Arctic Fox

I am pleased to report on my Premium upgrade for my grandfathered account (detailed below for the sake of clarity): - Account created in August of 2004; - Account was never more than basic; - Upgraded the above account to Premium (paid annually) on 2018-04-21; I have received the grandfathered $500L/wk stipend. YMMV (your mileage may vary) since there is no documented guarantee of this. As I stated previously, it's to LL's benefit to let their longest running following enjoy benefits (for which they were originally eligible anyway) since more Premium accounts equals more sales, a more active economy, and - perhaps most importantly - more land rentals and purchases in light of the recently improved tier. Last but not least, the advertising value of such longtime members of the SL community going Premium and living their second lives to the fullest cannot be overlooked. There for the record is my positive experience. Although it cannot guarantee everyone's upgrade with sufficiently old accounts will go the same way, it is encouraging! Cheers, Arctic Fox

That's encouraging if newly upgrading an account within that creation date range earns the grandfathered stipend. I might be tempted. Not a bad way for the powers that be to 'let it be' and let these longtime members enjoy Premium and, through doing so in world, be good advertising by default.

I've no idea how that could have happened with the account whose payment plan changed. As for land, I appreciate the advice, and have gone ahead with the group ownership. I did in fact transfer $L to my grandfathered account, converted it to $USD, then updated the payment info. Everything went swimmingly. All that remains to be seen is what Premium benefits I will receive on the freshly upgraded 2004 vintage account that formerly had a $50L/wk basic stipend, and has until now never been Premium. If I do get the grandathered benefits, my one regret is that I don't have any other accounts that would qualify for the full $500L/wk. My next oldest account was created on July 28, 2006, and if I am not mistaken that missed the $400L/wk stipend by about a week. Fingers crossed!

I took the plunge and upgraded my old account to see what happens. There is the chance that if I don't get the grandfathered stipend, that I will after a year be able to revert back and convert a different account (if I even want to bother). I enjoy getting the maximum benefit for my investment, which is why I did all those calculations. How can I get the most out of the new tier? Ah, by combining two Premium accounts instead of paying $7.00 USD per month just for more tier. How can I try to get the most benefit from upgrading to Premium? Well, if I'm lucky my experience will mirror that of some other respondents to this thread, who have earned the higher stipend. As for which I will earn, I haven't a clue since looking up Premium benefits using my 2005 'upgraded way back when and never downgraded' account shows exactly the same advertising information as a 1-day old account would see. Only time will tell. In the end, come what may, curiosity killed the cat. Here's hoping it doesn't kill the fox, too

Thanks for all the helpful replies and info! As a total newbie to land ownership, I have followed the steps to successfully deed and contribute land and tier to a group I own, and wherein I'm the only officer. @Solar Legion and @Magnus McGettigan: 1. Yes, the potential downside is losing that $50L/wk. should I ever downgrade from Premium after upgrading that grandfathered account (created on 2004-08-29). 2. Yes, if in fact upgrading that grandfathered account earns $500L/wk instead of $300L/wk, the potential upside is $150L net gain per week (see my previous post), or nearly $30.00 USD per year (proceeds from today's Lindex 'sell $' rate). 3. There are some testimonials from others that they earned full grandfathered stipend upgrading as recently as last month, and still earned their $50/wk after downgrading - as long as they logged in every week. I don't doubt this, yet since YMMV (your mileage may vary) I was trying to figure out what might happen in my case. 4. Notwithstanding the above, and because paying for Premium annually is a net gain if the $500L/wk stipend is earned, it wouldn't be advantageous to ever cancel Premium on a '$500/wk grandfathered account'. This was mentioned on page 1, but I figured I'd include that here. My current grandfathered Premium account sustains itself for the most part. I'm increasingly tempted to give it a shot just to see what happens.

... but then people could proudly proclaim they have a "Pee-Pee" account!

You're welcome! This is slightly off topic, however the 'bigger picture' reason I am looking to upgrade another account is because it makes sense for me because of the following: a) $84.00 USD - annual cost of adding 1,024m more mainland tier to my current 1,024m Premium mainland tier (adding costs $7.00 USD per month); b) $72.00 USD - annual cost of upgrading another of my accounts to Premium; That may look like $12.00 USD annual savings, but hold the phone! There's more to it than that... If I've figured this out correctly, both my accounts could donate their 1024m Premium tier to a group I own, resulting in 2048m total holdings without monthly cost incurred (over and above my Premium memberships). I also assume that if I own the group, and my other Premium account is the only other Group Officer, I won't ever risk 'losing control' of the land. Here's the cost/benefit calculations: +$72.00 USD - annual cost of Premium account; -$58.19 USD: annual earned by '$300/wk Premium account' (USD based on 'proceeds' from selling $15,600L via Lindex on 2018-04-21); - $9.72 USD: annual earned by 'grandfathered basic account' $50L/wk stipend, or $2,600L per year (if logged in at least once weekly). =$4.09 USD annual net cost of total 2048m mainland plot, based on 2x Premium accounts donating their tier to a group owned by one of them. That's a theoretical savings of around eighty dollars per year. In practice I may end up spending some of the second Premium account's stipend, however I'd still come out ahead regardless. Hope I got that right - I'm not very well-versed in land ownership. I'm a fox!

