawlin wrote:

So... You're blaming LL for the way that Google indexes the pages that your SL name may or may not appear on?

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Darn you Griffin!

The 800 number of those people wanting me to get the newspaper keep calling me.

This is not acceptable of you.

 

Oh and PS: when I type:

Mickey Vandeverre

Into google, I get a screenshot identical to Griffin's.

Bing is close as well, but starts with a Mickey Vandeverre wordpress instead.

 

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Yes, Pussycat and Griffin - that's what I'm getting too.

Thank you for the screenshot - I'm not sure how to take one of those.

[Pussycat Catnap]

On a PC the printscreen button and then open an art application like Photoshop or Gimp and paste it to a new image.

On a Mac, there's an application called 'Grab' that's in the utility applications folder or something.

 

When I test all the links in those searches, they go to exactly where they claim they would go. So I'm not sure why or how you're getting what you're getting.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Thanks Pussycat - never did know how people were doing that - appreciate it.

[Perrie Juran]

What many people don't understand is that no two people will get the same results with a Google search.   I am not saying that this is necessarily your problem but the search returns are based upon what the Google algorithms think you want to see.  Facebook does this also.  You don't see every post every friend makes on their own walls show up on your wall.  The inverse of this is that Google and most all search related engines are controlling the information that you see.  And that is a huge problem.

And we are not talking about small differences, we are talking about many times huge differences.

I recommend to any one who has never watched this video to take a few minutes and give a look.

What Is The Internet Hiding:

http://front.moveon.org/eli-pariser-filter-bubble-ted-talk/

 

 

[Perrie Juran]

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Pussycat Catnap wrote:

On a PC the printscreen button and then open an art application like Photoshop or Gimp and paste it to a new image.

---

Windows Vista (and I believe it is in Win 7 also now) has a widget included that replaces the print screen function.  It is simply called "Snipping Tool."  It also allows you to select what portion of the screen you want to save and gives you several file types (jpeg, gif, etc) you can save as.  I love that little tool.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Thank you Pierre - great video.

I see the same thing that Griffin and Pussycat see.

I realize that not everyone will see the same thing.

But it's those two particular "about" pages with a second life link that I am asking about.  Linden Lab will know what I'm talking about.  Sorry this ended up in general forum.

And also asking if we are able to use our avatar names across the web.  It appears that there is a surge on LL promoting those.  For some people this could be a problem.

 

 

[Perrie Juran]

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Mickey Vandeverre wrote:

Thank you Pierre - great video.

I see the same thing that Griffin and Pussycat see.

I realize that not everyone will see the same thing.

But it's those two particular "about" pages with a second life link that I am asking about.  Linden Lab will know what I'm talking about.  Sorry this ended up in general forum.

And also asking if we are able to use our avatar names across the web.  It appears that there is a surge on LL promoting those.  For some people this could be a problem.

 

 

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I believe that in the fine print of the TOS you will find that you have granted to Linden Lab the right to use promotionally  any content you post in SL and that would include your name.  Many of us have a real problem with that because in many instances it exposes us to an 'invasion of privacy.'  But it has reached the point that there seriously is no privacy left on the Internet.  Here is a snip of results Googling my SL name I just did.

 

 

I am not happy about this but I have a choice.  Well several choices.  Stop posting altogether, be careful about what I post or just let it rip, consequences be damned.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Yes, Perrie - I came up with same results for you.  My oh my...you have an interesting batch of topics there!

That's one level that might be a problem for people who do not realize that their thoughts and subject matter are being exposed with their name.  This has been a concern of mine for many, many months. 

But boy are you up against a wall there.  I think that as I see and meet people inworld that through the course of conversation, possibly mention that their profile is now very prominent in a google search and that posting in forum leaves a record of thoughts. 

Like you said...that privacy on the Internet is really dwindling. 

I was considering quite a few other aspects.  Not enough hours in the day!

