CaseyFallen Popstar

Great to hear from you again Amethyst! Great post and good points! We have the same "small claims" system with courts for smaller disputes, however Second Life has quite a few things that "Real Life" does not. I don't think the system would have to be this convoluted, let me explain why. First, in real life you do not have a system that keeps track of sales via a ticket system. (Well, except for the paper receipt, but lets forgo that for the moment) With the system in Second Life there is no disputing the amount paid or whether a customer paid and merchant received said payment. Second, Second Life already has a great "Negative balance" feature. If a person does not have lindens in their account. They can still take the money, which will make a negative balance. If the person does not make this balance positive before their next land fee or membership fee due date, their account is suspended and they can no longer log-in until such balance is paid. This system is already set up. So getting the money would not require much effort at all. Not to mention, it is not often that a merchant does not have some Lindens in their account. The next profit from a sell would go directly to pay off the negative balance rather then in their pocket. So the issue of them not having the money should never come up. Finally, I wanted to point out that I do not think linden should be in the business of returns or unhappy purchases. Furthermore, "All sales are final" is a policy Linden already has. Which in my mind is completely different from not getting a item at all. So no judicial system should be needed. I do however agree with you 100% about your proposed "merchant should be required to be active and log into SL at least once a month" policy and have also thought about how Linden should have a policy for merchants like you have already underlined for us. I also believe that If they are not in-world, their selling privilege's should be revoked. Thanks for your insightful additions!

Thanks for joining in n this thread Melita! Yes, When bad glitches like this happen. I always start to think about tchanging to a different viewer. It is just so tedious learning a new one. I know the SLV viewer so well. Hoping a fix will come soon. Thanks for the funny comment too. It does feel like guantanamo! hehehe! : P Thank you for stopping in! : )

Hi Chriz, I have two suggestions that may work. The first is is work around for the "No Rezz" issue that is happening in S.L. at the moment. What you can do is make a new folder in your inventory. Then take the object you are having trouble with and move it into this new folder. Once you have moved it into the new folder in your inventory, try to drag and drop it out at the new location one more time. If this does not work, try going to a sand box which does not have limitations..like "No Scripts" or No weapons" Sometimes it will not allow a rezz out, just because the item is spread out and crosses over servers/landlines. Be sure to move to middle of the sand box away from the land lines. Then try rezzing it again. Hope one of these suggestions works for you. Good Luck.

Hi GothGirl, Thanks for adding to the thread. I personally and thankfully have not had much trouble with griefers. But the few accounts were not fun at all. I agree Linden needs to take a stronger stance against such nonsense. But no matter how many regulations you make, you have to take into account that we are dealing with people here. There will always be bad to go with the good and when people can easily hide behind a avatar, the instances will be higher. No matter how much you try to stop this kind of behavior, unfortunately, it will still exist. Let us all just hope less of than more.

Thanks for the great addition to this thread Czari! Really enjoyed reading your post! Yes, it seems that the starting points of old were much more helpful and fun for those creating a account. Currently, not so much. Yes! Caledon University. That is exactly what I was speaking of. What a great sim! Takes a novice and puts them on the track to be a expert with their avatar. I too love visiting that sim. Have not been in awhile. I think I will pay another visit. Thanks again for adding such a great post to this thread!

Of course it depends on when you check it Sirh. I always log in around the same time and on the same days. I was always fascinated by the number of folks logged in at any given time. This is why it stuck out to me so much. So to find the relevance of that number we would need to log -in every day at the time and day you logged in and keep track of hat number for at least a few months to see if it variates. When I logged in on Fridays just a few years ago, the numbers were always at around 50,000. Today on a Friday, in the last week anyways, I have not seen that number top 30,000. Saturdays and Sundays always have a higher number. Cannot compare numbers from different days of the week or even different hours for that matter. That is apples and oranges. But I admit, this is still not the most scientific observation. Thanks for dropping in Sirth. very much appreciated.

I wish it was "Just another conspiracy theory" But you can see the number of logged in people on several different viewers. That number use to be around the 50,000 on any given Friday. Give or take a few thousand of course. Today it rarely cracks the 30,000 mark. That is not a conspiracy. Just facts. : / Trust me Dilbert, I would like to believe that more than anyone. I really like Second Life. i would not have started this thread otherwise. Just hoping that a good dialog here may reach the folks that can take the thoughts, suggestions, and opinions here. then morph them into action. Thanks for being part of the thread Dilbert. I truly appreciate it.