Good afternoon all: Thank you to everyone who provided information and shared their experiences in this thread. Since there appears to have been some changes over time to Linden Labs' SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures), I figured that since I have access to Premium Support, I may as well ask directly via live chat to hear what LL had to say regarding whether grandfathered stipends are still given for first-time upgrades of sufficiently old SL accounts to Premium, based on 'account creation date' rather than 'date when upgraded to Premium'. After securing the permission of the Linden with whom I chatted via Live Help, I have attached a copy of their responses to this post. Hope this helps! Also, if you have recently 'first time upgraded' to Premium an account whose creation date is prior to July 21, 2006, please share the results, along with when you did the upgrade. I'm considering upgrading another of my accounts to Premium, however I have one (very inactive) from August 29, 2004, and the rest were created on or after July 28, 2006. If there is no difference in stipend earned, in the grand scheme of things there is not a huge difference between upgrading one or the other. That said, I could however leave that 2004 vintage account basic, and login once weekly for it to earn $50L x 52 = $2,600L, or just under $10.00 USD (based on 'proceeds' from selling $L via Lindex on 2018-04-21), and upgrade a non-grandfathered account instead, if there is no difference in Premium stipend either way. Here's some hypothetical math, 'one-time signing bonus' notwithstanding (remember that the information I've just received and quoted here states that upgrading to Premium today does not earn more than $300L/wk stipend irrespective of 'account creation date'): a) $26,000L = annual $L earned (if the $500L/wk stipend was earned for newly upgrading a 'pre 2006-07-21' account today, which doesn't seem to be the case); b) $15,600L = annual $L earned (based on the current $300L/wk stipend offered for non-grandfathered Premium accounts) c) $2,600L = annual $L earned (based on the 'grandfathered basic account' $50L/wk stipend for sufficiently old accounts, if logged in weekly) Newly upgrading a grandfathered account loses the $50L/wk but gains a stipend, which works out to either of the following: $150L/wk more (net) than newly upgrading a non-grandfathered account (if this works, which the most recent info when this was written states does not work); or $50L/wk less (net) than upgrading another account that does not earn any stipend at all; This may not seem significant until the net differences are calculated per year (USD based on 'proceeds' from selling $L via Lindex on 2018-04-21): 1. $38.83 USD: Grandfathered '$500/wk accounts' earn $10,400L more per year than non-grandfathered '$300L/wk' accounts'. 2. $29.15 USD: Net annual proceeds of 'Grandfathered $500L/wk' Premium vs. 'Grandfathered $50L/wk' basic' , after subtracting the $2,600L ($50Lx52, refer to b) above). Given the $72.00 USD annual cost of a Premium membership if paid annually, this does begin to make a difference. Taking the enclosed information from Linden Labs at face value, here is the hypothetical math (USD based on 'proceeds' from selling $L via Lindex on 2018-04-21): 3. $58.19 USD: Non-grandfathered '$300/wk accounts' earn $15,600L per year; 4. $9.72 USD: 'grandfathered basic account' $50L/wk stipend, or $2,600L per year, if logged in weekly. So the decision I have to make, using a game show metaphor, is whether I'd rather 'keep my toaster' (#3 and #4), or 'go for the mystery prize' and risk losing the #4 in hopes of gaining #2. On a final note: Yes, I AM aware the 'net loss' would be less than a cup of coffee per month, however if for no other reason than idle interest, it's a risk/benefit exercise. Your thoughts? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Live Chat Log from 2018-04-21] Note: Q&A quoted here are unedited, however since I had other unrelated questions, I've removed some content for brevity. [Linden]: How can I help you today?10:57 AM [Arctic Fox]: I have a question about upgrading one of my alt accounts, which was registered prior to July 21, 2006.10:58 AM [Arctic Fox]: This account was registered as and continues to be a basic account, and has never before been Premium.10:59 AM [Arctic Fox]: As such, will upgrading that particular account earn the stipend of $500L per week?11:00 AM [Linden]: No, it will not - the only account that get a grandfathered stipend are those that have remained Premium since before the stipend was lowered.11:01 AM [Linden]: Even if the account had been Premium, and was downgraded for more than a few weeks, it would not be eligible for a grandfathered stipend.11:01 AM [Arctic Fox]: I am basing my question off the last post in the following thread: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/420632-grandfathered-stipend/?page=311:02 AM [Arctic Fox]: I was curious since my present accou nt is grandfathered, and I am happy to maintain that status.11:03 AM [Linden]: Okay, the information in this thread is either outdated or incorrect.11:03 AM [Arctic Fox]: ...and rather more motivated to upgrade my one other account, from 2004, if it confers more benefit than doing so with an account created after the cutoff date.11:04 AM [Linden]: My earlier response is reflective of the information I have received from superiors in the past.11:04 AM [Arctic Fox]: What I will say in terms of feedback is that it is due to the recent increase in tier that has made it more worthwhile for me to consider having another active Premium account.11:06 AM [Linden]: Okay - I'll make a note of that!11:06 AM [Arctic Fox]: Also, if an account has a $USD balance, will that be a payment option when upgrading to Premium?11:07 AM [Linden]: You have to have a payment method on file to upgrade a account, but a USD balance is charged before your payment method - so if there is enough to cover the cost, your payment method would not be charged.11:08 AM [Arctic Fox]: Ah, excellent! I knew that worked with my ongoing Premium account.11:08 AM [Arctic Fox]: That answers all my questions, and I thank you for your time!11:17 AM [Linden]: Okay. Thank you!11:17 AM [Linden]: And have a wonderful weekend.11:17 AM [Arctic Fox]: If it's OK, I will answer that thread with a quote from this chat.11:18 AM [Arctic Fox]: Likewise! It is finally spring here.11:18 AM [Linden]: That is fine with me :-)11:18 AM Thank you for chatting with us. We are always here if you have more questions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -