Cain Maven

I'm not sure that update needs many changes -- although I would probably split out the Mobile Update in a separate post. It's important news and risks drowning a little in the somewhat generically titled "News from the Second Life Team" post. However, the post mostly deals with new features or general improvements. This is very useful for a broader audience but it's not really what I'm after: more information on which bugs and features are scheduled for some attention. Here's a recent example from my own work: There's currently a bug which affects scripts that attempt to move linksets of reflection probes. This is bad news for scripts that rez buildings that include reflection probes, as the probes will confusingly appear to be out of position. If I know it will be addressed in the near future, I can happily release new or updated products in the knowledge that this will not be a problem. Now, if I don't know when it will be fixed I have a choice: proceed with releases as planned and brace myself for a wave of customer support requests if a fix is not forthcoming, or sit on my hands until a solution arrives. Neither is a good option. I realize that this is a narrow and specific example, but it illustrates my point: providing creators with more information on upcoming bug fixes would make life a lot easier. As this information is obviously already prepared internally, it should be possible to publish it without incurring much extra effort. A boy can dream, right?

I have no doubt that they are. But I'm sure you can see that patience can wear a little thin when months -- years, even -- go by after an issue is reported and no progress is seen beyond it being marked as "tracked". The backlog is long, and seems to be growing. Some pruning took place when a host of older bugs and requests simply were not included in the transition to Canny. However, that didn't mean the problems were fixed: they were just forgotten for a while. Fairly or not, the Lab has historically earned a reputation for not finishing what it starts. I do recognize that in recent years there has been a welcome and significant shift in attitude and approach, so it may well be dated perception more than reality at this point. But it does not help perceptions when so little progress is publicly seen on fixing what is broken and instead, much is said about new and shiny features like combat, a new scripting language, and now chatbot integration. Given the state of affairs, it would seem logical to have all hands on deck to create a cleaner foundation on which to build the future rather than adding new capabilities. The older the technical debt gets, the harder it usually is to pay off, and even minor projects like this require effort that could otherwise be used in service of immediate improvements. I am of course aware that there is always a trade-off between managing the present and evolving to serve future needs. And maybe it's simply a matter of messaging: new initiatives are enthusiastically announced while those fixing the potholes are silent. If that is indeed the case, I believe you would be well served by a more balanced approach that also communicates the good work being done behind the scenes. Like most SL creators and residents, I have been and will remain patient. But maybe it would be a good idea to let us know now and then what you plan to address and when -- it would provide reassurance that progress is being made. Plus, it would have the benefit of fewer of us yelling at our monitors when new features are announced 😁

I don't normally get very upset over All Things Linden Lab, but this is ridiculous. Have we really lost so many residents that we need to populate our regions with dumb bots in order to make it look like there is someone here? What happened to the notion that SL's real value is its (human) residents? I only glanced at the posted snippets, but it's not clear to me what, if anything, the Lab actually built to support this. Maybe it's just a "marketing partnership" conceived by someone, somewhere. At least it doesn't mention NFTs. My advice would be to fix PBR and maybe address the substantial backlog.

Oh, I'm sure it's been the case forever -- I discovered it only now because I"ve never attempted to upload link sets before. And you're probably right that this won't be fixed, given that that glTF is the future. So I'll just have to live with it, including the random renaming of parts, which really is weird

Ugh, really. I think I’ll consider this feature “incomplete”’.😁 Thanks for looking that up!

Wow. If that’s actually the case, that’s not good. Thanks for replying!

Is there a way of designating an object as the root prim when uploading mesh linksets from blender? Selection order doesn't seem to matter. I also tried parenting, but that just made things worse. I have turned off the "Sort by Object name" in blender's exporter, but that didn't seem to have any impact either, at least not in my tests. Thanks, Cain

I must be missing something here... is there a good and easy way of detecting whether a face has PBR applied? The best I can think of is to call llGetPrimitiveParams() with PRIM_GLTF_BASE_COLOR and check for the presence of the texture parameter. Hardly elegant or foolproof. Querying PRIM_RENDER_MATERIAL only works for full perms, so that's not an option for me. Thoughts?