With LL choosing an "about me" page to plug in there...I've lost control over marketing. And I was doing really good with that.   Almost.  Working really hard to get another about me page to show up soon.

They've chosen two pages...that's excessive, and it controls the search a wee bit.  One page is pretty much worthless and not good marketing for either us.

What is to keep them from choosing three or four or five more pages to keep that control of sending people directly to main site - - and in this case, when I click on the link, it totally cancels out Mickey.

I clicked on one of those links I think it was yesterday, and granted, what you will get changes each time you click....but it said that I was a "resident" of second life.  I'm a bit uncomfortable with that, as I've tried really hard with twitter and blog posts to explain to people not currently using second life that not everyone goes there to "live" and escape and give up real life.  Many think that's what the majority do.

I don't want to make a judgment on that...there have been some times that I "escaped"...plus I used to build a "home" there frequently, have one halfway finished now, and my customers might feel they live there...I really don't know.

But I don't want LL to start slapping judgments on my name and what kind of lifestyle it is associated with.  I've worked really hard to explain to people that the venue is used for many different things.

At the beginning of the year, the CEO called us "customers"...so be it.  Works for me.

There is also another level creeping in with this whole google+ thing on not being allowed to use avatar names or "fake" names or pseudonyms or whatever you want to call them.  Have you been keeping up on that?  holy cow.

But it really did make me think about how much I identify with that MIckey name on the web - it's ME.

People are worried about all the controls being put into place on the use of those avatar names....and I've advanced to a level on that, which is a bit more worrisome than google+.   Hence the question on that.

[Freya Mokusei]

Hey Mickey, I've just gotten back.

I found the page you're seeing ('Second Life Profiles are now Web-based'), but I only get it AFTER I log out from viewing profiles. If I'm not logged in when I start looking at profiles, I see your profile full of info about you, on all three profile links.

It's possible your cookies got mixed up (you can clear them using your browser), and you're caught in some kind of loop. Or some other error. I'm.. not up to date on how LL sort all that out.

But don't fret too much, all three profile pages are about you. =]

 

ETA: If you log-in to US using a 'web profiles' viewer (SL v2.7 and above), it will show you the same content you would NORMALLY see by visiting http://my.secondlife.com/mickey.vandeverre

Whatever problem you're having seeing your web profile is limited to whichever web-browser you're using, on your computer. Everyone else sees your profile.

[Mickey Vandeverre]

Hi Freya - you're a trooper!  thanks for checking again.

It changes depending on whether or not I'm logged into a second life page.  I had some others check from another computer, and it changes, hit or miss for them as well.  Not consistent.

I need an about me page that does not require a second life log in page.  And has consistent access.

I meet people on the Internet that do not belong to second life.

No - those pages are not necessarily about me.

My whole life does not revolve around fixing borked delivery problems from marketplace, but that's all I have room for on the one profile.  Although, good portion of day spent on that! 

And a forum profile that only registers threads where I come in and ask for help that never gets answered by a Linden....with a wee bit of space to write something that you need a magnifying glass to read....nope, not workin' for me.

And I'm sure some others are having some challenges with that.  Particularly if you have to use one profile page for both business and other stuff.  Maybe new profile system will help a bit.

But it appears that your avatar name and being is cloistered and under another's control.  Head smack!  Should of known that from day one, but you get carried away and one thing leads to another..... Doubt there will be confirmation on that ...as that particular enlightenment would be awkward!

Thanks Freya - if you need help with anything, let me know.

 

 

[Freya Mokusei]

A pleasure. I'm glad it's all started making sense, it does seem a can of worms!

If you're looking to poke some with optimising your brand for Google (SEO, Search Engine Optimisation),  there's plenty of resources for that. It shouldn't be too hard to 'beat' Secondlife.com's list position, and make your Postorous/Wordpress/Whatever appear at the top of that list.

When Googling my name (Which isn't connected to a brand), it seems a handful of photos that I lent myself to on Flickr rank highly for no reason at all. Google is an interesting creature, to be sure.