Czari Zenovka

Hi Deja I have no earthly idea how to make snazzy graphs to track sales but I wanted to thank you for planting the seed for me to start concentrating on my in world store again based on your post shortly after the whole MP fiasco began. As a result I am participating in a hunt with another on the horizon which in turn got my creative juices flowing again. I've also joined a few more relevant (to what I sell) designer groups, advertising my new 4th of July items, and actually spending more time in my store than I have in 2 years where I have met some customers and had delightful conversations with them. I have a lot more to do in this regard but I am honestly having more fun in SL since I began this effort and it is slowly starting to show results. I am getting a handful of in world sales/week whereas I had maybe 1-3 in world sales in a 3-month period prior. Whatever happens with the MP - I have regained the joy of being a SL designer/merchant. Thank you, Deja.

Rya Nitely wrote: Spica Inventor wrote: "All my items are still in boxes on two separate sims". Ahhhhh in there lies your problem. (The latest conspiracy theory is that L.L. is sabotaging the performance of the magic boxes in an effort to move us away from them voluntarily and over to D.D. (the lesser of two evils wink wink) in a much more timely manner). hehe ;-) I don't believe they would really care that much about the people who don't move over to DD. Anyone who doesn't move by the time magic boxes are made obsolete will be very wisely considered no longer in the game. That's a bit harsh. There are people, more than you probably imagine, who CAN'T use DD due to older PCs and there are some very good reasons some people can't update their PCs. (Been keeping up with how many people have lost their jobs in at least the US?) If Magic Boxes are discontinued...trust me, I will still very much be "in the game" - although I do not consider SL a "game," but that is another discussion altogether, eh.

Spica Inventor wrote: "All my items are still in boxes on two separate sims". Ahhhhh in there lies your problem. (The latest conspiracy theory is that L.L. is sabotaging the performance of the magic boxes in an effort to move us away from them voluntarily and over to D.D. (the lesser of two evils wink wink) in a much more timely manner). hehe ;-) It has been exhaustively stated various times in these forums that the Marketplace is currently messed up, not the delivery system. I also have two Magic Boxes on two different sims. While merchants in another thread are saying their sales have dropped over the last 3 weeks, mine have been the best in that time frame since this whole MP issue began 3 months ago.

Jacki Silverfall wrote: Freya Mokusei wrote: tilly Kiranov wrote: it has the might of Facebook behind it Misleading. Facebook auth doesn't imply it has access to whole Facebook userbase. There's no 'might', behind using Facebook verification to pass login info. This app isnt' being 'showcased' by Facebook in any special way, nor is Facebook supplying anything special or unique to this app, vs. any other. Additionally, the Facebook userbase may well 'throw this back'; I'm not interested in Cloud Party; it fulfills none of my criteria for being a useful place for me to socialise or create. I don't know who the audience for this geek toy is, but it isn't me. Ditto Ditto to the bolded text here as well. Interestingly, I was listening to Kim Komando last night (a technology Geekette who has a national call-in radio talk show - have listened to her for years)...and she mentioned an interesting tidbit: teens are, in her words, "fleeing" FB because now their parents are on it as well thus it's "not cool" anymore. Just like the jump from MySpace to FB, Kim mused she won't be surprised to see another social networking site that will be popular with the younger set making an appearance soon. Now just what group of "teens" this is makes a difference were SL is concerned, but even if it's 18 or so, there are a lot of 18ish peeps on SL so if they desert FB, there goes that demographic for the Cloud Party. Then there's this: "...there's nothing to show that any of the Facebook userbase has any established interest in Avatarian culture. In fact, the contrary is probably true." I know a lot of people on FB (know that they use it from my brief stint on FB and all the "friend requests" came pouring in prior to me dropping FB like a hot potato) - and they range from people I first met on an online diary (pre-dating blogs) who love to write and post, but would have no interest whatsoever in a virtual world/PC game/MMORPG, etc., to relatives of all ages, people I went to school with, etc. When I have mentioned SL to any of these people, I get blank "stares." Many, many people on FB like chat and posting to the exclusion of other online activities. Perhaps people who play Farm Town or Farmville or whatever may be the ones who would be interested in this venture. I agree with Dartagnan that a variety of "worlds" that interest various types of people does not mean the demise of SL, it simply means there are more choices. When especially merchants and content-creators began flocking in droves to InWorldz about a year and a half ago after another series of very unpopular LL decisions, "the sky is falling" was loudly proclaimed and I honestly thought that this might very well be the "world" to draw a lot of population off SL since it is so similar to SL in many ways, and probably has...but it's not the "death knell" people predicted it to be.

