Skylar Smythe

This is a complete disaster... Unless Linden Lab is already broke and backing off in phases to keep what little cash is trickling in until they are ready to fold up shop? I hope you appreciate the shockwave you have sent through the community... errr wait. Your paying customers are not happy. Skylar Smythe

A very warm welcome to you Kim! One thing to consider is the reinstatement of the mentorship progam. An ongoing issue for recruiting and retaining new residents is the level of difficulty they encounter accessing "community" in Second Life. Community does exist by many definitions in just about every possible category of user interest but finding these groups and becoming engaged with them takes a great deal of deliberate effort which often proves to be "too much work" to the average new user. There are many individuals willing to devote some of their free time in world to supporting new users. I recommend that you consider the different communities which already exist including the prolific (sorry for the bias *wink*) literary and journalistic community. Your graphic artists and people interested in developing skills in content creation. Business and commerce support groups for persons interested in experimenting with the creation and sale of products in Second Life. A simple directory on secondlife.com could list mentors by these categories, promoted in a welcome message at the time a new account is created. Mentors not only educate and provide a "tour" of our communities but also serve to protect a new user from being abused during their very impressionable first few weeks. When I entered Second Life I was griefed immediately in Korea. I didn't return to the platform for months I was so put off by the experience. You will find that volunteerism on The Grid is very high. Those of us that have been around and actively engaged know how important it is to recruit and support the development of new residents from a social and economic perspective. We love the platform. We want to see it succeed. It means something to most of us and to our lives. You don't have to convince us that we are stakeholders. We know we are. Utilize the residents keen on making an altruistic contribution to the community and lets build something better together. Sincerely, Skylar Smythe