Hi Jo! Wow! Great post! Thanks for your input. Very much appreciated and a very enjoyable read. You really captured exactly what I am talking about. You obviously have been covering this topic far longer than I Linden certainly needs to address this issue. I really enjoyed your idea about a island that is a fun learning game. I think that would be a awesome way to start out in Second Life. I had suggested before that they start folks at Caldron University.<--spelling? But your idea sounds much more appealing. I have had mixed feeling about whether a person's avatar should look "Noob" or not. One part of me says no, for the obvious reasons. If they are not easily picked out as new to S.L. then they may get a more enjoyable reception from folks? But on the other hand. When we are able to differentiate the new comers from those that have been around awhile, it lets us know that the person may need help. It lets us understand that they are not trying to cause trouble in our sim and that they are more than likely in need of assistance. So I am split on that subject. Love to hear every ones thoughts on this subject. Thank you so much for adding to the thread!

Hi Porky, Really great post! Your entrance was sounds amazing. I wish they would go back to those days. Back when I entered S.L. I did have a problem with dropping in on parcels owned by others. Always though it should have been guided to make you hit Linden community land. But other than that. Loved my first day. Was blown away. But had I had the one on one you described. I would have been beside myself and my first day would have been that much better! I am just shocked that they are throwing folks in here with no tutorial now. Amazing isn't it? Thanks again for this post. Great input!

Hi Phil, Thanks fo rthis reply. I still have the glitch. I am not the only one. Several of my friends are having this problem too. It onl happens with items you own and can actually delete and does not happen every single time. But very freaquent. Another person in the forums indicated they have this as well. So I know it is not just me. But you have brought up a very good suggestion. I will take a look at my brower number to seee if I have the latest. I hope you are right and I am on the old one. Thanks gain fo rthe post! Very much appreciated!

Hello, First...please do not take the tone of this reply as anything but pleasant. I am a big fan of your blog posts! Just don't agree with you on this subject. You wrote "Does your government do that for you in RL when you buy something that you think ripped you off or you have a bad experience with a merchant?" My reply is: Yes, they do return the money to you. If the police catch a bank robber with the banks money in their pocket. It is simply returned to the bank. Linden has the prefix I.D. They see the money left my account and they can see on the sellers account that my money is deposited in their account; in their pocket , if you will. It would not be that hard for Linden to write the seller and investigate. If no reply, then remove the money from their account back into the purchasers. They could even make a system very easily that would show if items delivered or not. (If they do not have this already) Today more people than not are very sketchy about spending money online. If they cannot feel safe and protected while doing it. Then it won't happen. Take that away from S.L. and this place is no longer a money maker for Linden or anyone else for that matter. As for contacting the seller. I tried for days. Note crads and I.M.'s It is pretty obvious the seller has not been online in over a year just by looking at the profile and when all posts stopped. Here is the kicker. Because the store is on a free 512 piece of land, this means the sellers overhead is about $5.00 a month. Assuming she paid a year at a time to save on the membership fee. My purchase alone has made the store able to stay another month. I am sure it is getting one ripped off person a month. It could stay forever at that rate. Meaning more and more people are having this happen to them. I shouldn't have to point out all the reasons this is bad for S.L. as a whole. Thank you so much for your addition Amethyst! Enjoy your input!

Simple answer...yes. The numbers are down. If you look at my last post, I think a big reason is that the influx of new arrivals is slowing do to Bad Linden changes. So the influx is not keeping up with the out flux I don't agree that the functionality of Second Life is the reason. As it has always had problems and continued to grow despite the fact. But I have to point out that Second Life has very few crashes and virtually no lag if you are on a higher end computer. My friends and I all work for a living with our computers, so we have very over the top model computers. Lag and crashes never happen for us. Solution: I think eventually computer prices will get affordable enough for everyone to be in Second Life with the lag free experience that only folks with $2000 thousand dollar and up computers; which is currently needed now for that type of crash and lag free S.L. reality. But glitches, like the new right click auto delete effect us all. High end computer or not. But I don't think that is the cause on its own for less log-ins. Just a few years ago the log in numbers were growing. I hate to point this out..but the new CEO came in with his "Video Game" ideology for S.L. and it has been shrinking ever since. Yes, S.L. has games in it...but it is not a game.

VERY good point Urzel! Yes, so many things that are available to do in Second Life are just plain out of sight. Only the small percentage of return users slowly find out about all the stuff there is to do in here. I think you are very correct to point out this deficiency. If they were shown from day one that they can build and shown where the free places were do so, this would be a great start at making more visitors permanent residents. Thanks so much for leaving a rely! Very much appreciated.