Having had a few hours to digest this, I've decided to postpone panic. It is perhaps mildly surprising -- at least the timing is -- as it seemed like Linden Research had ambitions for Tilia. On the other hand, maybe this was the exit strategy all along. On the third hand, maybe priorities no longer are what they were under the late Mr. Altberg. I suspect we will never know. Based on what little we do know, I don't see much reason for immediate concern. I think we can safely assume that Thunes know what they are getting into, including the adult contents. They are probably also aware that the Lindens have been more than hinting at embracing adult, er, experiences in The Near Future. I bet this side of SL is safe. That said, I do think it's odd that the Lab did not announce this themselves; only Thunes did. In cases like this, both parties usually send out press releases. Why the (pointless) silence?

This is excellent -- thank you very much!

I would prefer that they not request sensitive information via email. For very obvious reasons. They have a secure (one assumes and hopes) web form, which they could have directed me to in the first place, although they would have had to do some actual work first. And yes -- I have always reported all my SL income on my tax returns.

At the risk of flogging a deceased equine: Whether it's issued a K or a MISC or both is not really the root of my concern. The fact that Tilia requests sensitive information via email is -- and I personally think we should demand better from a company that touches so many of our livelihoods.

In fairness, the form under the Process Credit tab appears to be secure, and that's where I eventually submitted the information. But that's not what Tilia asked me to do.

Right -- having done this for a while now, I'm somewhat familiar with the various tax forms My issue is not with he issuance of the form but with the fact that Tilia requested sensitive information over email, which is a huge no-no.

Yes, I did contact support and they confirmed that the email was legitimate -- in the sense that it was actually sent by Tilia. Which never should have happened.

Today, I received an email from Linden Lab's payment processing company, Tilia. It said that I was "eligible" for a 1099-K form, but they did not have a Social Security Number on file. (For those of you outside the US, a 1099-K is a tax form issued when someone pays you more than a certain amount. The SSN is your personal identification number and therefore sensitive.) The message then went on to say: So that we may issue you your 1099-k form, please reply to this email with your full social security number. Yes. They actually requested that I send my SSN over email, security risk be damned. I examined the email headers, which looked fine (famous last words, I know) but I am obviously not prepared to email my SSN under any circumstances, so I replied to that effect. I also tried calling them, but there is no way of reaching an actual person. Tilia's response: For your security and to fulfill this request, we have reset your Know Your Customer application and ask that you re-submit your Identity Verification once more. This form is cleverly hidden on the Process Credit dashboard page, so I had to contact SL support to find it. Now that I have resubmitted the information -- and I'm positive I had provided it earlier -- Tilia seems to be content. However, I am not impressed. A company that deals with sensitive personal information such as real names, addresses and SSNs needs to have its security act together. Asking people to provide sensitive information via email is not good enough. Not by a long shot.

Looking good, sir

Maybe it just sounds better than "Purchase and Teleport"?

Free in the sense that there is no monetary fee to enter. As a builder and merchant, you knew that.

Can? Yes. Should? That's an open question, I think.

Which may not be seen as a Good Thing if you're a smaller resident-run event... or Leon Trotsky.

All fair and valid points -- although I do disagree with the notion that "residents are terrible at organizing"

Shop & Hop is free for creators (assuming you are selected to participate.) This gives the event a competitive advantage, since resident-run events typically charge a fee to cover cost and/or turn a profit. Linden Lab can also reach a large number of customers easily and cheaply.

RFL and its events aside, perhaps a bigger question is whether Linden Lab should run events at all? They are obviously competing directly with all resident-run events.

We can all speculate. My rule of thumb is that it's better that complexity is handled once on the back end than thousand of times in the client -- with varying degrees of success. But reasonable people can disagree.