Pussycat Catnap wrote: I think its all pretty foolish really. What it illustrates is a lack of foresight in how mesh would get used. Its rapidly replacing both sculpty and texture based clothing. Its making inroads into vehicles and houses, and a bigger inroad into furniture. In a year, its likely to be the dominant form of content. Yet there's a default setting in a place most folks don't know how to get to and adjust, that limits you to seeing a small handful of mesh items at a time... This is what is best described as "oops"... Agreed! For current financial reasons I am still using an old PC that does not run the new viewers, thus I cannot see mesh "accurately" at all. I say "accurately" as I do see women with hair textured blobs or boxes on their heads that I assume is mesh hair. Add that to the fact that, as a merchant, I will not be able to use direct delivery for the MP once LL shuts down Magic Boxes and I may as well head to one of the other virtual worlds at that point. LL is doing a good job of gradually losing residents.

Roxas Yuhara wrote: Women get more because guys think that they'll get their next girlfriend online just because they gave a girl a small gift. In most cases they don't, and even if they do the chick ends up being ugly as hell irl. Not a good choice of actions. Ok, now you're contradicting yourself. If your statement of not being anything in SL like your RL self is true....errrrr why does it matter what the female looks like in RL, eh?

Roxas Yuhara wrote: Not that I don't believe that a real relationship or something can't start online - just that I am very down-to-earth and will not fall into the idea of thinking the player on the screen actually has anything to do with the real me. (Emphasis mine) You are exactly the type of person I don't wish to meet in SL as "all life" - virtual or non - is "real" to me. I have the same personality, values, emotions, reactions, etc. in SL (or any online venue) as I do in RL. I have also been involved in rp on various venues but while I may roleplay, I'm not playing a role. There is a subtle, but important difference. I may be killing mythical creatures in an MMORPG, but as I relate to other players in the game, it's still the same personality, etc. Everyone approaches SL the way they choose. One way is not right or wrong. A recipe for relationship disaster occurs, however when someone for whom SL is another part of "life" meets up with someone like, well you. At any rate, given that you're 18 and I'm old enough to be your mother, I doubt we'll be meeting anytime soon. *Grins* That being said - there really is no "need" to put RL currency into SL. There are so many hunts with amazing gifts, shops selling everything under the sun that offer free gifts, no real need to own land or rent, plenty of sandboxes to rez anything, etc. that one can live a very nice SL pretty much for free. If you find you would like a little place to call your own, or other items that must be purchased, as another poster said there are so many jobs to earn some lindens available as well as contests galore. The Search feature is your friend.

Irene Muni wrote: Enjoying life as usual, with or whitout SL. SL is far down on the list of my concerns. This ^^ It's a sad commentary, imo, if an online venue shutting down would cause someone undue angst.

Claireschen Hesten wrote: the delivery method may make a difference if the expensive item doesn't show as direct delivery on the listing it's comming from a magic box a while back i remember seeing somewhere that LL would phase out magic boxes by the start of june (if the date hasn't been pushed back) and that could be why your expensive item isn't delivering The issue isn't with Magic Boxes or Direct Delivery - the Marketplace itself currently has multiple problems, not the least of which is Jira 4587 - the mixed listings "bugs." https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-4587? Many other problems have been discovered - items being delivered/paid for by customer/merchants not being paid (and not knowing said items had even been purchased if the customer/s had not contacted merchant/s re: the problem); issues such as the OP has posted; many, many more. Due to all these issues, current date for Magic Boxes to be cut off is August 1 with a 4-week advance notice being given. Since 3 months have gone by and the mixed listing issue still exists (as well as many other issues), I fully expect that date to be pushed back again. The suggestion to contact the merchant/s of these products is your best bet. As stated above, many merchants are not even aware of an issue, even concerning delivery, as the reports are not even stable.

I'm sorry to hear this has been happening to you, Toy. From following these forums since the introduction of DD, sales irregularities seem to be the norm to lesser or greater degrees and I have noticed the sales irregularities have hit various of us who post at different times. About a month ago I had not had any sales during a 3-week (or thereabouts) time frame, then sales began trickling in and built back to almost what they had been pre-DD. (I'm still using the MB.) The past couple of weeks have been the best for me in terms of sales since DD began. Mind you, good sales for me may be a pittance compared to other merchants, but I have been pleased. However, during this same time period, your sales stopped. It's like LL staggers who gets sales when, but since all this is coding, I realize that can't be the case, but the pattern sure feels like it. I try to stay out of the realm of paranoia, but with all the MP madness in the past 3 months, I have wondered, as others have also expressed, if LL is trying to drive off the smaller merchants and have the MP just be comprised of the larger merchants. On a sidenote: I was doing a MP search earlier today for a specific type of female attire, found one; description, price, store, etc. were all in place....but the image was of a horse stall. Interestingly, unlike many mixed listings, this one did not default back to the MP home page, but actually opened to describe the clothing, but with a photo of a horse stall. It's tempting to purchase it to see what I'd get...lol.

Dartagan Shepherd wrote: Laying off a third of employees and the various cuts afterward seems to have eluded Phil's memory, as have the loss of most of the founding employees. Which reminds me - errrrmmm, has anyone seen Tory Linden lately? He single-handedly did a LOT for promoting SL in his inimitable manner and really helped people learn various SL skills while having fun with his vidtuts. Dartagan Shepherd wrote: SL the "product" is horrible and dated and offers continually less hardware resources as time goes by. Service is worse. Competency compared to other similar ventures (mostly gaming where the tech is the same, regardless of SL not being a game) has long passed SL by in leaps and bounds. So true. The only MMORPGs I have played were 7 years in EQ and during all that time I never had to contact support. (Well once when I was EQ "married" to have my surname changed...but that is another topic altogether. Even then, though, a GM appeared almost instanteously after I put in the request. More recently I played WoW a bit. Again no issues with anything not working, etc. but I had one problem concerning part of a quest. I kept getting what I felt was a run-around and by my 5th exchange with their customer service, I admit I was getting a bit verbally irked. Then I discovered via the WoW forums (after posting about my irritation) that I was mistaken about the quest issue and WoW had indeed been giving the correct answer to me - multiple times - and were always very gracious in their responses. I immediately sent a mea culpa correspondence to them as well as correspondence to the customer service manager to let them know how well I was treated. VS Having a bona fide MP issue a few months ago with SL (which basically still exists) and receive a "This has been addressed" reply from a "Scout" and my ticket closed. I did eventually get to the person who could help...well...as much as help can be currently, but I had to keep re-opening tickets to do so.

Rolig Loon wrote: Yup, 1.0 is in fact exactly twice 0.5. The point is that you wrote your start scale as <0.5,0.5,0.0> (That is X = 0.5, Y= 0.5), and your end scale as <1.0,1.0,0.0> (That is, X = 1.0, Y = 1.0). It starts as a square and it ends as a larger square. Ohhhhhhhhhh...the x & y are within each bracket, thus I should do something like start scale <0.5,1.0,0> and same for end scale. I was looking at the entire bracket as one entity - ie. x or y. I think I understand now. Thanks so much, Rolig

Rolig Loon wrote: Your texture starts as a square with X = Y = 0.5 and it ends as a square with X = Y = 1.0. Not being a scripter, to me 0.5 x 1.0 would seem to be rectangular. If 1 isn't twice as big as .5...what values do I need to plug in?

I created a poofer graphic and sized it 128 X 64. It uploads at that ratio and when clicked to view, displays at that ratio. However, when I put it in the item, it emits as a square. I asked an online group why that would be and was told I needed to make sure within the particle script that the start/end scale has the x value twice as large as the y value and was kind enough to post a script example. Tried that and the poofer is still square. I'm stumped. Here is what the original script shows before I began playing with it: PSYS_PART_START_SCALE, <0.5,0.5,0>, PSYS_PART_END_SCALE, <1.0,1.0,0> That actually *does* have one side half as large as the other. In case "Start Scale" is x, I tried reversing the numbers - same thing. Then I tried making both the same (0.5) - still squre. All my past emitters have been square so I never looked into this value. What am I doing wrong, or what needs to be adjusted so I can have an oblong poofer, please? Thank you in advance. :)

Ceera Murakami wrote: Interesting to note that there is absoultely no mention of the customer in that. No customer satisfaction, no customer feedback, not even a committment to giving good value for money received. My sentiments, exactly, Ceera. When I first saw "transparency" I thought - "Well, they blew that one!" then read on to see it meant transparencey within the company, not necessarily to customers. "...Linden Lab has, in 6 years, had almost zero employee turnover..." Ummmmm...ok. So what about the 1/3 of the company that was cut awhile back? Perhaps Philip is counting employees who left voluntarily vs. being fired. Parsed up and down, I still call this "turnover," especially when new employees are hired after said "laying off/firing."

Sassy Romano wrote: ...I see little point in advising anyone to spend time with a Magic Box issue... As it turned out, Amaranthim wasn't having a MB issue per se; it's just a long time since she's listed on the MP. She did not know to go to the old Xstreet site to update her MB there, THEN synch it on the MP website. It appears her MP store is now up and running. As for MB vs DD, while MB is still around some people prefer to continue using them. As I've said exhaustively, I cannot at this time, use DD due to an older PC. Trust me, if I *could* update/get a new PC, I would every two years...I used to teach application software as an adjunct professor in a Jr. College so I'm a semi-geekette. Life situations change - health issues can change how one was used to living in the blink of an eye. To blithely tell someone "You need to keep up with the times" with no knowledge of what a person is living with is a bit presumptious and hurtful. (I'm not addressing you, Sassy, but anyone who might feel "led" to offer that bit of very unhelpful "advice.")

Perrie Juran wrote I recently had trouble fitting an item with a resize script to my avatar. I sent the Merchant a screen shot of my problem. She asked me if my shape was 'transfer.' I sent her my shape and she sent me the item perfectly sized to fit my Avatar. I wish I could leave my praise on the MP now but can't. She has moved to the top of my recommended stores list. Yes, I really wish there was some way to review in world purchases as well.

Just glad we got it going again - well once the synching is over. lol That one step of going back to the Xstreet site via the "Magic Box Status" link on the "Manage Listings" page is what stumped me initially as well.

Tari Landar wrote: Also another very obscure object I added ages ago is selling quite a few everyday. It's not expensive, not that anything I sell is, but it is quite hilarious. The funniest part is the sales go up and down in waves according to how much MP, and SL in general, is screwing up for others, hahaha.(not that I am laughing at others' misfortunes, just the fact that this item even sells at all much less the way it does) My MB is still working wonderfully. Yes, I AM one of the idiots who hasn't migrated entirely to DD yet. I tried it, had nothing but issues, and decided MB is it for me for a bit, until they fix some of the issues that seem to only plague me with DD, lol. Unfounded fear by some standards, but, eh...it's working for me. When I find something thay actually works on MP, I go with it, until it no longer does. I think that's important, sometimes, knowing how epic the fail at MP can be, lol. Hi Tari I've had the same experience of something obscure selling in waves as well. Another time I find this happens is if I make some change to an item (like changing the included instruction card or even updating the photo on the MP site) - that particular item invariably sells that day!!! Regardless of what anyone thinks, imo it is NOT being an "idiot" to still use MBs. In my case, at present, I can't due to my PC but even if I could, I wouldn't. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and my MB is still working. I agree that the MP issues are with the MP servers, etc. and not with DD as both DD & MB users are experiencing similar issues, but as long as I have a choice, I will continue using the MB. Something nice about the MP - although I am doing more to promote my in-world store, I am thankful that the MP is still here as I make most of my sales via the Marketplace. I enjoy it for quick browsing and comparison shopping.

Hi Amar I think you're probably just missing a step - I'll contact you and we can go through it together. I continue to have no problems with my MB at all; just the continuing issues you know about. I'm pretty sure the MB can be set up, but the old Xstreet page where it needs to be synched does look different than it used to, which confused me at first.

Rya Nitely wrote: My shop is made up of 3 sims where people can sail boats and explore. I love it and it's also my home. So it serves a dual purpose, which makes it worth having. Occasionally, I get talked into renting space and a number of prims in malls, but these have never attracted a single sale so I always end up shutting it down. My shop parcel is about to become my home parcel as well due to my sales having taken a dive at the beginning of "The Great SL Marketplace Disaster of 2012." I can't pay rent for the home parcel where I've lived for the greater part of 5 years plus pay my shop rent; thus will be giving up my beloved home parcel at the end of this month and living on the store parcel. Owning even one sim sounds like heaven...but considering my RL/SL financial situations atm, even rent on relatively small parcels is too much. Ok, I really need to start creating more items.

WADE1 Jya wrote: the nonsense word 'lolo' was banned for a time by Linden Lab, more restricted than just 'adult' - a completely blacklisted term. i had the misfortune to find this out as I chose 'lolo' for my SL brand name. Took me some time to figure out why my sales had ground to a complete halt :catmad: yes Linden Lab has a very strange logic indeed -- or should i say lack thereof :catindifferent: What in the world was wrong with "lolo?" Only thing that springs to mind is "Lola" or "Lolita" but that is reaaaaaalllly a stretch.

Steve Atlanta wrote: Thnks for that tip, but it actually is based on a PG TV show, and I gont get why they would consider something like that "Adult" , as many PG shows involves slave races, I wont name names but think about it, theres even major movies with slaves, they get a PG rating. I'll edit my little alien guys speech and try again, thnx What is PG on TV and SL are two entirely different things. As Nalates said, the word "slave" in SL is very common in all different "flavors" - ie. Gorean, D/s, BDSM, etc. All are considered obviously Mature, some, depending on some formula no one except LL knows, have to be on adult sims. I can see why that word triggerd a flag and I wonder if anyone ever really reads the MP ad content. At least you got it to a Mature rating.

Paula001 Goldschein wrote: welcome to the club An ever-growing one, apparently. I'm wondering how many merchants still haven't discovered this on their MP.

Sassy Romano wrote: It's not a surprise that there's a Merchant outbox in phoenix because it's just a systme folder. What is lacking and has always been lacking is the program code to send the content to Marketplace. Simple lack of code that's all. The phoenix team had stated in a thread on SLU that LL failed to tell them that DD was in this release of code, same for other 3rd party developers. A simple case of Oz Linden not talking to the Commerce team according to some. It was suggested on the thread at SLU (I forget the thread detail) that Phoenix outbox support would be added at some point. Right...I recall you mentioning that and was likely the thread I referred to. The thing that surprised me was not just the Merchant Outbox being in Phoenix, but that it appeared about 3 weeks or so after DD went live, but that could tie in to the lack of Oz communicating to the Phoenix team so they (Phoenix) added the Merchant Outbox when they found out. Just postulating, of course. Considering it's non-functional and, at least in the older version of Phoenix that I am using, will likely never be, it just sort of sits there and mocks me...lol.