Coby Foden

Posted by Jack Linden on Nov 17, 2010 9:40:24 PM I’m delighted to announce that today we have released Viewer 2.3 as the main Second Life Viewer and the default download for new Residents. This release includes the full launch of Display Names allowing greater self-expression... All what I can say is that I'm not at all delighted that the Lab released this Fake Name thing. "Greater self expression"? With Fake Names? Really! Uff....

Second, I know the majority of people in SL will simply take what they see as truth without digging any further and thus will be easily fooled by display names. I believe that if Linden Labs is not allowing people to use the Linden name in a display name, then they obviously know there is a risk of impersonation and SHOULD NOT implement display names in a manner that allows users to impersonate each other. I still have to read up on the whole "Unique Name" thing, but it sounds like users WILL NOT be able to choose a display name that is identical to a real User Name, as all user names are Unique Names and will not be allowed as display names. Well Ayame, the sad truth is that we can use anybody's unique User Name as our Display Name. I just tested it. I had no difficulty to use Ayame Musashi as my display name. No tweaking with similar looking unicode characters. Just copy and paste your name. And voila, there it is floating above my head. Linden Lab sure are aware of the impersonation threat. But they are only concerned about the Linden name, which they protected. They see no threat (or do not care) what threat we might face if somebody impersonates us. Personally (as I have stated many times) I feel that this Fake Name idea is one of the worst ideas the Lab has ever "invented". Uuufff...

The Fake Name project just shows that no amount of user input is not going to revert Linden Lab back from what they have decided to do. As we all know very well... The Lab still has the unfortunate monopoly (unfortunate for us the users , cool for the Lab ) of providing the most content rich virtual world. And the Lab sure is aware of their strong position. Monopoly, as well as as too much power, has unfotunate tendency to corrupt, and to make arrogant. One feels like some god. "I can do anything", you know... I have a feeling that the Lab is not going to change until there is real competetive alternative. So, we users have not much other choice than to receive what ever is delivered. Oh, by the way, if there is no real concern about Display Names: Why is Linden name protected, so that it cannot be used as a Display Name? This has been asked many times, total silence from the Lab as a response... why? This is a bad, very bad idea (as said already so many times)...

Posted by Grant Linden on Oct 7, 2010 2:10:47 AM We are thrilled to announce that the SL Marketplace is the new destination... I couln't help but burst in laughter when I saw this ... (sorry...). This is becoming a joke: every single time Linden Lab announces something what they "invented" and what most users hate and do not like and what is incomplete, the Lab are "thrilled, excited, and what not..." Well, as a buyer I am an avid reader of reviews. The reviews are important before I make decision to buy something. Now, in the "smooth and enjoyable experience for the customer web page" reading the reviews is a pain. Only two reviews per page. Are you serious? It goes like this: Click reviews Wait for the page to load Scroll the page down Read the two reviews. Then it continues: Click next Wait for the page to load Scroll the page down Read the two next reviews Click next Wait for the page to load Scroll the page down Read the two next reviews Click next Wait for the page to load Scroll the page down Read the two next reviews Click next Wait for the page to load Read the two next reviews.. etc. Lots of clicks, lots of waits . What do you think: is this "smooth and enjoyable"? Unfortunately I must say that most likely I will not be doing any shoppings there until it's ready and more "review reader" friendly. Please fix it. Thank you.

The real problem in SL about names are the very silly, and even very bad usernames that some have chosen. Display Names are not going to solve this problem. Only allowing people to change their username the problem would be solved. Now, as soon the under aged are allowed to main grid and hundreds, even thousands of avatars are having offensive usernames, offensive usernames pose a very serious problem. A small sample of actual very silly SL usernames: 1234567890 Dojoji 1234567890123456789012345678901 Yootz 9876543210012345679987654 Oh abcdefghijclmnopqrstuvwxyx Yuitza zyxwvutsr Zymurgy ROFLOLOLMAO Hax OMG Offcourse 007 Offcourse Ofcourse Offcourse stupidstupidstupid Cioc StupidStinkyMonkeyFace Dreddm Now if StupidStinkyMonkeyFace Dreddm chose Display Name Professor Carl Donahue would it raise his credibility in our eyes? Or would we just laugh, as we still could see the very silly username? And now about the offensive names. I post only one here to save your eyes for any more offence (again, there are hundreds, even thousands of offensive usernames in SL): OhMyDaysIHaveTheItchiestBalls Pooley Question: when the minors come to main grid, is Mr OhMyDaysIHaveTheItchiestBalls Pooley able to send IM to some 13 year old kid? Even if this person used Display Name "The Nicest Santa Claus" his username will draw all the attention. How is Linden Lab going to solve this bad username problem?