Thanks for leaving a reply Dilbert Dilweg! Yes, the trouble report process via JIRA is beyond tedious and seriously outdated! I reported the invisible textures bug a few years back. Took over a year for a solution. I understand they have their hands full. But the fix system is beyond broken. I too shall pass on making a trouble ticket. Got to tell you, deleting my house and having to spend hours putting it back out the other day was not my idea of quality S.L. time. Yes, leading a friend around is a solution. But as you pointed out, cannot always be there and Lindens concern should be to keep those who come alone. As most of us do. How many of us had a friend build our MySpace in the days of MySpace and then FaceBook. I would think not many. The first experience is the most important. Log -in numbers are dwindling here and If I were a gambling man, I would bet money that much of it has to do with the new account process. Thanks again for a reply!

First, I am taking my time to write this in hopes that someone with the power to make change in Linden will some how hear me and would like to hear accounts from others out there in Second Life on the subject. Today I helped a friend create a new account. I was shocked at that the way new avatars are brought into the world now. Why Linden felt a change was needed in that area is beyond me. But I have to tell you, it is the worst change ever! Remember the old way of entering S.L.? Avatars were lead through a short path that would teach a avatar the basics. Sitting, flying, camera tricks.....Then they would choose from a map..and poof through a amazing portal they would fall right into the mainland. This was how I first experienced S.L. I have to tell you, it was amazing! Now.... Avatars are dropped into a room with a bunch of doors. No teaching at all. "I am understanding why so many new folks in S.L. seem totally lost these days and why in-world numbers are falling" But even worse, the doors you pick from to enter no longer has a cool portal..just a teleport to some random place. Here is a account on how my friends first random place ended up: He chose a door, ended up in some roleplay sim which started in a dingy sewer. Was greeted by the sim owner yelling at him. Screaming about not being in character. My friend was confused and horrified to say the least. Needless to say, my friend will never return to Second Life. If that had been my first S.L. experience, I would not be here either. Who in the world came up with this change and how could they think this was a good idea? But I digress. To make things even more sad. I bought some items from a in-world vendor a few weeks ago. Nothing delivered. I wrote the vendor owner. No reply. So I put in a request through the ticket system. Do you know what I was told by Linden? That I was basically out the money. Even though I gave linden the Prefix I.D. and all info for the purchase..no attempt to recover my lost money. If Linden is not going to protect us from in-world scams..then all in-world selling needs to go away. Which is NOT what I want at all. What I want is Linden to refund us members. Why do they even keep records of purchases in world if they are for nothing at all. I was really treated like Linden cares less. Sad. Finally, the latest SLV 2 glitch is intolerable. Now when you"Right Click" to get a menu to sit..instead you get what ever object you are clicking on deleted if you happen to be the owner. Sigh..... This is one issue I cannot wait for a year to be fixed. What the heck Linden!?! Are you guys listening?

IN REPLY TO Deltango Vale Answer to this is to get rid of all viewers except SLV2. I have used them all and SLV2 is far easier to use and understand by a newbie then the others. It also works much better with far less lag. Although, speaking of the lag issue, I found out that lag is directly related to a persons computer and internet connection. Since I got the new computer with a solid state drive, 16 gb memory and a 3 Gig video card. I never see lag anymore.

I'm fairly new to SL and I would like to share why I stayed. First, why did I come. I was invited by another indie artist. Told it was a great place to play shows. I found that it is! But that is not why I stayed, signed up for a account, or bought land. First, I was amazed and overwhelmed by SL. I had no ideal that such a place or this type of technolgy even existed (As most people do not) Honestly, I felt kind of scared. Like a person lost in RL. Thankfully, I ran into a person who was a regular and was very nice to me despite my newbie appearnce. He took me to shows, which was my interest at the moment. <---see I had a goal and destination, but had I not ran into this one nice person, I would have been lost and probably would have left to never return. My one insight is that there is no tour guide when entering into SL for the first time. There should be. Some one who greets and walks the person through the first day. Having a huge map that one clicks on and is dropped into a huge virtual world is just a bad idea. (90 percent of us come falling out of the sky into some grumpy old man or old womans back yard. The next thing that happens is never pretty. A suggestion... Maybe have volenteers who wait at a special newbie spot to give a welcome and guided tour? This would give some people something to be involved in and would help keep new people for sure. or maybe make the rezz in spot " The University of Caledon Oxbridge" <--- this is sort of like a game with a mission to graduate. I also cannot help but to notice that "rezz in" areas are a bunch of newbies sitting around talking to each other. Which is fine. But not fine when they think that is what SL is; nothing more then 3D chat room. <--Again there should be someone there to point out cool things to do. If you make it pleasant, they will stay. SL is far too large and full of possibilities to drop people in alone and expect them to fare well. I hope this helps in some way. I cannot imagine a world without SL at this point. EDIT: I did not see this last post, good to see that what I noticed is being addressed, but I think a live guide would be much better and the University should be mandetory.