LillyBeth Filth

greek Wingtips wrote: PLEASE BECAREFUL LL AND I WOULD LIKE TOTALL TRANSPARENCY AS TO YOUR INTENSIONS AND SHARE THIS WITH ALL OF US, PLEASE DONT SAY YOU DONT KNOW YET, AS WE ALL KNOW COMPANIES ALL HAVE THERE END GOAL IN SITE THE LAST PART OF THIS STATEMENT IS INTENDED FOR LL NOT YOU FOLK ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're not going to get "Total Transparency" in any new game development. They keep their plans and features hidden for a reason. All staff working on a game dev sign NDA's which basically means they cannot reveal anything about the game, artwork, plans, etc etc etc This is done to protect the game from being copied by competitors who might be building a similar game. I agree with you though, the way this information was "leaked" is sloppy and has raised more conjecture, panic and insecurity than had they just released and official announcement and put it in black and white what WILL and WON'T be happening in terms of the original SL. So far it all seems to be copied and pasted from meetings and "He said she said" They need to address the masses.

CashNoise777 wrote: Hey everyone, so today is my 4th day in SL, love it! I got into the creating aspect right away which lead to learning graphic design Once I get this down I would like to begin creating a very fun complete island of my own full of activities, just for fun. Also will be Dj'ing soon as I love music, and love making it. I have to say, I havn't gotten the friendliest welcome from other land creators and DJ's in SL being so new and jumping into things so quickly.. Just trying to network and meet some nice new people Anyone is free to IM me: Andre Derain Welcome to Second Life I owe SL my income (really) I was on sickness benefits in 2003. SL opened up a hobby turned income. Of course, I was lucky to be one of the first with very little competition back in 2004. Its a very tough place to sell on now due to better quality competitors in an over saturated market. That said, if you're here just for hobby and fun.. you will have a ball! I envy you!

I must be in the small minority of SL users that feels the exact opposite. I hate hiding behind my alter ago. I like people knowing my real name (I changed it in SL to Liz Gallagher) I LIKE the fact that people I engage in conversation and debate on Facebook are real people with real names and real photos of their real face because for the most part people are more accountable for what they say (write) in Facebook and "think" before they start bitching and attacking. That's not to say that Facebook never has online public arguments lol quite the opposite. I have had more arguments on FB with family members! Again, I put this down to people are not looking you in the eye in RL. Even with a real name and ID it's so easy to slam our fingers down on a key board as we hide behind the PC monitor in the safety of our homes with a locked door. I don't like the way online socialising is going. You sit in any waiting room and people no longer make eye contact, they all sit there staring at their smart phones sending texts (sms) or leaving comments on FB, My Space, Google etc Long term, this can only lead to lack of social interaction and worsening social skills. Humanity is so very ugly online. YouTube comments as an example. It doesn't matter what the video is about, a Dachshund swimming or politics, people are full of hate and rage against other people who they have and will never meet or get to know in person. Call me and old woman but I think the future of humanity is bleak if we continue as we are. BTW I realise this post is kind of a contradiction

Vuvuzela Rumble wrote: LillyBeth Filth wrote: Amazon is good as Amazon will gently remind a customer via email to leave a review which means a much more realistic review system as more positive reviews are left. Ebay seems to be Okay in the respect too. Ideally, we as merchants should contact any customer and ask them if everything is okay but I am afraid not many people have time to do this. The problem with SL is that there are no means of getting money back if a product is faulty / rubbish / not as described or portrayed. LL's policy of refusing to intervene in resident disputes, including sales, means that there literally is no buyer protection, unlike on eBay or Amazon. In this environment, I suppose it's not surprising that people who believe they've been 'shafted' see their only option of 'consumer justice' as being to punish the seller through a bad review. True. Never thought of that. There are good long term merchants that people can trust. But you need to know them by reputation.