Antialiasing wasn't working for me on this release, even after rebooting and relogging. I was not liking the jaggies! I went to my NVIDIA Control Panel and found a setting to "overide application settings" for antialiasing. This works perfectly, SL actually looks even better than it did before. I think my video card does a better job of antialiasing. I'm really glad I discovered this Yes indeed. I always use antialiasing enabled in the graphics card driver overriding any application settings. I wonder why people want to use the application setting for antialiasing. I have a strong feeling that the graphics card driver itself can do a better job in antialiasing than any application setting. So, everybody: Use graphics card setting for antialiasing, override application setting .

Antialiasing worked before but now I have jagged edges around everything. Anyone else seeing this? I have no jagged edges. Smooth edges as always. The thing is that I always keep the antialiasing off in the application. But I have enabled antialiasing in my graphics card driver (overriding application setting). Works always like charm. (My graphics card is: NVidia Quadro FX 1600M/PCI/SSE2)

Sign ups to Second Life are flat. If the population is not growing, what can be done to increase it? Hmmm... why the population should always increase and increase? There is a limit for growing and increasing. Linden Lab should first fix the lag issues, TP issues, inventory issues, slow rezzing issues, region crossing issues and many other things, like the horrible default "duck" walk. If the population increases rapidly, the lag will be unbearable if something is not done to it. Will the new residents stay long in laggy environment walking like a silly duck, qwack, qwack? Well, they can enhance themselves and have greater self expression with some stupid Display Name. I think the Display Name thing does not fulfil the dreams of Linden Lab. Fix the basic things first!

Posted by Jack Linden on Sep 14, 2010 6:14:24 AM We’ve read every single one of your comments and Jira submissions and as a result have been rethinking certain aspects of the feature with your comments in mind. Hello Jack, Thank you very much for reading all the comments Did you also read carefully the multiple comments where it was asked that why the Linden name is protected so that nobody can use it as their display name? So far this question has not been answered (or maybe I have missed it... ). It seems a bit unfair that one name is protected, and the names what we have thought to be ours only and what we dearly love are not. Could you perhaps kindly let us know what is the reason for protecting Linden name? No need to answer why other usernames are not protected, we already know it. We are interested to know the reasons for the Linden name protection. Or is the reason perhaps a secret, and the Lab does not want to tell it? Waiting for your answer... even an answer "we don't want to disclose the reason" will be appreaciated Thank you for your attention. PS. I will not make any suggestions how to enhance the Display Names, because I know it is rather futile anyway. You do what you have planned to do, maybe with some tiny miniscule changes to the original plan. Personally I still see the Display Name implementation as a big disaster for our user experience.

So, it will go on almost as planned, with some very tiny changes I'm thrilled to see what usernames new residents will invent . Maybe something like: isthisgonnabefunletseeitcloser wannacreateaccountingreathaste wannagetinfastitsme quickquickquickinininin oooooooooooooooooooooooo abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyz aeiouuoieazapadizaaahh qwertyqwertyqwertyqwertyqwerty totalnonsencequickaccountcreate woooohoooooowooooppppp slslslslslslslslslslslslslslsls wishtogetinfastwishwish doesnotmatterwhatiusehere zipzippetizipzipzipwohoooo zyxvutsrqponmrrrrrrrrrr wrrroooooouuuuookoiioommmm Greater self expression with new type usernames. Wow! How easy to remember who is who! Thank you very much for making our life easier... What did Philip say? Was it something like: "Second Life should be more like iPhone. Easy and fun to use." Is the Display Name project really helping in that direction, I wonder?