Voodoo Schnyder wrote: ((I'm not sure whether I should post this in Merchants or Wanted section, but I think it'd fit both, if not, mods who see this, please move it.)) Hello and good day to you reader. Unfortunately our world and our happiness is conditioned to money, that's just how the world is since the first industrial revolution. I am here, coming to you as honest and humble as I can be when I say I want to make an art group, a society and maybe even a movement to make money off our works, marketing them in the correct way and making us earn money while we do what we love (art) and at the same time building a portfolio and get recognized. Now you can ask, how can I do any of these things? Let me introduce you to my first personal project, I had an online shop in Second Life that sold a large variety of wear and objects. I was a one man army back in 2009, building, selling and marketing my stuff all by myself and I made around 550$ US dollars per month, at the start. I had my skill set evolved during all these years and I totally trust I can make way more than that, *we* can make way more than that, if I have a team of people committed just as much as me! I still receive around 200 to 300$ USD per month by "ignoring" my shop (only recently started to release new items) and let the sales sell whenever someone stumbles on my shop. It's not something to make you rich, it's not something to make you don't get a job instead, but it's extra money you can spend on your cigarettes (although I don't recommend you do this one), taking your boy or girlfriend to fancy dinners on weekends, own your own dog, and party with your friends at holidays without worrying about money, or being dependent from parents or someone else to provide it. Times are tough but I believe that I can make a tougher army and fight it, the purpose of it it's to be happy without worrying too much about how much money we have to go on our dream trips while doing our own works and building a portfolio between collaborations and client feedback to later show off to your potential boss. By the end of each month, you'll be a better artist and live with less worries. Who should apply? Anyone who is passionate and knows they have the skill and also have some free time, if you're a photographer, we can sell textures, if you're a painter or 3D modeler, we can sell concept art and I can find good deals for working on video game titles, if you're a web designer, we can market your products, if you're a writer, or just a person with unique ideas... you'll still fit! I have contacts with money and ideas who are also eager to spend it on a decent products. It's a company of sorts. I was doing this on my own for a while but... Recently I have lost a great love I had for something, because of not having enough money to support it. With this I made the decision that I want to share my vision and plan with more people so we can reach a level where we are comfortable and no longer have to work too hard to have what we want to buy or do. You can add me on skype: Miguel Nogueira Ignition I'll see you there. ------------------------------------------ Saw your thread were you were asking where to sell your store? Then I find this thread.. bit strange. One minute you're trying to sell a business, the next you're trying to start up a new one as an "artistic revolutionary" You state you're making less money now by "ignoring" your store and not adding products.. this does not come over as someone with motivation to lead others. You state "I have contacts with money and ideas who are also eager to spend it on a decent products" So why don't your contacts buy the store you're trying to sell? I don't understand the goal and objective. You want to market peoples products or help them make it? Either way, if you don't know where to place a forum post, it doesn't give readers much confidence. There's more to making textures than taking photos. Are you going to train these photographers the skill set to create seamless textures or just sell theirs and take a cut? There's nothing wrong with that but I think you need a big presence in SL for people to want to join you. You will no doubt discover this yourself in time. In short, people generally want to have their own stores their own ID and take credit for their own brand. The only people who may be drawn to your concept are people with few skills but want to make a quick buck and SL has plenty of them... they used to work as "campers" back in the day. Anyway, good luck, regardless of my thoughts.! :matte-motes-nerdy:

Phil Deakins wrote: I don't spend just "a few dollars". I don't spend anything. I take it out, for goodness sakes, and always have done. _______________________________________________________________________________ Phil, I don't know what you do in SL but I am guessing you are operating some business in order for you to make that statement above. It does come over rather pompous to say that you don't spend your own money in SL but that you rely on others to spend theirs in order that you can "take it out" If everyone was not spending and just taking L$ the SL economy would collapse. So lets show some appreciation and respect to consumers thoughts and feelings. Even if we don't agree. I think your view that people who are spending money on virtual goods know it's just for entertainment purposes in the "here and now" is naive, to say the least. But I hope for your own sake, your customers share that same view point so you can continue to "Take it out" Based on my experience of both buying and selling in virtual worlds since 2003 (There.com) and since 2004 (SL) I believe the vast majority of people do feel a sense of ownership when they exchange their real money for virtual content. I have witnessed and argued with countless people in relation to textures who think they have purchased them so they "own" them. The concept of a "User License" has been a very hard concept to push and people have resisted it. Only recently have people started to understand that they don't "own" licensed goods, they simply purchased the license to use it in accordance to the T&S of the User License they purchased said goods for. Of course, the above is specific to textures and licensing but I can assure you there is most definitely a sense of "ownership" from a customers POV in relation to purchasing virtual goods regardless of whether its textures, clothing, hair, animations etc. And its this sense of "ownership" that causes upset and anger when those spending customers are told they cannot export those virtual goods to other grids or new worlds. Its not a new concept of behaviour or thought either. If we look at the various grids and SL spin offs that oepned over the recent years, we all witnessed people who were frustrated and indeed ANGERED that the clothes, hair, etc etc they purchased in SL could not be exported due to the permissions set. Permissions that they accepted at the time of purchase but that did not suit their requirement at a later date. They resented "starting over" in new grids because from their POV they had already paid real money for the full and extensive inventory they have grown within SL. They would complain about how merchants were being mean by not allowing them full perms to export "their" stuff out of SL. It doesn't matter whether their anger or frustration is valid or reasonable to you or me. The fact is, the vast majority of people DO feel that way about the virtual goods they have paid for and currently live in their SL inventory. EDIT - After thought. Perhaps because, by your own admission, you have never been a consumer and spent money in SL and have only earned it that you are unable or unwilling to empathise with consumers. (?)

Ren Toxx wrote: Also, your friend could actually use the rude review as an opportunity to enhance the shop's business image: nothing looks better than a rude customer being answered with a professional, polite and helpful attitude; this isolates the customer's rudeness as exclusively his problem, and makes other people think “wow, that seller is a pro”. This doesn't mean buckling to the rude customer and his unreasonable demands, nor having to swallow your pride... with some careful wording, it's often possible to make a firm rebuke without looking hostile :smileywink: Good answer. I will remember this when I go straight into defense mode when I comment on an obnoxious review lol

Ren Toxx wrote: I wouldn't worry too much, Sarah. The more obnoxious the review is, the less it reflects on the merchant... rather it speaks badly of the reviewer. This is true but it IS still annoying and frustrating. People tend to only gather enough energy to leave a review when they are pissed off. If they are satisfied with the product 95% of people simply can't be bothered to leave a review. This can lead to an unbalanced negative/positive review status. Truth is, it's easier to "vent" than it is to talk to a merchant directly about issues they may have. Another thing that I find frustrating is when people knock off stars or leave a low review because they think the price is too much. In my opinion, if they think the price was too much they should not buy it. To buy it and then resent paying X amount and leave a review to reflect that is insane but as Toxx wrote this is the way of world in RL as well. Amazon is good as Amazon will gently remind a customer via email to leave a review which means a much more realistic review system as more positive reviews are left. Ebay seems to be Okay in the respect too. Ideally, we as merchants should contact any customer and ask them if everything is okay but I am afraid not many people have time to do this.

CheriColette wrote: Today when signing into sl there was this LINK in firestorm So LL is trying to address peoples concerns. That was provided by the makers of Firestorm, a third party browser. Seems they are making more of an effort than LL is to address their customers. (That don't visit forums which is the vast majority) That meeting were 60 people attended is hardly addressing the masses and it's the masses, the people who log into SL to have fun, spend money and log out again, that are hearing stories via word of mouth and panicking. Never underestimate the power of "word of mouth" and I don't mean its accuracy. A very tiny % of SL users take the time to visit forums or read third party SL news websites. Instead they hear things from their friends or friends of friends and as is always the case when rumours are floating, each person adds their own interpretation or gut feeling to the "story" or exaggerates to make their point seem more valid, to make people believe what they believe. Right now, there is a huge majority of people in SL who are uncertain and uncertainty creates insecurity. Both of these elements in ANY economy is never a good thing. If people hear that SL is to be replaced with another version and that they cannot import what they create or purchase, of course they're not going to want to spend money. I certainly wouldn't! LL SHOULD post a public announcement both on the SL official website and a link to that announcement on the SL official viewer. I think they will when it becomes obvious that this sloppy leak is impacting the economy. But the longer they leave it hanging like the bad fart it is, the more these rumours and fears will spread and accumulate in world and the more people will panic and stop spending. They won't leave SL. They just won't invest or spend money in it anymore. That's not rocket science. That's a common sense thing to assume. We have seen a trickle of people coming to the forums (Most for the first time) stating that they intend on cancelling their premium account and won't spend another penny in SL because they believe it is being closed down. And regular forum visitors laughed at them and took the piss and provided links to prove them wrong. I think these people are missing the point. Those few "Panics mungers" who posted recently represent a much bigger amount of people in SL who won't come to the forums or go out of their way to attend select meetings or research the net to read un confirmed stories on websites. They are working by day, playing SL by night and if their friend says SL is going to close then that's all they need to make their mind up. I see some the tactics some people are using to avoid creating an even bigger panic by claiming "All is fine in my SL thank you very much" and I understand the reasoning behind that but it won't been read or seen by the vast majority of the typical SL consumer so it's a drop in the ocean in terms of "damage limitation" LL need to do some damage limitation and fast. EDIT: Just a few comments I read on the Firestorm announcement page kind of represent what the silent SL is thinking http://www.firestormviewer.org/second-life-needs-you/

Thanks for this. I will keep an eye out for the MAC OS release. I don't know how it competes with Photoshop or Illustrator because I am on MAC and I see they're running a Kickstarter to be able to release it for Mavericks. It's about time someone created software that competes with Adobe I have tried and purchased some software that was meant to match Illustrator but sadly nothing is as good as Adobe Illustrator other than Adobe Illustrator. Adobe have monopolised the market which is never a good thing, they can call their own prices, force people to "Rent" instead of buy and that last move was the breaking point for me. I would dearly love to own Illustrator even an old version but instead I "have" to rent it at £17 a month and I only use it occasionally. I own Photoshop CS6 and I will use that for as long as possible.

Dixy Dreamscape wrote: If you want people to talk to you and take you seriously then put a pic in your profile and write something or steal it from someone elses profile then hop around and find some places to put in your Picks. Then on 1st life photo write something cute to show you have a sense of humor. I'm going to assume you were joking, but still, just in case . . . No. Just. No. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't see the harm. It's no different then sharing funny quotes/Pics on Facebook. I think using the word "stealing" was unfortunate but I think she/he means writing something witty or amusing, like a quote seen in someones profile. I have seen quotes in peoples profiles and copied them in the past. Is quoting something you read elsewhere stealing?

madjim wrote: You've come to the forums to complain about people being rude? Father "That would be ironic if ironic meant what people incorrectly thought it meant" Jim L:matte-motes-big-grin-wink:O:matte-motes-sarcasm:L:smileylol:

Hellespont Hoorenbeek wrote: Im absolutely not spending money in Second Life anymore dont know if you heard but Linden Lab will pull the plug and stop broadcasting the grid when it becomes unprofitable, In my opinion it allready goes down the hill since 2011. Lately since the news is out people massifly abandoning sims and mainland prices are because of that low to buy in L$. I have zero faith Second Life will make it to SL12B "Second Life 12th Birthday" next year, As Linden Lab will start to work on some sort of new failure grid that would be as they say way better then it ever will be for Second Life. Either your keeping faith and put money in a deadbleeding concept or be smart and dont spend a dollar/Euro anylonger keeping fait and think things will be ok would be the same as you using drugs. Second Life will die face it, it is just a mather of when can be tomorrow can be next year when SL2 is released! I was lucky to have my sim sold befor this news came out otherwise im sure nobody would buy it from me so at the end im laughing Linden Lab in the face, You guys dont hurt me anymore with stupid releases and silly news! Im off to real life now:) Wait.. just responded to this in a different post. You're copying & pasting the same rant and posting it in different threads?? You have made some warped assumption that people give a **bleep**..

Yes because all of SL spending customers are American, Of course.

Tamar Luminos wrote: Well, my first post to the Second Life Forums has been very informative! Things I have learned: People love to snark, **bleep**, complain about other peoples' posts and generally be extremely condescending/rude/unwelcoming to others in this particular venue. Instead of attempting to be helpful and/or informative, people will snark, complain, condescend, and then hijack the thread to parts unknown because hey, their own thoughts/opinons/questions are far more important than anyone else's. Nobody has any idea about what I asked, only a vague reference that Ebbe made about "adjusting land prices" and other costs in SL (which I read in the other giant thread as I've been following info on the new platform out of interest but was hoping if I pulled this one topic out for further discussion, it might be a bit more informative. I was apparently wrong.) Guess I'll just go back to playing in SL and avoiding the forums here. Y'all have fun with yourselves. It's not exclusive to Second Life forums. ALL online forums, chat rooms, social networks evoke the worst in humanity. Take a look at the comments on You Tube videos. It's what comes from not having to look someone in the eye when you're being obnoxious and I think we "all" do it albeit subconsciously.

Medhue Simoni wrote: Let me be Clear about Why SL started to Decline, and why it is a direct result of the search engine. LL changing to GSA is EXACTLY why SL started to decline. This is because business owners were no longer being found in the search engine and were no longer making enough to pay for those parcels. Hence why people immediately stopped buying more land and letting go of the islands they had. What was it about the old search engine that made it so good for every1, including LL? See, this is easy to explain. Because the more land you owned gave you more object keywords, you were ranked higher than people with less land. How much land you owned in SL, was a direct representation of how much wealth you created in SL, at least for merchants. We could not own that much land if we were not generating enough money to pay for that land. When all those objects on your land were no longer counted in the search engine, no body could find your products inworld. Before the GSA, the search engine was almost specifically designed, whether by accident or not, for merchants. It made it as easy as possible to find products. When merchants blame the Marketplace, I cringe, because the reality is, that the Marketplace is the only thing that saved my business. Every1 flocked to the Marketplace, which made my products able to be found. Of course, I did much better on Xstreet than I do with LL's version, because again, Xstreet was geared for the best merchants, and not about being fair. Today, the SL Marketplace ranks products by sales mostly, when it really should be ranked by relevance first and then price. This promotes more sales and the user can simply refine their search if they want something different. To think that something is too high priced and scares customers is kind of dumb, because the merchant is pricing their product according to their sales. If it's priced high, that really means all parties are happy with that price. Plus, higher prices products have more features and are generally better, which makes the customers happier. The most sold products will always be the 1 linden or 10 linden products, as nobody cares about spending 10 lindens, which kind of means the product is worthless, or almost. Word of mouth is what made people find my store. I asked customers over and over, I even did in world surveys and 90% said they came because they knew someone who bought from me or they were given some textures which had my name in the properties. A very small percent came from the small search fee I ran and those that TP in from clicking on the listing usually TP right back out as soon as they saw the size of the store. I can't say whether the ML "saved" my sales but I can say in world shopping (For textures at least) is dead. This makes sense as its laggy viewing in world so it makes sense to see it on a website LAG free which is why we built our own website in 2008. Anyone who joined SL after 2010 thinks an in world store is "Quirky" they have all been driven to the Marketplace curtesy of Linden Labs marketing.

I would like to say that as someone who has been an active member of Second Life since April 2004 I hope that they make the new world more realistic economically for more people to own land. As it stands, a very small % of active SL users own and use virtual land due to the insane fees associated with renting it. That has lead to a mass majority of users who have nothing but their avatar to express their creativity with. Great for the avatar fashion/skin/hair designers but terrible for the building ware content creators. When SL was new and "novel" most people rented or owned land. People were building and developing and running events and socialising more. Then the economy fell through the floor in 2008 and since that time less and less people own full regions because who can afford $300 a month JUST for fun? For what ever reason, LL have not reduced the price of land rental and have driven customers to the Marketplace so in world shopping has become a thing of the past. Again, this impacts the whole social interaction within SL. Even as a business owner, I have had to let go of my own full region (Which cost me £1,200 to "buy") and am renting a Homestead because sales have been deliberately driven to the marketplace and there is no financial incentive to own land for me as a texture store. Unless people are selling things that NEED to be sampled in world, the whole point of owning a virtual store in SL has all but vanished. So we are left with over accessorised avatars who pass time doing shallow things that gets old fast like "dancing in clubs" and its gone so blah since the early days when everyone owned a piece of virtual land they could develop and invite people to and build, explore and eventually want to expand. Having a "house" if you have a premium account is just lame. You can't furnish it, it's nothing more than a place holder in which you have little freedom to be creative or expand. The loss on full region land rentals must have made a HUGE dent in LL's profit margins so I hope they have learned from this.

LillyBeth Filth wrote: It's a tough question to answer without people blowing their own trumpets, winking about REAL LIFE money and feeling the need to declare they have a typist ??? ..apparently.. My advise? Check out the SL Marketplace merchants whose content leaps out at you and ask yourself "Can I make that as good if not better?" Can you also create a display that can catch someones attention? Can you be around to deal with none deliveries ASAP? Making money in SL is like making money in RL on the web...not easy as it used to be in short.... Determination, commitment, a lot of training and skill development and tons of research too... in fact do your research before anything Good luck ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After thought. By "Can I make that as good if not better?" I did not mean replicate or copy other peoples ideas. I meant, take inspiration and be realistic about the serious competition....

It's a tough question to answer without people blowing their own trumpets, winking about REAL LIFE money and feeling the need to declare they have a typist ??? ..apparently.. My advise? Check out the SL Marketplace merchants whose content leaps out at you and ask yourself "Can I make that as good if not better?" Can you also create a display that can catch someones attention? Can you be around to deal with none deliveries ASAP? Making money in SL is like making money in RL on the web...not easy as it used to be in short.... Determination, commitment, a lot of training and skill development and tons of research too... in fact do your research before anything Good luck !

They don't have time to be polite or compassionate ! They're running a universe!!

Thank you

Perrie Juran wrote: If I'm not mistaken, the Ancients get $500L. (it is the terms at the time you signed for premium that are applied) Assuming they pay for premium (?) I cancelled my permium 2 years ago and I never took much notice of if or when I got my stipend but when I did happen to see it it was indeed 500L I am kinda disapointed that me being the oldest (and wisest lol ) SL member (Ten years on April 23 2014) they aren't fecking giving me free premium and a fanfare and a party in my honour.... pfft

PaperB wrote: I dont think giving away psd with the texture for you to modify them is a posibility at all. This is due to several things. One is that at least with mesh, most people use templates and their part of the work is making these textures for that specific template. Most times these templates has TOS regarding of the use of the them and this often include the use of the texture base offered in them. Some other time this is not the case but, since its the retail merchant part of the work to make these textures, then why would they give it away full perm as a psd for every costumer thay buy a copy of this item that was not full perm to beggin with?, I dont think they will or should. Another issue is that some times with non mesh, they use textures made by others and so they are not permited to distribute them at all. Also, some huds and scripts for texture change and such force the merchant to put the item non mod beeing that the script itself is non mod. For all this, most mesh clothing items out there are not mod. I agree that in the case of the alphas they should be mod and he alpha texture should be aviable for the costumer to modify it but, is not like every costumer knows how to do this anyway. The only way i see that you would get to put your own texture is if you buy the original full perm template and do as you like with it. Like retail merchants do Good answer. I guess only a creator can really think about this issue from a creators POV. A lot of the work that goes into a mesh "is" the texturing and baked lighting.. sending a PSD out is like selling it full permissions only worse.

Thank you KarenMichelle Lane. Been in SL for ten years (same account) and was struggling with this issue with the new SL official viewer

I will rephrase that last line. I am careful NOT to piss LL off because I am aware they could at any time shut my account down and there goes a big part of my income. If it wasn't for LL and SL I would never be in the position I am today (came off sickness benefits 7 yrs ago) So I guess what I am saying is, I take the rough with the smooth and kick off directly if i need to but ranting in their own forums is akin to crapping on their doorstep. LillyBeth Filth wrote: They are currently dealing with the whole TAX form demand in stages. They slapped that on my out of the blue 2 days before my Paypal should have had the cash. But since I completed those forms and before that, it has always been 5 working days give or take one or two payments which I had to chase. I have no idea why they leave it for 5 working days but you can't compare it to websites like Contentparadise.com or Turbosquid.com that pay their merchants on a set date every month because there are thousands of people all selling money on Lindex every day of the month and then requesting payouts every day of the month, so that has to be time consuming. They don't just have one deadline to aim for, like a specific date in a month, they are dealing with a constant stream of cash out demands day in day out. That's a full time small department office in itself. As for week-ends. Yea, I find it weird that any website or e-commerce company shuts at week-ends when sales and transactions are occuring 7 days a week. I would never complain about Second Life or Linden Labs. Without them, none of us would have the luxury of working from home doing something we love AND getting a financial return. Never bite the hand that feeds you